Digital Phantom
by ZAFT Convoy
Summary: Three worlds coexist side by side yet never interacting; one of life, one of death, and one artificial. Twins Andy and Danny are roped in when an accident occurs and a relative returns from Japan. But the twins are on opposite sides; Danny on the world of death, Andy on the artificial. Can they find out how the three worlds rely on each other? Or will they fall to an enemy in wait?
1. Moving Back

**DarkFoxKit:** *Looks around* Hey… this isn't my account. Where am I?

**ZAFT Convoy:** That would be mine. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** ZAFT? *Looks down* Ohhhh, it looks like you're re-posting Digital Phantom. Would you like to tell the readers why?

**ZAFT Convoy:** Sure. Basically, it's a re-write of my story, but with DarkFoxKit's help. She wanted to help improve it, so, here we are. *Shrugs*

**DarkFoxKit:** Well, after reading your original one, it was too much like my My Brother's a Ghost story. I feel like there was a lot of potential you could've done since you have Takuya in the story, so why not take advantage of it? Being a Digimon fan myself, I decided it might be fun to help you re-write the story and make it different from mine.

**ZAFT Convoy:** Makes sense. :P I'm a Digimon nut myself, and I had the idea, but the way I went about it was not so well thought out. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** Hopefully this will help take things off with your story then. Alright, readers, go on into the chapter and hopefully you'll enjoy it.

**ZAFT Convoy:** Enjoy~!

* * *

**Chapter 1: Moving Back to Fenton Works**

It was hard to believe for the goggle-wearing boy. It had been six years since he had been back in Amity Park. Some things remained the same, but others had changed, like a new eating joint called the Nasty Burger being built it seemed, Takuya cringed at the name. 15-year-old Takuya Kanbara sighed to himself. He could only wonder how his twin cousins were doing, it had been so long since he had last seen them.

_'__How long has it been since I've last seen them?'_ Takuya wondered to himself._ 'About 5… maybe 6 years now? Danny and Andy must be all grown up.'_

Takuya thought back on the day he had to move away to Japan.

* * *

**Flashback**

_"__Are you really moving to Japan, Takuya?" Takuya's younger cousin, Andy, asked with a sad frown._

_"__Don't move away, we'll never see you again!" Andy's twin brother, and Takuya's other cousin, Danny, cried._

_"__It's okay, Danny, Andy." Takuya said in a reassuring tone to the twins. "We can still call each other."_

_"__But I don't want you to go…" Danny said sadly, tears running down his face. "We'll miss you so much…"_

_"__We won't get to play anymore… and what if you forget how to speak English after living in Japan for so long?" Andy asked, also tearing up._

_Takuya smiled sadly. "Don't worry, buddy. Things will work out. I mean, dad works in a job that requires English so, I won't forget." He assured the younger boy as he patted his head._

_"__You promise to call often so we can remind you how to speak English?" Andy asked._

_"__And hear if you've made any new friends?" Danny added._

_Takuya laughed at that. "You bet!" He exclaimed._

_"__Takuya! It's time to go!" Takuya heard his mother calling from out the door._

_The older boy realized it was time to leave and sighed. "Well, I guess this is it," He said before he gave his cousins one last hug before he turned and went out the door. But as he left, he gave one last glance back before turning away, tears running down his own cheeks._

_"__Bye Takuya! We'll talk to you again soon!" Both of the twins said in unison._

_Sometimes Takuya wished he had a twin brother. Instead, he had a younger brother who was pretty spoiled, but he still cared for the brat._

* * *

Takuya sighed, realizing that he didn't exactly keep in touch with his younger cousins all that much after moving. It had been difficult to, especially whenever Jack Fenton answered the phone and accused the caller of being a ghost.

_'__But that wasn't the only reason…'_ Takuya frowned to himself as he thought about what had happened to him 4 years ago._ 'I feel like a lot has changed since that day… I went to the Digital World with my friends. Even though it's been 4 years, it feels like it only happened yesterday.'_

Takuya dug into his pocket and pulled out a device. To other people, it looked like a weird black device with a screen on it. To Takuya, it was something special and sentimental. The device in his hand connected him to his friends as well as great spirits that nobody but he could see.

_'__Too bad though… I'm sure Danny and Andy would love to hear about that, but they would never believe me. Not to mention, it would be hazardous to my health if they decide to tell their parents about it.'_ Takuya sighed to himself.

Takuya then stopped when he reached the house with the large OP Center that was connected to the roof. There was a large neon sign that said 'Fenton Works'. It was really hard to miss. Takuya couldn't help but laugh, it looked like the outside of the house hadn't changed since he moved.

Takuya walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. Though Takuya did brace himself in case Jack thought he was a ghost, again, tried to experiment on him. Takuya had a brief moment of remembering how when he was sick, Jack thought he had some kind of ghost disease, and Maddie didn't help, she instead encouraged it.

Takuya heard a voice calling out. "I'll get it!"

He wasn't sure what to expect, but if it was his uncle attempting to attack him because he claimed he was a ghost again, that would not fare well for him.

The door opened, and to Takuya's relief, it wasn't his uncle who answered the door, but it was one of the twins of his younger cousins. Takuya was 15-years-old, so that would mean his cousins should be 14-years-old. Even knowing that, however, it still surprised Takuya to see one of them being a teenager now since the last time he saw them, they were 8 years old, about the same age as Tommy was.

Despite himself, Takuya couldn't help but grin as he saw one of the twins. "Danny?" He asked, only to get a frown from the twin before him.

"Um...I'm Andy," The twin, Andy, said with a deadpan look.

Takuya blushed as he just remembered that Danny had blue eyes, and Andy had green eyes. The boy standing before him had green eyes. Despite Andy being a teenager now, however, his hair didn't change much. It remained the black tuff hair that it had always been, just longer now.

"So… who are you?" Andy asked when Takuya hadn't said anything for a while.

"Oh!" Takuya realized he had not yet revealed himself. "Don't you remember me?" He asked. "It was six years ago I moved away to Japan."

Andy furrowed his eyebrows, studying Takuya's face as if trying to recognize him. Takuya waited, hoping that Andy hadn't completely forgotten about him. Andy's eyes widened as he soon remembered who had moved away to Japan 6 years ago.

"Takuya…?" Andy asked.

"Been a while, eh buddy?" Takuya joked.

Takuya expected Andy to tackle him in a hug, or pull him in for a big hug. Andy, however, didn't do any of that. Instead he opened the door wider. "Hey, yeah, it's been a long time, hasn't it? About 6 years now? Why don't you come on in?"

Takuya entered the house, allowing Andy to shut the door behind him. He looked around, expecting to see some kind of change, but not much had changed in the house since he was last there.

"So what brings you back to America, cousin?" Andy asked.

Takuya wondered why Andy didn't tackle him like he would have normally, but he didn't press the issue, as he chalked it up to Andy more being surprised that he was back than anything. "Oh, mom felt it was time for me to come back and see you guys," He replied with a shrug. "Also, I think she registered me to attend Casper High as part of an exchange program."

"Really?" Andy blinked, surprise etched on his face. "So that means you get to stay here for a while, right?"

"Yeah," Takuya replied. "I am."

Andy smiled a little. "That's great. Where will you be staying while you're here?"

Takuya grinned. "Here! Where else?" He exclaimed as he put an arm around Andy's shoulders.

Andy smiled a little more. "Really? That's great, Takuya! I'm glad you're going to be around for a while. And I'm also glad you hadn't forgotten how to speak English. Though I do notice you have a little bit of an accent now."

Taluya chuckled at that. "That can happen," He replied. "What do you expect when one moves away to another country?"

"Well, I'm glad to see you haven't changed that much," Andy chuckled as he lightly tapped Takuya's head. "What've you been doing in Japan? We didn't get to hear much from you."

The older boy sighed a bit here, but it was a fond sigh. "I got to meet some new friends," Takuya replied with a smile. "And well...the usual stuff. School, homework, and what-not. And hanging out with my friends when we can."

Takuya noticed a slight frown on Andy, but Andy quickly covered it up with a smile.

"That's good. I'm glad that you've made new friends there," Andy said.

"Yeah...hey, you okay?" Takuya asked, having seen Andy's frown and his attempt to hide it.

Andy didn't seem to want to answer, as he looked away from Takuya. Before Takuya could ask, however, another voice caught his attention.

"Takuya!? Is that you?" A boy who looked very similar to Andy called out in surprise.

Turning around, Takuya saw it was none other than his cousin's twin. "Hey, Danny!" He exclaimed with a grin.

Unlike Andy, Danny had no problem running up to Takuya and tackling him in a hug. Takuya had to let go of Andy when Danny tackled him.

"It's been so long since I saw you!" Danny remarked loudly. "What've you been doing? Why haven't you called much?"

"I was in Japan," Takuya replied. "Time zone differences, and all that." He then hugged Danny back. "It's good to see you again too!"

"How long will you be staying here?" Danny asked, still not letting the older boy go.

"I was enrolled in Casper High by mom," Takuya replied with a grin before he winced_. 'Since when has Danny been this strong?!'_ "That would be the rest of the school year." He added. "And...Can you let go? I can't breathe very well…"

Danny quickly let go of Takuya. "Whoops, sorry about that cuz! I didn't realize how hard I was squeezing you."

Takuya brushed it off. "It's fine," He assured the younger boy. "Just be mindful please." He added.

"What's going on out there?" A feminine voice spoke up from up the stairs. "I can hardly read with all this noise."

Takuya looked up, seeing a familiar long orange-haired girl standing there. He recognized her as Jazz; she was a year older than he was, and she was also the twins' older sister.

"Hey, Jazz!" Takuya greeted with a wave and a grin. "Been some time, huh?"

"Oh… is that Takuya?" Jazz said in shock.

"Yup!" Another voice said.

Takuya saw Jack and Maddie, his uncle and aunt, coming into the living room with big smiles on their faces. They still wore their orange and blue jumpsuits. Jack looked bigger than Takuya remembered. If it weren't for the fact they were in the real world, Takuya could've easily mistaken Jack for a Digimon.

"Takuya's mother sent in an email to us a week ago," Maddie explained. "Takuya will be staying with us while he attends the rest of the school year here as an exchange program."

Takuya smiled back. "Yeah, and I was glad I could come," He said. He was wary though in case Jack tried to attack him again. _'That was_ not_ a fun experience…'_ He thought with a slight shudder.

"It's great to have you back, Takuya! Have you been exposed to anything ghostly while you were in Japan?" Jack questioned.

"Ah...nope!" Takuya replied quickly; he cursed his quick reply, but it seemed to have passed over the older Fenton's head.

Jack seemed to pout at that. "Aww…" He moaned. "I wanted to know if there was a Japanese ghost that followed you so I could dissect it."

"I believe you'd have more luck finding Yokais in Japan then Japanese ghosts, Dad." Jazz rolled her eyes.

Takuya sighed at his uncle's antics. He did wish they had a better passion, but he still loved them anyway.

"Don't mind Dad, Takuya," Danny chuckled. "He and Mom just finished building their Ghost Portal, so they're a little overexcited about ghosts… well, more than usual."

"Yeah, I'll bet…" Andy mumbled.

"Wait...they finished the _ghost portal_?" Takuya asked, surprised as he looked at his twin cousins. "They actually made one that works?"

Danny flinched a little, and Andy looked away. Takuya was surprised by both boys' reactions.

"That's right! We can take you down into the lab to see it now." Jack grinned excitedly.

"Um...I would rather not…" Takuya began, but his uncle grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down into the lab, proudly showing off the newest invention.

"Behold, the Fenton Ghost Portal!" Jack proudly exclaimed. Takuya was more in shock and surprise at seeing the glowing green entrance. It seemed too amazing to be real, and yet he was seeing it for himself. However, unbeknownst to Jack, an odd look crossed Takuya's eyes at that point before it faded. Takuya felt uneasy around the portal, and he didn't know why. It was freaking him out somewhat, and it made him feel panicked.

Of course, Jack took no notice of Takuya's discomfort. "Now, Maddie and I have been working on this baby for years. You were still around when we were working on it in fact. This Fenton Ghost Portal supposedly releases ghosts into our world, and we could go into their world. Though it wouldn't be safe to try without proper gear of course. We try to keep the portal's doors closed to prevent any ghosts from coming in, and only open it when we're down here. Of course… even when we have it open, we still don't see any ghosts, but one day, I'm sure we'll finally get a ghost. Isn't this exciting? We have a purely scientific breakthrough!"

"Yeah...great…" Takuya murmured. He wasn't so sure he liked this idea. It just seemed _wrong_ to him, and he wasn't sure why.

The two made their way back upstairs and Takuya then sat down on the couch, feeling a bit dizzy after leaving the lab. He put his head in his hands, wondering what was making him feel so on edge.

"Takuya… why don't you get settled in to your room?" Maddie suggested, likely seeing how tired the older boy looked. "Jack and I made sure it was ready for you to stay in when you came over. It's right next to Danny and Andy's bedroom."

Takuya smiled at that as he looked back up. "Thanks," He said gratefully. He _did_ need a break it seemed. Jet lag could do that to anyone. He got up and grabbed his suitcase before taking it up to the room he used to stay in.

The room itself had a nostalgic feel to Takuya. He used to stay here all the time when he was a kid whenever he visited Fenton Works and stayed overnight.

The bedroom had not changed much in his time since he was gone, except for some of the furniture was now different in style, namely it was not so personalized now.

As Takuya was getting himself settled in, he couldn't help but wonder about his younger cousins. Their reaction to the Ghost Portal was a little strange. He would've thought they would be more excited about it when he expressed how shocked he was that the Ghost Portal was actually completed, but instead, Danny looked like he got shocked, and Andy looked troubled.

Takuya decided he would ask Jazz how it got turned on, mostly because he didn't want Andy and Danny to have to explain it if something had happened. So, with that in mind, he left the room and found Jazz in the family room.

"Hey, Jazz?" He asked as he approached her. "Can I ask you something?"

Jazz looked up at him, and Takuya noticed that Jazz had been reading a psychology book. "Sure, you can ask me anything."

"How did the Ghost Portal turn on?" Takuya asked. "Last time Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack were working on it, they said it would be a while before it could work due to a lack of a power source powerful enough."

Jazz frowned at that, and closed her book. Takuya was a bit surprised at Jazz's reaction.

"Well… I suppose you do have a right to know about this…" Jazz said hesitantly. "But… you might want to sit down first."

Takuya sat down on the couch, not sure of what to expect.

"When the Ghost Portal turned on… Danny was inside it," Jazz explained.

Takuya felt fear flood his body. "He was _inside_ it?!" He exclaimed, almost shouting until he realized this must have been why Danny and Andy reacted the way they did. He also lowered his voice so as to not freak the twins out again. "I… how did Danny _survive_ that?" He murmured as he looked at the floor.

"To be honest… we didn't think he did…" Jazz said softly. "When it happened, we all heard Danny screaming. It was so loud that even Andy heard it from upstairs in the bedroom. We all came rushing into the lab, and Dad had to break down the door. Tucker and Sam were by Danny's side, who was lying unconscious on the floor. They told us Danny had been inside the Ghost Portal when it suddenly turned on. Andy was the first one to get to his brother. I was the only one who managed to snap out of it enough to call an ambulance. We… thought Danny… was dead, or was going to die."

Takuya felt a bit sick at the idea of one of his cousins dying like that. He then realized that he was shaking slightly as he looked down at his hands in shock. He also felt a few tears escape his eyes for a moment, and he realized he was also crying. He didn't know what else to feel at that point as he wiped at his eyes.

"I...I see…" Takuya rasped out. "T-thanks, Jazz. I...I did need to hear that."

If Takuya felt this scared for Danny just by hearing about it, he could only imagine how scary it was for the entire family when it was happening right before them.

Jazz walked over to Takuya before giving him a comforting hug. "But it's okay now. Danny is fine, there doesn't seem to be any ill side effects. This had been about a month ago already. But… I can't say that it doesn't have any… consequences."

"What do you mean, 'consequences'?" Takuya asked, although he had the feeling he would not like the answer.

"By consequences, I mean… it's been splitting Andy and Danny apart lately," Jazz answered softly as she broke off the hug so she could look at Takuya. "Danny has been keeping some kind of secret from us, and his friends, Tucker and Sam, are in on this secret. But because of that… they've been pushing Andy away. Andy has become a loner in school now…"

Takuya frowned at that. _'Danny has some kind of secret?'_ He wondered. _'That sounds a lot like Koji's and Koichi's situation before things got sorted out…'_ He shook his head before speaking to Jazz.

"And you want me to be helping Andy out so he is not alone?" Takuya questioned.

"Well, that would be ideal. I can only do so much to help him, but I don't go to the same classes as he does, and I also take a lot of extracurricular activities, so I'm not usually around during lunchtime either," Jazz answered. "Maybe if you're there to help keep him company, maybe Andy will open up a little more? I don't think this is healthy for him."

Takuya shrugged. "Sure, I don't see any harm in it." He replied. _'And maybe I can try and figure out this secret as well…'_ He mused to himself mentally.

Jazz smiled. "I'm sure Andy will appreciate that."

Takuya smiled back at her response. He would make sure he was there for Andy if it could be helpful. He didn't like it when one of his cousins was lonely after all.

Though despite Jazz's reassurance, Takuya also couldn't help but worry for Danny as well. The fact that Danny was electrocuted by the Ghost Portal disturbed him. There was no way Danny could've come out of it without some kind of side effect; perhaps Danny knew this, and that was what he was hiding.

It seemed possible to the older boy, but he couldn't be entirely sure. _'There's no way just asking Danny outright would get me information._' Takuya thought to himself. He knew Danny would keep things to himself if he could, only letting in those whom had been around him when it happened.

Takuya decided to talk to Andy first, since the younger twin had likely suffered the most when they thought Danny was dead after the accident. If Takuya knew anything about twins, it was that they were usually the other half of each other's souls, if Koji and Koichi had any indication to that.

Standing up, Takiya decided to find Andy. Looking around revealed Andy was in his and Danny's shared bedroom. Takuya knocked on the door as he walked in. "Knock knock," He joked as Andy turned to see him standing there.

"Hey, Takuya," Andy greeted without any enthusiasm.

"What's wrong?" Takuya asked as he entered the room, shutting the door so Danny wouldn't hear if he was nearby. "Is it about the accident?"

Seeing Andy's shocked look, Takuya decided to explain. "Jazz told me about it," He said quickly. "I...I didn't expect it to be as bad as she said...and...I want to make sure you're okay. You must have suffered seeing Danny like that the worst, considering you're twins and all." He made sure his voice and tone were as reassuring as possible as he spoke.

Andy sighed as he sat down on a desk chair. "It was… horrible, yeah. I thought I lost him. He's okay now, but… we haven't been talking much lately. He… Tucker, and Sam, seem to want to keep me away from something. Every time I try to talk to them, they tell me to talk about it another time. Danny would sometimes suddenly yelp about something, before Tucker and Sam stand in front of him and quickly ushered him away before telling me to talk to them later. It's been going on for a month now."

"It's okay," Takuya said soothingly. "Just give them some time to come around." Although the older boy doubted that highly. He just knew he needed to be there for Andy. "And honestly, I think they may do the same thing to me." He added in a half-joking, half-serious manner.

"They probably will," Andy sighed. "Well… heh, at least I won't be completely alone anymore, right?"

Takuya nodded with a smile. "You won't be for sure." He confirmed with a grin.

* * *

_Casper High_

Takuya couldn't help but take in the smell of Casper High. It was that nostalgic smell. Japanese schools were a bit different from American schools. Andy was following Takuya and looked at him.

"Taking in that Casper High smell, huh?" Andy chuckled.

"Heh...You know me well," Takuya said with a sheepish grin. "It's been a while since I have been here, so, why not?"

"Well, you haven't been _here_ exactly, but I guess the smell is the same," Andy chuckled. "I mean this is Casper High, so it's a high school after all."

Takuya chuckled at that. "True," He admitted. "I wonder if Danny told Sam and Tucker I'm back yet." He added, wondering that question out loud.

"He's probably telling them right now," Andy said, gesturing to his twin brother, who was ahead of them.

Takuya could see Danny was already talking to Tucker and Sam, who were now also teenagers. Takuya was not used to seeing Tucker and Sam being that tall.

"Wow, looks like Sam and Tucker grew up as well," Takuya mused as he looked both of them over. Sam was now looking like she was on her way to becoming a well-endowed woman, and Tucker was looking every bit the tech geek he claimed to be.

"Heh, of course they did, did you expect them to be little kids forever?" Andy chuckled. "You grew up too, you know. I barely recognized you when you were at my door yesterday."

The older boy chuckled at that. "And I didn't recognize you at all," He joked back. "You and Danny look even more alike now."

"Do we?" Andy blinked. "Nobody at school had problems telling us apart. Then again we did grow up with most of the students."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, that could have been my memory of you two being fuzzy, so…" He admitted, a slight blush on his face from embarrassment.

"This is what happens when you don't keep in touch," Andy remarked.

Danny, Tucker, and Sam started walking into the building.

Andy gave a sigh. "I normally try to spy on them to see if I could figure anything out that they're hiding, but… well, since you're here, I should help show you to your classes so you don't get lost."

Takuya frowned at hearing Andy say that, but he didn't blame the younger twin. "Eh, I can get my class schedule from the main office. But I would like you to show me around. It would help." He said. "And Andy, spying on Danny, Sam, and Tucker will make you look like a stalker. Although I can't say I blame you for doing so."

Andy rolled his eyes. "Perhaps I have gotten a bit too desperate. Loneliness can do that to a person."

"Yes, it can," Takuya agreed.

"Well, come on, let's get into Casper High. I have a lot of places to show you, and little time to do it," Andy said.

Takuya made sure to follow his cousin into the building. But deep in his gut, the older boy couldn't help but get the feeling something was going to happen, and he didn't like it one bit.

The hallways of Casper High were a bit more chaotic than the school Takuya went to. There were clear popular kids and unpopular kids in the area. It was far too easy to stereotype each of them. Takuya remembered talking to Zoey about the popular girls at one point; she told him that they were pretty mean. As they were passing by a very pretty, and thin girl, who had long black hair, and wore a pink top, and skinny jeans, Takuya could already get a cruel vibe from her.

Andy looked at the girl, and she took notice of them. The girl glared at Andy, and Andy answered back with his own glare before they kept walking.

"Who was that?" Takuya asked, having seen Andy glaring at the girl. "She one of those popular kids I can see around?"

"She's the queen of the popular girls around here," Andy grumbled. "Her name is Paulina Sanchez. But I wouldn't suggest talking to her. She's as shallow as a freaking puddle. And she isn't afraid of pranking those she deems as losers. And I'm talking about cruel pranks like pouring glue on your hair and spread it across the school."

"Yikes!" Takuya winced at that. "I don't want to cross her."

"Yeah… unfortunately, about 99% of guys, my brother included, are head over heels for her," Andy sighed in irritation.

"Wow. Makes me glad I didn't meet her." Takuya grunted in annoyance.

Andy chuckled.

"What?" Takuya asked.

"The fact you're not falling for her beauty leads me to believe you've either had a run in with another beautiful girl like her before, or you have someone else you have eyes for," Andy answered.

Takuya blushed a bit at that. "Well, kind of both…" He admitted. It was a half-truth, half-like sort of thing.

Andy grinned at that. "Good for you, Takuya~! Glad to know my cousin's got it going on."

"J-just don't tell Danny…" Takuya murmured. "I don't want him to tease me about it…"

"I think Danny's got his own problems to deal with to be teasing you about your possible future girlfriend right now," Andy sighed. "Anyways, I'll take you to Principal Ishyiama's office so you can get your schedule."

Takuya frowned at that, but nodded. "Okay, lead the way, Andy." He said.

Andy led his older cousin to the principal's office, where Takuya was surprised to meet an Asian woman being the school's principal. Ishiyma greeted Takuya with a kind smile before handing him his class schedule.

To Takuya's delight, he had most of his classes with Andy. Something about that seemed to be good fortune smiling down on the younger twin, as it meant he would not be alone anymore.

"It looks like I have quite a few classes with you, Andy!" He exclaimed as he held out his schedule.

Andy smiled at that. "That's great! Now you can just follow me to your classes."

The older boy followed Andy out to their first class together. Their first class was English Literature. Takuya was groaning at that. Since Takuya had been taking Japanese lessons for the past 6 years, he was a little rusty on the English Literature.

"Great...I hope I am not too rusty at the English Lit stuff…" He moaned as he looked at the schedule again. "Mom really wants me to brush up on things it seems…"

"At least you get Mr. Lancer for a teacher," Andy chuckled. "He's great at teaching this stuff."

Takuya perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah… if you can get past some of his droning voice and not fall asleep." Andy grinned with some humor.

Takuya sighed. He didn't like having to listen to teachers drone on and on.

"We're a bit early though, so maybe you could try to brush up on a book or something?" Andy suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Takuya agreed with a smile. "I could use the practice."

Andy chuckled at that remark.

As Andy sat down at his desk, Takuya managed to take a seat next to him. Not long after that, the other students started walking in. Danny was in this class as well, and so was Tucker.

"Hey, you're right, your cousin is back." Tucker smiled before he approached Takuya. "Hey Takuya, it's been a while!"

Takuya looked back at Tucker and waved. "It sure has!" He greeted back with a grin.

The two boys gave each other a high-five. Tucker was grinning like a goofball. "So how was Japan? Were there any advanced technology there that hasn't come to America yet?"

The older boy chuckled at the tech-geek's eagerness for new technologies. "No, not yet." He replied with a grin.

"I heard cell phones down there are more advanced," Danny commented. "Maybe even more so than your PDA, Tuck."

Takuya laughed at Tucker's pout at the good-natured jab. "He has a point there, Tucker," Takuya teased the African-American boy.

"Is that so? Then let me see your cell phone," Tucker said. "I want to see how much more advanced it is compared to my baby."

Takuya nodded and took out his cell-phone; it was really his _second_ one since his first one was no longer its original form. "Here," He said as he held it up. "This thing has email access on it."

Tucker looked over the cell-phone, surprised he could access email on it, as well as the internet in general. "Wow! I didn't think cell-phones could be used to access the internet like that! Or even email! And all from one device?! That's impressive!" The boy exclaimed as he geeked out over it. He was looking through Takuya's emails as well as seeing what sites he could access from it.

"Yo, Tuck, maybe you should give that back before you mess something u-" Danny suddenly cut himself off and yelped, like something just interrupted him.

Danny quickly hid his right arm behind his back, looking around frantically like a scared animal. "Y-you know what? I'll go sit down and get ready for class now."

Takuya heard the yelp and frowned as he saw Danny hide his arm behind his back. But he didn't press any further, as class was about to start. Tucker handed Takuya back his cell-phone and also sat down as Takuya looked at where the teacher sat, seeing whom had to be Mr. Lancer.

The bald, out of shape man spoke up once the bell rang. "Alright students, time to sit down and take out your textbooks."

Takuya really didn't like how Mr. Lancer sounded; his voice was meant to put people to sleep with how uninteresting his voice sounded.

And he felt it too. As class droned on, so did Mr. Lancer, making the goggle-wearing teen want to doze off in class, which would not make for a good first day. Once or twice, he was sure he _did_ fall asleep too.

Andy once had to tap Takuya's back to get him to wake up, because Mr. Lancer was scanning the class. Takuya was grateful for that.

* * *

When class finally ended, Takuya was all too grateful to get out of the classroom.

"I guess English isn't your best subject, huh?" Danny chuckled as he, Tucker, and Andy were walking out of the classroom with Takuya.

"Don't remind me…" Takuya grumbled. He really wished his mom hadn't signed him up for that class first thing in the morning. "Why mom _had_ to sign me up, I get it, but not so early!"

"If you want, I could help you through some of the English homework later today," Andy offered.

Takuya smiled at the offer. "Sure. I could use the help," He replied.

"I've totally gotta see what else you have, even though I couldn't read what was on your phone due to it being in Japanese…" Tucker pouted a little. "I'll bet I could translate it with my PDA though. And I want to see what else that baby can do."

"Sure, Tuck." Takuya said with a grin. "But I don't really have anything else with me. Just my phone." The last statement was a lie, but he was not revealing that it was. He had his reasons.

_'__Tucker would have a heart attack if he ever saw my D-Tector.'_ Takuya couldn't help but muse.

"Hey… maybe we could talk more at lunch today?" Andy suggested a little shyly.

Takuya grinned at that. "Sure, Andy." He said as he smiled at his cousins and Tucker.

Although that nagging feeling of something about to happen came back and Takuya had to wonder what it was that was bothering him. He knew it was a feeling he had felt before, but never in the real world.

"Right… yeah, we can," Danny said, looking guilty.

Takuya heard that and frowned. '_Why does Danny sound like he is feeling guilty?_ _Oh, right...he has been pushing Andy away since the accident…'_ The older boy remembered.

"Great! I'm looking forward to you having meatloaf with us today, Takuya, it's been 6 years since you had proper American food!" Tucker smiled excitedly.

Takuya chuckled at the comment. "Still eating meat, Tuck?" He asked in a teasing manner.

Tucker grinned at the question. "Yep!" He replied. "And it's 14 years strong!"

"And it's about to end," A familiar voice spoke up. "Hey Takuya, glad to see you're back."

Takuya turned and saw Sam there. "Good to be back," He agreed, but then he frowned. "And what did you mean it is about to end?"

"Let's just say I wore down the school staff with serving nothing but meat these past 50 or so years in this school," Sam answered with a satisfying grin.

"Wait… what did you do?" Tucker frowned.

"And this cannot end well," Andy sighed, already seeing disaster on the horizon.

Takuya was not sure he liked what was going down, so he kept a safe distance from Sam and Tucker, knowing how bad their disagreements could get from past experience.

"Oh, you'll see during lunchtime~!" Sam smiled.

"Suddenly I'm getting a bad feeling…" Danny gulped.

Then out of the corner of Takuya's eyes, he could've sworn Danny was suddenly sinking. When he tried to look, there was a sudden yelp from Sam, which made him look at Sam.

"Oh, uh… something just startled me!" Sam quickly said.

Takuya frowned at that. He knew Sam had spoken too quickly for his liking, but he didn't call her out on it, since he had his own share of secrets to hide. He could have sworn she did it on purpose to keep him from seeing Danny sinking into the floor, if that was what had happened.

When Takuya and Andy looked at Danny again, he wasn't sinking anymore, if that was what was happening, but Tucker had a firm grip on his arm. Takuya heard Andy sighing beside him, likely having experienced this before.

"I see…" Takuya mumbled, not liking what he was seeing. It seemed Jazz was right about Andy being pushed away by Danny, Sam, and Tucker. It only confirmed for him that something was up with Danny, but the threesome didn't want anyone else to know, not even him or Andy.

"Let's get to class, you know, before we're late and get into trouble," Andy suggested, breaking up the tension.

* * *

After going through a couple more classes, it was finally lunchtime. Takuya didn't struggle too much with the mathematics class, or the history class. It was just the English literature class he had trouble with, especially with Mr. Lancer. But Takuya always enjoyed lunchtime in any school; it was a nice break from the classes.

As the five entered the lunch room, the older boy could see the students were grouped in their own groups like they tended to do in the halls.

The cafeteria, however, was filled with groans from students. When the group walked up to the lunch lady with their trays, they could see why. Danny looked down at the bread that had literal grass growing on it that was on his plate.

"What… is this? Grass on a bun?" Danny asked.

"Well, technically it's a bread, not a bun," Andy corrected.

Takuya poked his with a finger. "I don't think this is what humans are meant to eat, Sam," He muttered. "We are not cows."

"Please, please, _puh-lease_ tell me there's some kind of meat or something you have!" Tucker begged the lunch lady.

"No, this is all we have, now move it along!" The lunch lady grumbled, clearly not happy to be there.

Tucker glared at Sam before he shouted. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

"I changed the menu," Sam said with a smug grin on her face.

Takuya frowned at that. "Without asking the rest of us?" He asked.

"Cheer up, guys, this stuff is way better for you than meat," Sam stated as they were walking to an empty lunch table.

"Sam, I get it. You want to be different, but _this_," Takuya said as he pointed at the bread with grass on his plate, "...is _not_ what someone who wants to end meat consumption here should do. We are not cows!"

Then Takuya, for some reason, got a disturbing thought of 'what if one of his Spirits turned him into a Cowmon?'.

"Besides… don't you think this is a little extreme, Sam?" Danny asked, cutting up a piece of the grassy bread.

"Ah, Ms. Manson," Mr. Lancer suddenly came out of nowhere, and had a hand on Sam's shoulder. "The school board wanted me to personally thank you for adding this wonderful experience to our school."

"I wouldn't say 'wonderful' exactly," Andy muttered. "Couldn't you have just added the vegan option instead of making it the _only _option?"

Takuya gave Sam a glare. "And without the input from others?" He added in a growl.

Sam just brushed off their opinion. "It's better for everyone to eat vegan," She assured them.

"Hey! Why do I smell meat on you, Mr. Lancer?" Tucker asked, giving Mr. Lancer a suspicious glare.

"O-oh, it's probably your imagination. If you heard any rumors about the all-you-can-eat steak buffet in the teacher's lounge, just know they are completely untrue," Mr. Lancer quickly said before he smiled at Sam. "Thanks again."

With that, Mr. Lancer walked away.

"So I guess that means the teachers got to benefit with taking meat away from the menu…" Danny grumbled.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, but that little story he just said? Completely false." The older boy muttered. "Why tell us those rumors were not true?"

"Stop complaining, at least try it," Sam said.

"You know Sam, there's a difference between being a different individual, and trying to shove your own ideals down other people's throats," Andy grumbled._ 'Maybe she got that from her parents.'_

Takuya sighed. "She's not going to listen, Andy," He said with a sigh. He then looked at his bread with grass on it. _'I _really_ don't want to try it…'_

Andy picked up the grass from the bread and studied it. "Is this actual grass?"

Danny looked like he was about to say something when he suddenly let out a small gasp, and blue mist suddenly came out of his mouth.

Hearing Danny gasp, Takuya looked over and swore he saw this blue mist escape from Danny's mouth, but then he felt something off, like a surge of heat rushed through his body before it faded. Now he was on edge, looking around slightly for anything unusual.

Andy looked at the two of them. "Hey, what's going on?"

Takuya looked back at Andy. "Just...something…" He trailed off, unsure of how to word it correctly without giving away he felt uneasy. "...feels off." He finished. "Like something is lurking here…"

"You…" Danny started to say, looking at Takuya in surprise. "... There's just a sudden chill in the air, I think that-"

Suddenly something that looked like mud slammed Danny in the back of the head, and it was soon followed by a loud voice.

"FENTON NUMBER 1!" The voice yelled in anger.

Andy lowered his head quickly as he looked back, seeing a muscular tall blond haired boy marching up to them, holding a plate of three mud with bits of grass growing from them. The boy wore a black t-shirt, a red and white long sleeve jacket, and blue skinny jeans. He glared at Danny, pointing at the plate.

"I ordered 3 mud pies from the cafeteria, and you know what they gave me? 3 MUD PIES! With _mud_, from the _ground_! All because of your girlfriend!" The boy snapped angrily.

Takuya glared at the boy, not liking how he was acting towards his cousin. He stood up and walked up to the boy. "And just who are you to bully my cousin?" The brown-haired boy asked as he glared at the jock.

"For the record, she's not my girlfriend!" Danny quickly added.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Sam agreed.

"And who are you!?" The larger boy snapped at Takuya, clearly irritated that his lunch was pretty much just mud and grass.

"I'm Takuya, the transfer from Japan, and cousin of Danny." Takuya replied, but he tried to keep his voice from gaining a low growl to it as well. This jock was ticking off not just his human form, but his Spirits as well.

"Then I will give you a fair warning now, stand down while I deal with Fenton #1!" The jock snapped.

"H-hey, maybe we should all calm down before we do something we'll regret," Andy quickly spoke up, sensing the tension in the atmosphere.

The jock turned his attention to Andy. "And what are you going to do about it, Fenton #2?"

Andy shrunk down from the blond's death gaze.

Takuya didn't back down though. "No, I don't think I will stand down." Takuya said, as he stood tall in front of the jock. "And just who are you to order me to do so, anyway?"

"Are you challenging me then, Japanese boy?" The jock glared at Takuya.

"Ah!" Danny suddenly picked up his plate. "Garbage fight!"

Danny suddenly tossed the plate of grass and mud right into Dash's face. It made a SMOOSH and SPLAT sound, and as if that triggered something, everyone in the cafeteria began to throw their muds and grasses at each other.

Seeing that, Takuya ducked down before he got hit in the face with it. "Danny!" He exclaimed. "What the heck?!"

"Hey! It's not garbage!" Sam shouted before Danny grabbed her arm and pulled her down under the table.

Andy yelped before he tackled Takuya down at another table, narrowly avoiding six mud pies that were being thrown in their direction.

"Thanks, Andy," Takuya panted as he looked at his cousin. "Would have been covered in mud back there."

"Yeah, when there's a food fight, you should be alert at all times, it's pretty much war here," Andy said, looking out from the table they were under. "... Where are Danny, Tucker, and Sam going?"

Takuya looked out to see what Andy was talking about, and noticed the trio were crawling towards the kitchen door.

"Looks like they're going to the kitchen," The older boy mused. "But why?"

"I don't know, but they're going to get in trouble going in there… well, more trouble than starting the food fight," Andy mumbled. "Then again, with how weird and secretive they've been acting lately, maybe they have more of a reason to be going into the kitchen. Maybe that's why Danny started that food fight, he wouldn't have without a good reason I'm sure."

"I guess that makes sense," Takuya agreed. "But we need to find out what they're doing in there and why." He looked back at Andy. "Are you willing to risk it?"

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS FENTURD 1!" The jock's voice screamed out with rage, his face covered in mud.

"Who is that jerk anyways?" Takuya asked.

"That's Dash Baxter, he's the captain of the football team," Andy answered. "He's also the leader of most jock bullies around here. I wouldn't mess with him unless you're really good at fighting."

_Good thing I am then…_ Takuya mused mentally. _Not that Andy needs to know._ "I will take your word for it then," Takuya said, trying to make it look like he was accepting Andy's advice.

"Whew!" A feminine voice suddenly spoke up, and someone ducked under the table they were hiding in. "It's crazy out there! I'd rather not get my clothes all muddy thank you very much."

Takuya looked over at the voice and saw it was one of the few people whom had been nice to Andy and Danny when he had been living in America before his move. "Hey...aren't you…" He trailed off, not sure if he truly remembered her. "You look familiar…"

The African-American girl looked at Takuya for a moment, before she noticed Andy beside him. "Oh, there you are Andy, I was wondering what you were doing when the food fight started."

"Hiding. Takuya, this is Valerie, she's one of the lower tier popular girls around here. Valerie, this is Takuya, my cousin, he moved to Japan 6 years ago, he just came back here yesterday for an exchange program," Andy introduced. "I think you two had seen each other a few times before Takuya moved away."

_Now_ Takuya remembered who it was. "Hey, Valerie." He said with a grin. "It's been a while."

"Ah, right, you were the guy who could speak Japanese, it was pretty cool," Valerie remembered.

Takuya nodded before he suddenly felt that surge of heat again before it faded. He looked back at the kitchen area, a frown crossing his face. "Andy, I hate to interrupt, but we have to get to the kitchen before we lose track of Danny, Sam, and Tucker."

Andy looked at Takuya before he reached up the table they were hiding under and grabbed onto a tray. He handed the tray to Takuya. "Here, you can use this as a shield from the muddy ammo out there. You go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Takuya frowned at that, but nodded, taking the tray and diving out before standing up, running towards the kitchen as he did so. He held the tray in front of him like a literal shield, blocking any mud pies from hitting his face. _I wish I could wear my goggles, but I don't want to get in trouble._ He thought mentally. _Well, the tray works well_.

The boy reached the kitchen with no trouble, although he did have a few close calls from Dash throwing mud his way.

Takuya opened the kitchen door and poked his head inside, and what he saw shocked him. He saw Tucker and Sam, but they weren't who shocked him; he saw this fat looking lunch lady with green skin, she had this aura around her that was unnatural and hot. She was literally on fire as she was screeching about something. Then there was another being that made the hair on his neck stand up. This being was a boy, with hair that was as white as snow, and he wore some kind of black jumpsuit with some white on it. He also had an unnatural aura, but his was much more freezing.

There were plates that the ghost lunch lady was using telekinesis on, and were throwing them at Tucker and Sam. The ghost boy, however, quickly caught all the plates, keeping the two human children from harm. Neither Tucker nor Sam seemed too scared or surprised by the ghost boy when he flew in front of them to catch the dishes. The ghost boy put all the dishes back on the counter, before the lunch lady ghost began bringing three ovens to life.

Takuya's brown eyes were wide as he witnessed the fight. At the same time, that surge of heat came and faded again, and he could feel uneasy around the lunch lady ghost as well as the ghost boy. It was hard to believe, but he was seeing two _real ghosts_ in front of him, and they were _fighting_. He didn't know what else to do except stare in horror. His mind was racing as he watched the two ghostly entities before him.

_There are ghosts..._here_?! _He thought. _This...can't be real. It just _can't_!_ But it was, and he felt so on edge it was not funny to him.

"LUNCH IS SACRED! LUNCH HAS RULES!" The burning lunch lady ghost growled, before the fire around her went out, and she gave a kind smile, holding up a plate with a slice of cake on it. "Anybody want cake?"

Dumbfounded, Tucker and Sam nodded.

Then all at once, the lunch lady ghost's kindness disappeared and her fire was back. "TOO BAD! CHILDREN WHO CHANGE _MY_ MENU DO NOT GET DESSERT!"

Takuya blinked, both surprised and scared at what he was seeing. _Okay, first that lunch lady ghost is raging and then becomes nice? Two face personality? What is that about?_ He then realized Sam and Tucker were in danger and felt the urge to rush out to help them. But he had to stop himself. He was not going to risk his secret if he could. _Or am I?_

The Lunch Lady, that's what Takuya decided to call her, then floated up and through the ceiling, leaving the three ovens she brought to life to shoot out green fire at Tucker and Sam. Tucker and Sam quickly jumped out of the way, dodging the flames, while the ghost boy moved aside from the flames himself. Then the ovens jumped towards the two kids. Takuya was about to rush into action when, to his surprise, the ghost boy flew towards Tucker and Sam, grabbed onto them with his hands, then focused. Their bodies became clear and see-thru, then without a moment to spare, the ghost boy dragged them through the wall. The three ovens ended up smashing into the wall they just went through, and fell to the ground, broken.

Gaping, Takuya felt panic rush through him. _Did that ghost boy just kidnap Sam and Tucker?!_ He didn't know what else to think about it at that point.

"Takuya?" A familiar voice suddenly spoke up from behind Takuya, making him jump. "Whoa, what's wrong?"

Takuya whirled around to face the voice, only to see Andy there. "Andy! You missed it! There was a fight here and everything!" The older boy exclaimed as he waved his arms a bit. "Two ghosts! Fighting! One kidnapped Sam and Tucker!"

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Andy spoke up while Takuya was ranting on about the fight he just saw.

Takuya was trying to breathe to calm himself down while Andy looked around him to see the three broken ovens. "Whoa, it looks like a tornado just went through here."

"You're telling me," Takuya grumbled. "The first ghost took control of the ovens. It was a fat lunch lady ghost, by the way."

"An actual ghost?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Like the spirit of a dead person?"

"Yes!" Takuya exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see one, but I did!"

"Okay, calm down… what were you saying about a fight and one kidnapping Sam and Tucker?" Andy asked, trying to get Takuya to calm down so he could talk straight.

Takuya took in a few deep breaths before he sighed. "Okay. There were two ghosts in here. One was the lunch lady ghost, and the other was a ghost boy. The two were fighting, and Sam and Tucker were off to the side. Then, the lunch lady ghost tried to attack them, and the ghost boy saved them by catching a bunch of plates that were hurled at the two. Then, the ovens were brought to life, Sam and Tucker were turned see-thru and clear by the ghost boy, and then it pulled them through the wall." Takuya explained, trying to remain calm. But it was not easy as he had just seen _two ghosts_.

Andy's eyebrows furrowed as he heard Takuya's testimony. "Two ghosts… a lunch lady ghost, and a ghost boy? Why would the ghost boy save two humans? And… where is Danny? Wasn't he with Tucker and Sam?"

Takuya paled as he realized Danny hadn't been with the two. "No...he wasn't…" He realized with dread. "I didn't see him at all…"

Before they could say anymore, the entire school was suddenly shaking. Supernatural powers spread across the school, it made Takuya uneasy and almost queasy.

"Okay, what the heck is going on?" Andy frowned.

"I don't know," Takuya muttered as he regained his sense of himself. "But that didn't sound good…" He looked to Andy. "Should we go and see where that came from?"

"Don't ask, just go!" Andy instructed.

Takuya and Andy started to run out of the cafeteria to try to find where all this shaking was coming from, when Andy ended up running into a brick wall, or rather, into Dash Baxter. Dash quickly grabbed onto Andy's shirt.

"Well, looks like I found the Fenturd Clone at least," Dash grumbled, his face and jacket covered in mud.

"Uh… could you let me go, please?" Andy asked politely.

Dash didn't let Andy go though. Instead, he held the boy's shirt tighter. "No." Dash said as he glared at Andy.

Takuya wanted to get past the bully, but because he was in the way of the door, the two of them were trapped. "Now's not a good time for this…" He said to Dash.

"You two aren't going anywhere except with me," Mr. Lancer spoke up, approaching them.

Takuya and Andy noticed that Tucker and, much to Takuya's immense relief, Danny were behind Mr. Lancer. But there was no sign of Sam.

While the older boy was relieved Danny was safe, he did not like the fact only Tucker was with him. But they had to deal with Mr. Lancer first.

"All of you are going to my office, now," Mr. Lancer said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Dash let Andy go so he could follow Mr. Lancer, though not without giving a satisfying smirk.

* * *

**Takuya returns to Amity Park, and begins a new adventure with his cousin Andy while trying to find out why his other cousin Danny is pushing his twin brother away. What will this adventure hold? Read on to find out~! :3**


	2. Meat Monster Rampage

**ZAFT Convoy:** Well, here is another chapter~ One thing I will point out, I do not own any of the franchises involved here, or Andy Fenton, as he belongs to DarkFoxKit and is used with permission.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah. Right now we're setting up the story itself, so the beginning will be a little rough and take up from My Brother's a Ghost for a bit. But it'll start to divert once we get to the second episode, I promise. By second episode, I mean the episode in Danny Phantom, not like the second chapter to the story.

**ZAFT Convoy:** Yep. And by the second episode of Danny Phantom, which would be around chapter 3 for the story, it will get good.

**DarkFoxKit:** Until then, we hope the beginning parts will still keep your attention until things start to change and become more interesting.

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Giant Meat Monster Rampage**

Andy, Danny, Tucker, and Takuya found themselves sitting in chairs in Mr. Lancer's office while he was digging through their student files.

"Tucker Foley, chronic tardiness, talking in class… repeated loitering by the girl's locker room…" Mr. Lancer listed.

Tucker gave a secretive smile at that last part. Which made Takuya easily picturing Zoey punching the living daylights out of Tucker.

"Daniel Fenton, 34 beakers dropped in science class, banned from handling anything fragile again…" Mr Lancer continued.

Takuya was shocked to hear that Danny broke 34 beakers, nobody was that clumsy.

Mr. Lancer then moved on to Andy. "Andrew Fenton… no mischief or misbehavior of any kind was recorded for you."

Then Mr. Lancer looked at Takuya. "And you, the transfer student...Takuya Kanbara...your record is clean as well, it seems…" He continued.

Mr. Lancer then put the folders down. "So… that does leave me to question… Why did the four of you conspire to destroy the school cafeteria!?"

"I…" Takuya trailed off here. He had no idea why Danny had thrown that plate of mud anyway. Just that he had. He looked at Danny in confusion.

Danny quickly spoke up his defense. "Dash started it! He threw a mud pie at my head!"

Which was technically the truth, Dash was the one who threw the mud pie first.

Takuya then remembered that. "Yeah! Dash was bullying my cousin!" He explained at last. He cursed his distracted mind at the time.

Mr. Lancer sighed at that. "Perhaps, but Dash wasn't the one who shouted 'garbage fight', now did he? Besides, Dash won us the last football game, so I have to exempt him from punishment according to the school boards."

Takuya frowned at that.

What Mr. Lancer said had some truth to it. Danny had shouted 'garbage fight', but there had to be a reason. _Danny has to have a reason why he did that, but what is it?_ Takuya thought to

"Doesn't seem very fair…" Andy spoke up.

Mr. Lancer sighed. "I can see why you would think that. But unfortunately that is out of my hands. I will have to map out your punishments when I return. Don't leave this room, there are cameras set in this school that will let me know if you four try to leave without permission."

With that warning, Mr. Lancer walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

As soon as the boys were left alone, Takuya was the first to speak up. "Okay, what the heck happened back there in the kitchen? Where's Sam? What was going on with those ghosts?"

"Ghosts? What ghosts?" Tucker quickly asked, looking nervous.

"Takuya saw you and Sam in the middle of a ghost battle," Andy explained.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, and you and Sam got taken by this ghostly kid through the wall," He added. "And where is she? Is she okay?"

The older boy didn't like the fact Tucker was lying to him. He knew, but wasn't saying anything.

"Sam is… somewhere," Danny said, looking worried about something.

"I get the feeling you're not going to tell us, right?" Andy said, crossing his arms.

Tucker and Danny grinned nervously. "Uh...she is safe," Danny said as he looked at his cousin and brother.

"I doubt it," Takuya said as he folded his arms over his chest. "That lunch lady ghost didn't look happy about something, and she targeted you and Sam for a reason."

"She was mostly targeting Sam since she changed the menu…" Tucker muttered, which promptly earned an elbow to the ribs by Danny. "Ow!"

Takuya frowned at that, but didn't press the issue. Okay, I'm sure Danny and Tucker are hiding something now. He thought. "So Sam was the target? I see." He said before his eyes went wide. "WHAT?!"

"If this Lunch Lady is a ghost, then perhaps it makes sense that she would target Sam," Andy said, which got surprise faces from the other three boys. "I mean think about it, from what we were taught about ghosts, they have Obsessions, right? That Lunch Lady ghost must've worked here at some point in her life, and the menu was her passion before she passed away. So having it changed must've made her go on a rampage."

Takuya had to admit, that explanation made sense to him. But it also worried him now, because Sam was in danger. "Listen, we need to find Sam, and fast!" He exclaimed. "She could be in danger!"

"How are we going to find her? She could be anywhere if she was taken by a ghost!" Danny shouted back.

"Wait…" Tucker spoke up before he started to sniff the air. "My meat senses are very high, and I can definitely smell the strong scent of meat that was recently cooked. That Lunch Lady ghost can use meat as armor, so I'm guessing she's still in the building somewhere, likely with Sam."

Looking at Tucker with a grin, Takuya nodded. "Makes sense. And you can lead us there." He said before his grin became a frown. "But how are we going to get to Sam if we are in here?"

Danny frowned, he looked like he had an idea, but he didn't want to say it.

"Hang on…" Tucker said before he looked at the video monitors that Mr. Lancer had in his office. "I see some meat trail, that looks like that leads to the school's basement."

Looking at the monitor, Takuya could see it. "Yeah...I see it." He agreed. "I think that is the trail we need."

"Well, the best way we could get out of here is through the window," Andy pointed at the window. "But… we're on the second floor… so we'll need to climb down, without falling… that's going to be fun."

Takuya winced at that. "Yeah...sounds fun…" He looked out the window and saw a tree branch nearby. "Maybe we could climb down that tree?" He suggested.

"Tree climbing?" Tucker gulped. "I'm… really bad at climbing…"

"Well, you can stay here then, we'll go and find Sam ourselves," Andy said.

Tucker groaned. "I don't want to stay here…" He whined before he opened the window and climbed out onto the tree, shimming down the trunk as he did so. Takuya was next, with Danny and Andy bringing up the rear. They had to be careful, because if they slipped, they would hit the ground hard.

As they were climbing down, they could hear Mr. Lancer's voice shouting. "WORSE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!"

"Well… we're going to get in double trouble for this…" Danny gulped.

Once they reached the bottom, Takuya looked at Tucker. "So, where to?" He asked.

Tucker sniffed the air again. "This way," He said as he led the group into the main entrance, making sure to stay away from anyone who could see them.

Takuya, Danny, and Andy followed the meat lover boy back into the school, careful to keep themselves hidden. They moved between lockers while in the hallway as Tucker led them to a door that led down into the school's basement. Which turned out to be the school's meat locker.

"Sweet mother of mutton…" Tucker stared at all the boxes and boxes of meat.

Takuya looked at the meat and frowned. "Since when did the school have a meat locker?" He wondered out loud. Then, he felt that surge of heat again, which was odd. Looking around, he saw the meat trail. "Hey, I found the meat trail!" He exclaimed.

"Shh! Don't talk so loud, or the ghost will hear you!" Andy hissed. "Do ghosts have a stronger sense of hearing?"

"Uh… how would we know that?" Danny nervously asked.

Andy blinked before shaking his head. "A better question is once we do find this ghost, how are we going to handle her and rescue Sam? None of us know how to fight ghosts, or are equipped to. Maybe we should call Mom and Dad…"

Takuya frowned at that. "I'm not sure that is a good idea," He said cautiously. "They may get a bit too...enthusiastic about seeing a real ghost…" He also had something else on his mind, but he wasn't sure if it would work out, considering how it had been four years since he last did so.

"What about that ghost kid you said you saw?" Andy asked. "Shouldn't we keep an eye out for him? Apparently when those two see each other, they clash, probably fighting over territory or haunts or something."

Hearing that made Takuya pause. "Yeah...we probably should keep an eye out…" He agreed.

"Um…" Danny spoke up, looking nervous. "How about you two go on ahead? Tucker and I will watch your backs in case any other ghosts come by."

Takuya and Andy looked at Danny before the older boy nodded. "Okay," Takuya said. "We'll go look for Sam ahead." He then went on ahead, Andy looking at his brother before following Takuya.

"... That's kind of odd…" Andy whispered as he and Takuya went ahead. "Why would Danny insist to 'watch our backs'?"

There was a sudden flash of light behind them, and Takuya felt that familiar unnatural freezing aura.

He turned around, but Danny and Tucker were gone. "I don't believe this…" He growled. "They're gone!"

Andy whirled around, only to see his cousin was right. "What the? What happened to them?"

"I have no idea," Takuya admitted. "But whatever happened, it isn't good."

Looking ahead, he wondered if they would find Sam. "Let's keep going. We need to find Sam." Takuya said as he continued to walk on.

"Wait… what if that ghost boy came in just now, and took Danny and Tucker?" Andy asked.

Takuya paused in his walking. _Oh, crap… _He looked back at Andy. "I...I'm sure those two would have found a way to escape," He assured his younger cousin. "I mean, you two are the children of ghost hunters, right? You must have been taught some things to escape from a ghost, right?"

Andy frowned a little. "We… ignored Mom and Dad's lecture about ghosts after a while…"

Suddenly there was meat coming out of the boxes, and were floating. The floating meat was going all in one place. Andy stared at the floating meat in shock, he had never seen anything like it before.

Takuya was also in shock, as this was all new to him as well. He didn't know what to think until that heat flooded his body again. He looked at Andy. "Hey, why don't you go see where that meat is headed? I can probably try and sneak up on the ghost from the other side." He suggested. In reality, he was hoping to find a place to bust out his secret weapon.

There was a sudden scream that sounded similar to Danny, but also different. Then they heard two more screams, and they saw Tucker and Sam running past them.

"Hey! There's Tucker… and Sam!" Andy pointed out. "But what are they running fro-"

Andy and Takuya heard a roar behind them, and they quickly turned around, seeing a giant meat monster with glowing green eyes glaring down at them.

"Andy...RUN!" Takuya shouted, shoving Andy in one direction before he ran in the other direction. "SPLIT UP!"

Andy nearly lost his balance at the sudden shove, but he managed to stay on his feet as he ran towards Tucker and Sam.

"Head for the door!" Andy shouted to them.

"Andy!? What are you doing here!?" Sam asked in confusion as he caught up to them.

"I was looking for you! What do you think I'm doing here!?" Andy answered back.

"And where's Takuya?" Tucker asked.

Andy looked back at him. "He shoved me aside as that meat thing attacked us!" He exclaimed. "But then he ran down another way. I lost him."

As they almost reached the door that would lead them out of the meat locker, it was suddenly covered by piles of meat.

"Are you kidding me!?" Andy hissed.

It was then that Takuya came running up. "You okay?" He asked, panting. Avoiding the meat monster had not been easy, considering his reflexes were not as good as they were in his other form.

He looked at the blocked off entrance. "Great…" He hissed. Running over, Takuya made to grab at some meat. "Help me move this!" He exclaimed.

"No! Run!" Tucker suddenly warned.

The meat monster was about to body slam Takuya.

Andy grabbed Takuya's arm and pulled him away from the meat monster, and the four of them started running in the other direction together. The meat monster started to chase them. However, the ghost boy flew out from the wall and started to fly towards them.

Looking back, Takuya saw the ghost boy coming towards them, and began to panic. _What is this ghost going to do?!_ He thought in a panic. _What does it want?!_

The ghost boy suddenly dived down towards them, and he grabbed onto Andy and Sam, then he flew up a little bit, and moved his ghostly tail in front of Tucker and Takuya.

"Grab on!" The ghost boy instructed.

Tucker didn't hesitate to grab onto the ghost boy's tail.

While Takuya did hesitate a bit, the fact a meat monster was chasing him prompted him to grab on as well. He held on for dear life as he waited for the ghost boy's next move.

The ghost boy struggled a bit as he flew up with four people. He struggled a bit as he focused on something. Andy and Takuya felt a cold tingly feeling as their bodies started to turn clear and see-thru. Takuya fought down the urge to panic and let go. The ghost boy then flew them through a wall, which was an odd sensation for the two boys. The next thing they knew, they were in the sky, outside the school.

"Oh my gosh!" Andy yelped, as if just realizing he was being carried by a freaking ghost.

_Don't look down...don't look down...don't look down!_ Takuya repeated in his mind as he had closed his eyes so he couldn't see what was below them. Flying under his own power was one thing, but being carried off by a ghost was quite another. He had to consciously make sure he wasn't letting go of the ghost boy's tail.

Sam was looking at the ghost boy in concern, she noticed that he was looking exhausted. "Maybe you should la-"

The ghost boy suddenly lost consciousness and fell down, dropping the people he was carrying as well. This caused his tail to become faded, causing Takuya and Tucker to fall through it. Andy and Takuya screamed as they fell into bushes, while Tucker and Sam fell beside the ghost boy.

Takuya popped up from the bushes, a few sticks and twigs in his brown hair before he ran a hand through his hair to remove the pieces of branch. Andy groaned as he sat up, rubbing at his sore head.

Looking over his person, Takuya saw he was unharmed, and still had his D-Tector in his pants pocket. He sighed with relief at feeling it in there. "That was close…" He murmured.

Andy grumbled as he moved his way out of the bush he landed in, his shirt and hair covered with twigs and leaves. There was a blinding flash of light for a second, which caught Andy and Takuya's attention. Both boys were surprised to see Danny was lying unconscious between Tucker and Sam.

"What… where did Danny come from?" Andy asked, confused. "Where did that ghost boy go?"

"Sam! Tucker!" Takuya exclaimed as he ran over. "Is Danny okay? And where is the ghost boy?" Last he had seen, Danny had been missing in the meat locker, and now he was outside? _What is going on here?_

"He uh… the ghost boy dropped us off here and flew away somewhere," Sam answered after a moment of hesitation. "I think he managed to grab onto Danny back in that chaos with the meat monster."

"Danny probably passed out after seeing that giant meat monster, or maybe he just passed out because he ran so much," Tucker shrugged. "He should be fine after we get him home to rest."

Takuya frowned at that, but had to admit, that claim did have some merit to it. He hadn't seen Danny and the ghost boy in the meat locker, so it seemed possible the ghost boy got Danny out first. "Okay…" He said after a while. "Do you want some help getting him home?"

"Yeah, that might be helpful. Danny isn't heavy, but we're not exactly strong people," Tucker chuckled sheepishly.

"Speak for yourself. If you'd eat your vegetables, you'd be able to lift Danny pretty easily," Sam retorted.

"Maybe if you ate some meat, you'd have some actual muscles on your body!" Tucker snapped back.

"Hey, let's not get into this debate right now, we need to get my brother home," Andy spoke up, diffusing the argument before it could escalate. "I also want to get out of here in case anymore ghosts decide to show up."

Takuya had to agree with Andy. "I agree. I just want to get away from here and get Danny home as well." With that said he made his way to Danny and lifted him onto his back so Danny's head was resting on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around his neck. "Okay, I got Danny. Let's go."

He began to walk off towards Fenton Works, still carrying Danny.

"Wow, Takuya, when did you get so strong?" Tucker asked, impressed at how he was carrying Danny.

"Must've went through some anime life changing stuff back at Japan," Andy joked.

Takuya put on a smile at that. "You could say that." Takuya said, although his smile seemed fake. Andy had no idea as to how close to the mark he was.

* * *

Things were a bit hectic when they got back to Fenton Works. As soon as Takuya opened the door, he, Andy, Tucker and Sam saw Jazz had a vacuum cleaner's hose stuck on her hair, with Maddie and Jack holding her feet.

"This is all going in the memoir," Jazz hissed in annoyance after her parents let go of her feet and she stormed away.

"Um...I didn't need to see that…" Takuya muttered with a disturbed look, as he was clearly recalling his own attack by them at one point.

Maddie looked over at the five, seeing Danny passed out on Takuya's back. "What's wrong with Danny?" She asked in concern.

"Oh, Danny just had a rough day at school," Tucker replied with a big grin. "Just needs to sleep it off. We're taking him to bed right now."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, don't want him to be too sleepy tomorrow," He said in a falsely cheerful voice.

"Did you get attacked by a bush or something?" Jack asked, pointing at the leaves and twigs that were caught in Andy's hair.

Andy quickly rubbed his hair to try to get the leaves and twigs out. "Uh… I might've… been in a bush earlier because… I saw… a bird's nest."

Takuya looked at Andy, surprised he had come up with such a believable lie. "Yeah!" The older boy chimed in. "I saw it too." He added. "I fell in earlier and Andy tried to help me, but he fell in as well."

"Yes, so we'll just get Danny up into his room. Don't worry, we know where to go," Sam quickly added as well.

Jack and Maddie looked at them as Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were giving wide grins as they were heading up the stairs. Andy was the only one who acted normal as they went upstairs.

As soon as they were in Danny and Andy's room, Takuya put Danny down on one of the beds.

"That's my- oh nevermind," Andy sighed. "You know, you guys aren't very good at lying, are you? Those big fake smiles are almost a dead give away."

Takuya flinched at that. "Eh...sorry, Andy," He apologized. "But I didn't want your parents to worry."

_Well, I shouldn't say they're terrible at lying, they're able to keep whatever Danny's secret is for an entire month after all._ Andy remembered.

"At least we were able to get Danny here safely, it would've been terrible if we got attacked by that meat monster ghost again along the way." Sam frowned.

"Yeah," Takuya agreed before he gave a pointed look to Sam. "And that meat monster attacked because you changed the menu without asking." He pointed out.

"To be fair, that meat monster ghost would've attacked if Sam had changed the menu at all even with asking," Andy spoke up before Sam could. "From what I could tell, she's completely obsessed with the menu. I'm guessing the change in the menu is what brought that Lunch Lady ghost to our school in the first place. But that ghost boy is a mystery to me. I don't know why he was helping us."

The older boy had to agree. _That is odd._ He thought to himself. _If I recall Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack's rants about ghosts, then ghosts are not capable of doing good things._ Then a realization struck him. _But those ghosts...they are nothing like the Bakemon… He realized. Bakemon are more mischievous. That ghostly lunch lady was not causing mischief. That was outright destruction._

"Maybe Sam shouldn't have messed with the menu at all," Tucker grumbled.

"The school needed a change, Tucker!" Sam snapped. "I was sick of only having meat to eat there, so I had to bring my own lunch."

"Why was that so bad?" Tucker frowned. "Your lunch was good anyways."

"Because it meant I had to interact with my parents!" Sam growled.

"Sam, couldn't you have just added the vegan menu instead of taking away the other food?" Andy suggested.

But unfortunately, the boy was ignored as Sam and Tucker were staring each other down.

"Oh boy…" Takuya muttered as he saw that. "Andy, I don't think they're gonna listen to you when they are like this…" He said worriedly.

"Of course, nobody listens to the voice of reason," Andy grumbled.

Danny then groaned and woke up. His baby blue eyes opened slightly, only to see Sam and Tucker, and Andy and Takuya in the room with him. "Ugh...what happened?" Danny asked as he sat up.

Thankfully when Danny had woken up, it diffused the heated argument Tucker and Sam were having so they could focus on him.

"Danny, I'm glad you're awake, bro, you had us all worried," Andy said in relief.

"Yeah, you passed out," Tucker added. "We brought you home. You've been asleep for 4 days."

At that, Danny jolted up from the bed. "FOUR DAYS!?"

A jab from Takuya made Tucker correct himself. "Nah, it's only been about fifteen minutes or so," Tucker corrected himself.

Danny seemed to relax at hearing that. "Oh, I was worried…"

"Did you have to almost give Danny a heart attack?" Sam frowned at Tucker.

"You know, the only reason why this even happened was because you had to be 'unique' and take the meat away!" Tucker snapped, having lost his patience with Sam's attitude. "And you know what? I'm going to get the meat back!"

Sam glared back at him. "Well, I'm not letting you change the menu back! We don't need meat, and you know it!" She snapped back.

Takuya gave a wary glance between the two arguing teenagers. "Um...you guys? I don't think Danny needs to deal with this right now…" He began, but they ignored him like they did with Andy.

"Well you may not need meat, but I do, and I'm getting it back even if it kills me!" Tucker snapped before he hurried out of the room.

"Oh yeah? Well if you want to change that menu back, you'll have to go over my own dead body!" Sam shouted after Tucker before she ran out the room and slammed the door shut.

"I suddenly feel like there's an even bigger disaster ahead of us tomorrow," Andy sweatdropped.

Takuya had to agree. "Can't disagree there, Andy," He mused as he too sweatdropped at the idea of something coming up tomorrow.

Danny sat up from the bed he was laying on. "Why am I in Andy's bed?"

"I...uh...I put you on his bed," Takuya replied. "I was the one who carried you back, and I just picked a random bed. Sorry about that." He said sheepishly.

"Um…" Danny looked at Takuya and Andy nervously. "So… what did you two see while we were running from that meat monster?"

Takuya frowned mentally at hearing the nervous tone to Danny's voice. "Just a ghost boy, but we didn't really get a good look at his face or anything since everything moved so fast," He replied honestly. He didn't even see the boy's face because he had been so panicked at the time.

"Then he suddenly dropped us, and disappeared… and you suddenly appeared, right next to Tucker and Sam," Andy added. "I guess the ghost boy picked you up earlier and got you out or something, because I didn't see you after we split up to look for Sam."

"Oh...Yeah, he did," Danny said as he agreed with Andy. "I didn't see him come up, but he said he was getting me out because it was getting dangerous."

"Do you know anything about that ghost boy, bro?" Andy asked. "Like why he was helping us? Or why was he fighting with that Lunch Lady ghost?"

Danny looked nervous as he realized what Andy was asking. "Um...well...that ghost boy...I passed out in fright at the sight of him…" He said, looking like he was sweating a bit.

This didn't go unnoticed by Andy, however, but he didn't push the matter, he likely didn't think his brother was willing to answer if he did. "Then… do you think we should tell Mom and Dad about these ghosts at least? I mean what if they come back to the school again? I mean we did kind of leave that meat monster back at the school."

"No!" Danny protested suddenly. "I mean...I don't want to have Mom and Dad mistake a student for a ghost, right?" He clearly remembered the incident with Takuya and being sick.

Takuya couldn't help but cringe at the memory of how Jack treated him when he was sick that day. There was no real harm done, but it wasn't an experience Takuya would wish on anyone.

"But these are real ghosts, Danny, it would be dangerous to leave them alone. Someone could get hurt, Sam could've been killed by that crazy Lunch Lady," Andy pointed out seriously.

"Yeah," Takuya agreed. "But what can we do? I mean, we're just two fourteen-year-old kids and a fifteen-year-old kid." Although he was not saying what he had on his mind regarding that issue.

"Let's not get too hasty," Danny said, frowning. "Mom and Dad haven't been able to work the bugs out of their inventions yet. What if they try to go into battle with one of these ghosts and they get themselves hurt? You know how passionate Mom and Dad are when it comes to ghosts, but this would be the first time they've seen a real ghost, let alone battle one. They would run headfirst into danger!"

Takuya paused when he realized what Danny was saying. "Oh...I don't like that they would just run into danger," He said as he looked between the two boys. "They don't know much about how a ghost fights."

Andy frowned. "That's… true, but who actually does? The Ghost Busters don't exist, they're just in movies. Mom and Dad are supposedly the ghost experts. Who else could we call for something like this?"

"The school wouldn't believe it anyways," Danny sighed. "Nobody but us even saw these ghosts."

Andy grumbled. Takuya could understand Andy's frustration. If the school didn't see it, then it never happened, so there was no reason to close down the school for a paranormal investigation. But that also put everyone in danger if those ghosts decided to come back and start fighting again. There would be a lot of people caught up in the crossfire.

"Look," Takuya sighed. "Maybe we should just go on about our day tomorrow, assuming the ghosts left. Maybe the lunch lady ghost may have left the school and found a bingo hall to haunt or something." He added as a joke.

But the goggle-wearing boy was fairly certain that the ghost was still there. He just wasn't sure _how_ certain he was.

_I hope I am wrong about her staying…_ Takuya thought grimly.

* * *

Later that day, Takuya found Andy in the living room. He was alone there, sitting on the couch, seeming to be writing something on some paper.

"Hey, Andy!" Takuya greeted, but this caused Andy to suddenly jump.

Takuya frowned as he saw that, but realized that Andy had to be a bit jumpy since the revelation ghosts were real. "You okay?" He asked as he walked over and sat down by Andy.

Andy frowned and sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I don't know. Things have been… weird this past month. I felt like I was seeing things that weren't really there not that long after the accident. But after seeing that these… these ghosts are real, and they attacked our school… and seeing how dangerous they could be… I can't help but feel like a ghost would jump me at any second, you know?"

Takuya gave a slight wince at that. "I know it all too well," He admitted. "I've been uneasy since the revelation too. I just feel like something is...watching at times, and I hate it. And I think because of the idea of someone watching me, I have been feeling a bit sick to my stomach too…" That last part was somewhat true, but he was also leaving out the odd flashes of heat he got whenever around ghosts, if that was what it was caused by.

Then what Andy said earlier caught Takuya's attention. "What did you mean you saw things that weren't really there?"

"I… I saw…" Andy hesitated. "I remember seeing a flying cat at one point. And I thought I saw Dash mutating. But Dash wasn't mutating. I also had these dreams… everyone I knew was in it, but nothing made any sense. There was this grandfather-like figure, I guess, who asked me if I could 'keep up with my brother'. Said something about Danny being meant for great things."

"You mentioned you saw everyone you know, but did you see me as well?" Takuya asked. "I mean, I am your cousin, right?" He wanted to make sure Andy was alright.

"I think so. I wasn't sure if it was you though, since I hadn't seen you in 6 years, you could've changed since then. But the person I saw did look like you, but… older than when I last saw you, but younger than you looked now. I'd say you were probably 12 years old in the dream. You were standing with your back turned to me when I saw you, but when you turned around, I saw… fire burning in your eyes. Then you were suddenly engulfed by fire. It scared me. I didn't know what it meant or what to think about it," Andy explained before sighing. "Well… at least you're alright."

Takuya had unknowingly tensed at hearing that explanation. _That sounds a lot like my evolution…_ He thought before he smiled at Andy, shoving the shock aside. "Yeah, and you're obviously doing well, too." He joked before he sighed. "Well, as well as one can be doing after those ghosts attacked…" Takuya added.

"Danny seems a bit worried, but he doesn't look as shaken up as we are about it," Andy remarked.

"How can you tell?" Takuya asked.

"He's my twin brother, you think I wouldn't notice these things about him?" Andy bluntly answered. "He's acting far too casual, he could be acting, yes, but even Danny wouldn't be able to truly hide his fear if he was so afraid of the ghost boy that he passed out just by seeing him. I don't know, I just feel like his emotions don't add up to his story."

"That is true," Takuya admitted. "He doesn't like to hide his emotional state. Danny likes to wear his heart on his sleeve so to speak, if you get what I mean."

Andy couldn't help but chuckle. "That is true. You and Danny both are too honest with your feelings to hide them much."

Takuya blushed at that. "Andy!" He exclaimed. "I'm not that open with my emotions!" But his blush just made Andy chuckle again.

"Well, being open with your emotions isn't a bad thing," Andy stated as he started to write something on the paper like he was doing earlier. "It makes you more sociable, and people are more likely to flock to you and trust you easier."

"Has Jazz been talking to you about psychology?" Takuya asked as he cocked an eyebrow. "Because that sounds like something she would say."

"Maybe…" Andy muttered. "I… may have asked to borrow some of her books as well. I was desperate to find out what was going on in my brother's head that I was willing to study psychology. I thought maybe the accident might have done something to him. Did the trauma change something, is Danny trying to hide how he felt to keep us from being worried, what would make him try to hide a secret from us, especially me, his own twin brother? These were the questions I've been trying to figure out for a while now."

Takuya frowned at hearing all this. _It seems Andy is opening up to me…_ He mused in his thoughts before he spoke to the younger boy. "Well, I can't really say what could be going on in Danny's head, since I am not that good at thinking about that deep stuff," He said, kind of making a jab at himself to try and cheer Andy up. "But...based on what I am hearing from you, I can't help but be concerned as well. I just don't know what to think, because I wasn't there at the accident. I just got back here. All I know is Danny was in this accident, and it affected him badly."

Andy then stacked up his papers before he looked at Takuya. "If you want the full details of the accident… I can show it to you in words if nothing else."

Takuya blinked at that. "You kept record of that? Wow…"

"Well… it's not because I wanted to keep a record of it. But I needed an outlet for how I was feeling at the time," Andy said. "Jazz said that writing things out helps put things in perspective, and well, it also helps to let out some kind of steam that doesn't hurt anyone."

"Well, at least you don't have to tell it to me in detail," Takuya said. "I wouldn't want to make you relive that if I can help it." He then smiled. "I would like to read those notes for sure."

"These? These are just…" Andy blushed a little. "They're more… tactical notes for in case we run into those ghosts again, specifically the Lunch Lady ghost since we didn't get to gauge how the ghost boy fights really well."

Takuya blinked before he took one of Andy's papers and read it. Andy had listed out the Lunch Lady's powers from what he saw and what Takuya had told him. There were notes on telekinesis, fire, bringing objects to life or possessing them, and the ability to create meat armor around her body from the meat products. There were also ideas on how to counter such things, but they were small, limited, most of it was listed on how to hide or get away. Andy was no fighter, he also didn't know much about fighting against ghosts or what kind of tools or weapons to use.

Takuya frowned mentally as he read over the notes. _These are decent notes, but there needs to be more than just running away or hiding, if ghosts can go through things…_ He thought to himself before handing Andy back the notes. "These notes are pretty good, but didn't that ghost boy show he could go through walls as well? I would think hiding against a ghost would be a bad idea if they can just hover through walls and other solid objects."

Andy shook his head. "There are many varying factors on that. That's only if the ghost is pursuing you for whatever reason. If they have no interest in you, then as long as you're out of sight, you're out of their mind, and they'll ignore you. If the ghost is chasing you, however, then they would have to know where you are in order to get to you. Hiding isn't the same as trying to get into a place they can't reach, it's trying to be somewhere they can't see you."

Takuya smiled at that point. "Well, regardless, I'm impressed. I never thought about that myself," He admitted. "See? I'm not a thinker like you are!" He joked as he rubbed Andy's black hair.

Andy smiled a bit sheepishly at that. "Well, I do like to observe things around me…" He admitted. "And unfortunately, I can't write out true counters for such things. I can only write what a normal person can do without the ability to fight back against a ghost, which is to run or hide. Basically, we're like prey trying to hide from our predators. Not a very nice feeling, being hapless prey…"

Takuya gave a grimace at hearing that comparison. It sounded a bit too much like when he was in the Digital World and not evolved. _That feeling I know all too well, Andy…_ He thought sadly.

"But, since… you know, there's not much we can do about these possible ghost attacks, I just hope that everyone will be okay. Maybe I'll make copies of these notes or something and hand them out to the teachers… assuming they'll take it seriously," Andy sighed. "I guess we won't know until I try, right?"

Takuya sighed as well. "We're just students," He admitted. "Teachers won't listen to us because they see us as young and impressionable."

"Young and impressionable doesn't equal stupidity…" Andy grumbled. "But that's what most people see it as these days. How troublesome."

Takuya then looked at Andy again. "Well, as you said, we can at least try, so why don't we do this? We make a few copies, and then hand them out to a few teachers. If the teachers don't take it seriously, we won't do it anymore. But if they do, then we can hand out more of these notes," He then grinned. "Sound good?"

Andy gave a small smile. "Yeah."

* * *

**The next morning, at Casper High**

"Okay… yeah…" Andy sighed as he looked around. "This has officially crossed the line."

Danny and Takuya were staring at two very different protests. On the left side were people barbecuing all kinds of meat. There were sausages, hot dogs, burgers, chicken, turkey, beef, and a lot more meat that Takuya couldn't identify. There were girls all dressed up in a wiener's costume, dancing around on top of a stage before Tucker came up with a microphone in his hand.

"WHAT DO WE WANT!?" Tucker shouted.

"MEAT!" The crowd answered back.

"WHEN DO WE WANT IT!?"

"NOW!"

And on the right side was what looked like a party for hippies, with people holding signs that read about veggies while others were eating lots of veggies like carrots, celery, broccoli, potatoes, etc. And on the main stage was Sam, holding a microphone in her own hand. Just like Tucker, she was shouting to the crowd. "VEGGIES NOW, VEGGIES FOREVER!"

"VEGGIES NOW, VEGGIES FOREVER!" The crowd chanted with her.

Sam and Tucker stopped, however, when they noticed the three boys.

"Now would be a good time to hide," Andy whispered.

Takuya looked like he wanted to take that up. "I would agree, but I think it is too late for that…" He muttered with a sweatdrop.

Takuya had seen people and Digimon take things to the extreme, but he never knew how far that could go until he saw what Tucker and Sam did.

"Come on, bro, these are our friends, we shouldn't have to hide," Danny assured.

Then Tucker and Sam stormed up to them. Danny gave a nervous grin. "So… you two put up two protests in one night?"

"Meat eaters, Danny," Tucker said. "We're always ready to fight. And our high-protein diets give us the energy to do it quickly."

But Sam had a counter to that claim. "Vegans are always ready to protest!" She exclaimed. "And because we don't have to cook our food, we can do it even faster."

"Don't you two think this is a little extreme?" Danny asked, which was an understatement.

"No choice, buddy, you, Andy, and Takuya are either with me…" Tucker began.

"Or you're against him," Sam spoke up.

"So who's side are you three on!?" They both shouted in unison.

_For two people who are on opposite sides of the food spectrum, they sure are in sync with each other._ Andy mused.

"Okay, that's it!" Andy shouted, losing his patience. "First of all, why are you two spending so much energy over what the menu of the school should be? There's an easy fix for this; options! Give us freaking OPTIONS! Nobody should be forced to eat one thing, especially if that one thing isn't very favorable! Sam! You preach on about being different, but what you're doing is no better than what your parents would've done, which is forcing your ideals down people's throats! And Tucker, I get that you want to bring back the meat, but you can't take away the vegetarian options either, believe it or not, some people do like to eat vegetables! Look at how out of control you two are being!"

Takuya smiled at Andy's outburst. This was the first time Andy had asserted himself, so he was proud of his cousin. "I don't think I could have said it better myself, Andy," He praised, making sure to give Sam and Tucker a glare each.

Tucker and Sam rubbed the back of their heads as if just seeing how ridiculous this whole thing was. Sam likely started to understand when Andy brought up that she was acting like her parents. Sam's parents were a touchy subject, it was because of them that drove Sam to be as 'different' as possible.

"And second, don't you think we have enough problems to worry about than what's on the menu at the school cafeteria?" Andy continued. "Like a deranged ghost Lunch Lady?"

As soon as Andy said that, the entire area started to shake, wind began to pick up. Meat from Tucker's side of the protest suddenly began to float up into the whirling sky, including all the meat that was inside a meat truck. There was a loud laughter, as well as a roar, or rather, someone shouting 'roar'. Everyone's attention was on the meat as something huge began to form in front of them. People were in shock, though Takuya vaguely noticed blue mist coming out of Danny's mouth during this.

Takuya wondered if it had to do with the ghostly meat monster that was forming. Can Danny sense ghosts? He wondered before he felt that surge of heat again before it faded once more. Looking back at the meat monster, the older boy had the feeling that surge of heat was related to sensing ghosts.

A colossal meat monster was staring down at everyone. For a moment, nobody moved, nobody made a sound, everyone was deathly quiet and still as the colossal meat monster looked down at them. And then, the meat monster shouted. "IT'S LUNCH TIME!"

As if that was the trigger, the deathly still and quiet crowd became a stampede of screaming, panicking people. Everyone threw their signs away as they all began to run. Andy and Takuya were quickly shoved away from the others by the panicking stampede.

Takuya landed with a grunt on the ground as he felt himself shoved aside by panicking students and people. As Takuya was trying to push himself up, someone landed on top of him.

"Oof!"

Takuya groaned as Andy rolled off of him. "S-sorry, Takuya."

Takuya looked back at his cousin. "Just be more careful where you land, please." He said as he got up and pulled Andy to his feet. "But that is not important. We have to get away from here!" _Or more like you do, Andy..._

Andy frowned, looking up at the colossal meat monster, before seeing something black and white flying at it before it hit the meat monster so hard that it stumbled. "Is… is that the ghost boy?"

Takuya cursed not being able to rely on his other form's enhanced senses, namely the sight. "I think so…" He murmured. "But what can it do to that meat monster?"

Andy looked around. "Come on, Takuya, we need to find Tucker, Sam, and Danny."

Takuya quickly grabbed the back of Andy's shirt before he could run into the danger. "Andy, I know you want to find Danny, Sam, and Tucker, but this meat monster is too dangerous for mere humans! We need to get to safety!" He gave Andy a slight shove away from the fight. "Go on. I'll see if I can find a place to hide near here so I can look for Danny and the others."

Andy looked like he was going to argue, but something stopped him. He looked at Takuya for a moment, before he gave a small nod, then he began to run in the opposite direction.

Taking a deep breath, Takuya steeled himself before he ran towards the fight, his hand flying to his pocket as he did so. In his grasp was that red and black device he knew all too well, his D-Tector. _If I have to do this, then I will…_ He vowed to himself. _At least I will stand a better chance of survival when I do..._

Looking around, Takuya realized he had to hide before he got seen. But there were so many people around. _But where can I hide?_ He wondered.

Takuya looked around before spotting a dumpster near the school.

Smirking to himself, he ran over. It looked like it was a good place to hide behind. Once behind the dumpster, he looked down at his D-Tector before he invoked the ball of Fractal Coding on his left hand.

Takuya invoked the power of his Beast Spirit. The red outline of his second Spirit roared and appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as he invoked a ball of fractal coding on his left hand. Takuya swiped the D-Tector over the coding and called out the phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ He felt the primal power of his Beast Spirit flowing into him as his clothes ripped away and his body became surrounded by the coding. Takuya cried out as the power flooded into his body. His body grew in strength and power as well as size, with red, yellow, black, and white armor forming on his body. A tail extended out from the base of his spine as two large orange wings appeared on his body. His head became like a dragon's almost, but not exactly, and the top of his head was white. His eyes turned sky blue, but had a feral edge to them as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"BurningGreymon!"_

Now evolved, the Beast Warrior of Flame flared his orange wings and took flight, his eyes set on the meat monster.

As Takuya, now BurningGreymon, flew towards the giant meat monster, however, something black and white whizzed past him, and it tackled the meat monster like a speeding bullet. This caused the meat to explode and go everywhere. BurningGreymon blinked, surprised at the sudden attack on the meat monster. However, it was far from over. The Lunch Lady ghost was still there, not looking exhausted at all. The ghost kid, who was the one who tackled the meat monster, made a crater in the ground, and he looked pretty tired. The Lunch Lady was saying something, but BurningGreymon couldn't hear it. Then suddenly, all the meat around her turned into smaller meat monsters, and they began to surround the area.

There was a sudden scream that got BurningGreymon's attention, and he turned, seeing some little girl cornered by these meat monsters.

Fear flooded his very being as he saw that. But BurningGreymon was torn. On one hand...err...claw, the ghost boy was in trouble, but on the other, the girl was too. He looked back at the ghost boy before turning and flying towards the young girl. His cannons on his arms turned to firing position and he aimed as carefully as he could, as opposed to his usual attacking methods. _"Pyro Barrage!"_ The small red flame bullets sped out of the cannons and towards the meat monsters before the girl.

The meat monsters roared as they were being literally cooked alive. The girl started crying at the sudden fire.

Then suddenly, before BurningGreymon could get to the girl, he saw someone running up to her. It was Andy. Andy grabbed onto the girl's hand and hurried her away from the area.

BurningGreymon saw that and sighed with relief. Andy had played it smart, getting to safety and doing the same for the girl. Turning around, he now began to fly back towards the ghost boy, intent on helping out as well.

However, BurningGreymon didn't see the ghost boy anymore, instead, to his shock and horror, he saw Danny, being carried into the air by the meat monsters, and hanging upside down. Danny yelped, waving his arms around frantically.

The Beast Warrior of Flame saw Danny and felt his heart almost stop. He had to save Danny. He flew in as quickly as he could, intending on saving the boy. His cannons were primed to fire again, but he held off. _I can't fire, or I will hit Danny._ He reminded himself. Instead, BurningGreymon decided to opt for a more physical approach. So, using his bigger size, he flew in and between the meat monsters, slamming one away before whacking the other with his tail.

However, this just caused the meat monsters to drop Danny. Danny yelled as he was falling, before something metal hit his face. It was some kind of metallic container. Danny grabbed it off his face. BurningGreymon was a bit too distracted to notice Danny was falling, until a bright flash of light caught his attention. And to his horror, he realized that Danny was dropped. But when he looked down, he didn't see Danny, but he saw the ghost boy again, who went through the ground.

Realizing Danny was nowhere to be found, BurningGreymon wanted to find the boy, but the meat monsters kept his attention on the battle. With a growl, or more like a roar, he tried to intimidate the meat monsters into backing off from him. _Surely ghosts would respond to a show of power, right?_ He hoped.

It was rather strange, BurningGreymon was used to Digimon attacking him more fiercely while he was in his Beast form, however, the meat monsters looked more scared of him than anything.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The Lunch Lady suddenly asked, surprising BurningGreymon that she was addressing him.

Looking at her with sharp blue eyes, BurningGreymon had an idea cross his mind. _If she wants to know who I am, then I will show her._ He thought before he roared again and let a few fiery bursts of flame come from his body.

Then, BurningGreymon addressed her directly. "I am the Beast Warrior of Flame, BurningGreymon. And this...is _my_ territory!" He snarled in the most menacing voice he could muster. _It seemed to work on the meat monsters. Maybe the show of force will work on her._ He thought.

Suddenly, the ghost boy came up from the ground, and was surprised to see the dragon-like creature in front of him. Tucker and Sam came up from under one of the fallen tents, curious and worried. Andy crawled out from under some meat that had likely buried him while he was looking for his friends, after all, BurningGreymon wouldn't put it past the boy to leave safety if he thought his friends were in danger. All of them were staring at BurningGreymon in shock.

The Digimon paid it no heed, for his mind was more on trying to remain intimidating to the Lunch Lady. "What is it that brought you here?" He demanded, his tone trying to be commanding to her.

Despite the fear that was clearly shown in the Lunch Lady's eyes, to her credit, she didn't back down. "That is none of your business, Digital Being! You shouldn't be here!"

That threw BurningGreymon for a loop. _She knows what I am?!_ He was confused. However, he brushed aside his shock at the revelation. "I see I won't get any answers out of you…" He growled. "In that case, leave now!"

"Never! I am here for my own reason, and you won't stop me!" The Lunch Lady roared angrily.

The ghost boy looked afraid of BurningGreymon, but despite this, he steeled his courage before he flew past the dragon-like being, opened up the container he was holding, and pointed it at the Lunch Lady. BurningGreymon was surprised to see a blue beam was fired at the Lunch Lady, and when it hit her, it sucked her right on inside the container. As soon as the Lunch Lady was sucked up, the ghost boy quickly put the lid back onto the container.

Looking back at the ghost boy, BurningGreymon gave a slight smirk in his eyes. "Heh...thanks for the help," He said.

The ghost boy looked at BurningGreymon, frowning a little, he looked very uncomfortable with BurningGreymon. "Uh… yeah… I should go."

The ghost boy looked a little shaken up, and he quickly flew away.

Realizing Danny was still missing, BurningGreymon flew off as well to turn back to human form and search him out that way. Once behind the dumpster, Takuya let his evolution go and ran out, looking for Danny. "Danny!" He cried, trying to find his cousin.

Takuya was getting worried when he didn't see Danny anywhere. He remembered he last saw Danny being held by the meat monsters in midair, but he didn't know what happened to Danny after that. He had thought maybe the ghost boy saved Danny from falling, but maybe he was wrong.

Looking around again, the goggle-wearing boy tried to find Danny again. "DANNY!" Takuya shouted. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Takuya?"

Takuya turned to the voice, and saw it was Andy. Andy walked over to him. "Are you okay, Takuya?"

"Danny's missing!" Takuya exclaimed. "I can't find him anywhere! Last I saw he was being carried off by meat monsters, and then, he's gone! I would like to think the ghost boy saved him but...I don't want to be proven wrong with that…"

"Danny? He's fine," Andy reassured. "He came back over to us after the ghost boy captured that Lunch Lady ghost in the Fenton Thermos, at least I think it was the Fenton Thermos, I don't know why the ghost boy had that. The ghost boy left, and… this weird… dragon, lizard, winged being thing was also there, it claimed it was the Beast Warrior of Flame, BurningGreymon. It left too shortly after the ghost boy left. I don't know what all that was about, but this… 'BurningGreymon' didn't seem to be a ghost."

Takuya remembered Andy had seen his Beast form and looked a bit nervous. "O-oh? I didn't see that. I was...hiding behind a dumpster…" He said, keeping his voice as level as possible.

"A… dumpster… you were hiding from a meat monster ghost… behind a dumpster…" Andy repeated.

"Umm...well, hiding keeps one out of sight, right?" Takuya said with a sheepish grin. "Like those notes you took said."

"Right… well… I guess I didn't really do much of hiding or running," Andy admitted. "I was trying to help some people that didn't do a very good job at running away."

"Well, I didn't expect any less of you, Andy," Takuya said. "You're one of those people who would do that even if it was against the advice given to hide or run."

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Since when was I classified as one of those types of people? This is actually the first time I've been in such a stressful situation. In fact, I'm pretty surprised at myself for not running away like everyone else."

"It takes stressful situations to reveal something like that about a person," Takuya admitted. "But I will be honest, when you told me that you were helping people, I knew you were a person who would not run and help. I had no idea either."

_I mean it takes quite a bit of courage to just run into the fire like that to get that little girl to safety._ Takuya quietly noted to himself. _Especially for someone who doesn't have a lot of experience with things like this._

"Right… I guess you have a point there," Andy chuckled.

"FENTON! KANBARA!" Mr. Lancer's voice suddenly boomed. "GET OVER HERE!"

The two boys winced at the sudden shout. "Uh oh…" Takuya muttered. "I think that is Mr. Lancer…"

"And I think we're in quite a bit of trouble for skipping out on our punishment yesterday," Andy added. "I'm surprised he didn't call our parents."

"Well, more like your parents who happen to be my aunt and uncle," Takuya pointed out. "But it still counts."

"Imagine how your mom would've reacted if she did get called though," Andy remarked, which promptly caused Takuya to pale.

"Oh no…" He murmured. That did not make for a good mental image in his mind.

"Come on, let's go before Mr. Lancer does just that," Andy quickly said.

Takuya nodded as the two of them went off to see Mr. Lancer.

* * *

So now, Takuya, Danny, Andy, Tucker, and Sam were cleaning up the entire campus of meat and vegetables. During the fight with the Lunch Lady, Sam's vegetable side was also scattered all over the place. Mr. Lancer was using a megaphone to order them to pick up certain foods, especially Tucker needing to pick up the 'turfwich', and Sam needing to pick up a t-bone steak.

Takuya grumbled as he picked up a piece of chicken. _I'm glad I'm wearing my gloves right now…_ He thought to himself.

Danny and Andy were scrubbing the smaller pieces of meat with a couple of brooms, pushing them closer to the dumpster. Dash was watching them and snickered. Danny was glaring in irritation, and for a split second, Andy could've sworn he saw Danny's eyes flash green. Andy did a double-take as he looked at Danny, blinking in surprise.

Danny looked at his twin in surprise. "Is everything okay?" He asked as Andy blinked again and shook his head.

"Did… didn't your eyes just… glow green for a second there?" Andy asked, sounding unsure.

Danny gave a nervous chuckle. "You must have been seeing things," He assured his twin. "It may have just been a trick of the light."

Andy squinted his eyes at Danny. "Right, because the trick of the light tends to cause one's eyes to suddenly change color and glow."

Dash then spoke up. "Hey, dweebs! Get back to work!" He shouted as he threw a chicken bone at the twins from his spot near the dumpster.

"Don't you have anything better to do than to watch us clean?" Andy grumbled.

"What did you say, Fenturd 2?" Dash hissed.

"... Nothing," Andy backed down.

Takuya heard that and looked at Andy in surprise. He hadn't expected his cousin to just back down like that. Not after what he had shown he was capable of today. _Unless it was just a heat of the moment kind of thing…_ He mused to himself.

Despite how crazy the day was, Takuya was relieved that the danger was gone, for now. He didn't know much about the ghost boy, but he didn't seem to be malevolent, so Takuya decided to just wait and see what will happen with the ghost boy before deciding on anything. Clean up was a nightmare, but it wasn't so bad. At the very least, what Andy said did get through to Tucker and Sam, so they both promised not to go overboard with the whole menu thing, and decided to just add the vegan option instead of having it take completely over. So it was a pretty good day all things considered.

* * *

**Titanic X:** **ZAFT Convoy:** It will get better.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, soon.

**Unknown User:** **ZAFT Convoy:** You will see as the story goes on.

**DarkFoxKit:** Personally I like playing "A World For Us All" while reading the chapters myself, because I love that song, and it goes pretty well with this story.


	3. A Dragon's Amulet

**ZAFT Convoy:** Here is chapter three~ And this is where things begin to diverge.

**DarkFoxKit: **If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask them. We will try to answer them.

**ZAFT Convoy:** _Without_ giving away spoilers. XD

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Dragon Amulet**

It had been a few days after the Lunch Lady incident. Things were getting back to normal. Maddie and Jack never knew about the Lunch Lady attack, but what infuriated Takuya was the school didn't believe him or Andy when they tried to explain the giant meat monster and the ghostly Lunch Lady. Instead, the school just thought it was some kind of elaborate prank set up by the protestors to change the menu back.

Andy and Jazz were in the kitchen, writing something down. Takuya was just there to get a snack, but he was a little surprised to see how into it Andy and Jazz were with whatever it was they were doing. Jazz was doing extra credit work, which didn't surprise Takuya, but he wasn't sure what Andy was doing, it certainly wasn't homework.

"Hey, Andy," He said as he walked over. "What are you and Jazz doing?" _I've never seen Andy and Jazz so into something before._

Andy smiled before he held up the paper he was working on. It was a drawing of BurningGreymon. It was crude, of course, but Takuya could easily see that it was his beast form.

"I was telling Jazz about that BurningGreymon creature I saw the other day. Jazz isn't sure if it's a real being, but she is trying to find any research on it," Andy answered. "She won't believe me about the ghosts though."

"Well ghosts don't exist, but this BurningGreymon might. I mean there have been reports of odd and sentient creatures before," Jazz replied.

Takuya felt a new feeling fill him at that point. He wasn't sure what it was, but it felt like the feeling he had experienced when holding onto the ghost boy's tail. Then he realized what it was. _Hold on...Why am I feeling _fear_ of all things?_

It was then Takuya realized that if Jazz was looking for information on his beast form then his secret was in danger, and as such, he himself was in danger of being exposed. "Um, are you sure that's a good idea?" He asked, trying to discourage Jazz from her research. _Although I doubt she will listen. She is too much like her mom to quit._

"It doesn't hurt to do some research, and it would be good for a report at school," Jazz answered. "But I still find it hard to believe that there actually would be a creature like that around here."

"Well, apparently he made Casper High his territory," Andy said. "I don't know much about dragons, but… apparently they can make territories around here."

"Come on, Andy, just because it looked draconic doesn't mean it was a dragon. Dragons don't exist, they're fantasy creatures," Jazz pointed out.

"Um, yeah. It couldn't have been a _real_ dragon," Takuya said in agreement with Jazz. He then saw Andy's look on his face. "Not that I doubt you saw something, Andy." He added quickly.

"Well, whatever this creature is, I still want to find it," Andy said as he stood up. "It showed that it was intelligent enough to talk, so maybe I can ask what it's doing here, and maybe it can help protect the school from ghosts."

Takuya blinked in surprise. "B-but, Andy, what if that...thing...is just dangerous? It could be a wild beast! I mean, didn't you tell me it gave a big show of force to the Lunch Lady ghost after I asked about what you saw?"

Andy looked at Takuya for a moment, and Takuya realized that Andy was analyzing him. "I understand your concern, Takuya. But it's better than just doing nothing, and waiting for something to happen."

Takuya sighed at that. "O-okay...if you're sure…" He admitted at last. "I just want you to be safe." He added.

Andy nodded. "I'm going to the lab, maybe I can ask Dad if he has anything I could use to keep on me in case another ghost attacks. Better to be safe than sorry."

Andy headed down into the lab, leaving Takuya with Jazz.

"You know, I can understand why Andy is so interested in this creature," Jazz spoke up to Takuya, looking at the drawing.

"Why?" Takuya asked. He wanted to know himself if he was honest. _I would like to know as well._

"Andy's always had a fascination with intelligent creatures, dragons especially. But I think the real reason why he's so interested is because it takes his mind off of his situation with Danny," Jazz replied softly. "He needed a distraction, a goal, that didn't involve Danny's secret."

Takuya frowned at that. _I see...so _that's_ why Andy wants to find out about my Beast Spirit form…_ He mused mentally. _Well, if it helps him, I don't see the harm in letting him try to find out about it._ He then had a thought cross his mind. _But I hope I don't regret it..._

Then suddenly, Jack came running out from the basement. He was rushing to the bathroom, to which Takuya wondered how much soda Jack had, seeing how he was wearing the soda hat. But not long after that, Takuya felt a sudden shake, and he felt that familiar heat when the Lunch Lady ghost was near.

"Whoa… what was that?" Jazz asked, most likely about the sudden shake.

"Sounded like it came from the lab!" Takuya exclaimed, not even aware he had that feral gleam in his eyes. "We should go see what it is."

* * *

Andy just wanted to ask Jack about any possible ghost weapons he could keep on him. He didn't ask to be holding the Fenton Fisher when Jack left to go to the bathroom. He didn't ask to stand beside Danny, and have the awkward atmosphere between the two of them. And Andy certainly didn't ask to be standing face to face with a huge blue and green dragon ghost that had grabbed onto the Fenton Fisher and crawled out of the Ghost Zone. The dragon grinned at them with its sharp teeth.

Danny and Andy were staring at the large dragon in disbelief and fear. The dragon let go of the Fenton Fisher before it lowered its head towards them.

"THERE YOU ARE!" It said in a loud, deep voice.

Danny and Andy started to run away as the dragon clawed the rest of its body out of the portal.

Andy didn't want to be anywhere near that ghostly dragon for whatever reason, but he didn't care. He wanted out of the lab and away from it. However, he didn't make it to the stairs, the dragon reached out and grabbed him in its claws.

"Ack!" Andy yelped. "L-let me go!"

"Let go of my brother, you big, overgrown ghost lizard!" Danny shouted.

It was then that the door opened and Takuya saw what looked to be a large ghostly dragon holding Andy its grasp. "ANDY!" He cried before running down the stairs. "Let him go, you oversized handbag!" He snarled as he grabbed a chair and threw it at the ghostly dragon.

The chair broke when it hit the ghost dragon's stomach. The dragon glared at Takuya before it opened its maw and shot out green fire at Takuya. Fire didn't scare Takuya as much as it used to since he was the Warrior of Fire, however, there was something about this particular fire that turned up his danger level senses.

Not taking a chance, he dove to the side, looking for any sort of weapon to make the ghost dragon drop Andy. "C'mon...where's a weapon when I need one?" He muttered under his breath.

"Get the Fenton Thermos!" Danny shouted as he ran across the counters, looking for the Fenton Thermos in desperation.

The dragon lifted Andy up to its face, then it surprisingly whispered something to Andy. Andy gave a confused look at the dragon.

"Huh…?" Andy blinked.

Then suddenly, the dragon shrunk down, turning into what appeared to be a young maiden. Her skin was green, her eyes were red, her hair was blond and baretted. She wore a blue dress. She had her hand on Andy's shirt to make sure he didn't go anywhere.

Takuya and Danny were looking in shock, not knowing as to what was going on. Then the ghostly maiden took off the amulet around her neck, and suddenly clipped it on Andy's neck. As soon as she did that, she let go of Andy, gave a knowing smile, then flew back into the Ghost Portal.

Takuya ran over to Andy. "Are you okay?" He asked, feeling relieved the ghost was gone now. He didn't know what the ghost wanted, but it couldn't be good.

Andy rubbed his head. "Y-yeah, I think so…"

Danny hurried over to Andy, looking him over. "You don't look injured, bro, but… why did she put that amulet on you?"

"I don't know…" Andy frowned before he reached up to try to get it off. "... It's… not coming off…"

Takuya wondered what was going on. "Huh?" He grasped the amulet, only to feel that surge of heat again and he hissed in pain, almost like it was burning him. He was forced to let go of the amulet, shaking out his hand to get the searing heat to fade. "Ow…"

Danny frowned as he tried to grab the amulet himself, but he pulled his hand away from it faster than Takuya. "Ow! That's hot!"

"It burned you two?" Andy frowned as he grabbed onto the amulet with both of his hands and tried to pull it off. "What is this thing? What is it going to do to me!?"

"I don't know, but maybe we should do some research on it," Takuya said. "And calm down, things will be fine." He assured his cousin. "It doesn't seem to be burning you, so I don't think it's too much of an issue."

"But look at it! It's glowing!" Andy pointed at the amulet around his neck. "It was on a ghost dragon! It's not normal, it's bound to do something, something horrible!"

"Calm down, bro, I don't think getting worked up is going to help," Danny spoke up as he looked at the amulet. "I think there might be something about this amulet on the internet. We can look it up and see if there's a way to get it off of you."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you can find anything on the internet nowadays, so why not a ghostly amulet too?"

Andy took a deep breath and let it out. "You're right, it would be best not to lose my head. For all I know, this amulet could run on emotions…"

Looking at the amulet again, Takuya felt his emotions surging inside. He wanted to get that thing off Andy as soon as possible. It was then he remembered the dragon had whispered something to Andy.

"Hey, Andy?" Takuya asked his cousin. "What did that dragon whisper to you?" He had completely forgotten about that in the heat of the moment.

"Oh yeah, it did look like it was whispering something to you," Danny realized.

Andy frowned. "It said… 'This will be your test'."

"'This will be your test'?" Takuya and Danny asked as one. That was the most confusing thing they had heard in a long while.

Andy looked down at the amulet. "I'm not sure, but it might have something to do with this amulet she put on me."

Takuya then sighed. "Okay, I think we should go and do that research." He said at last.

When the three of them came up the stairs and into the kitchen, Jazz was looking at them.

"You three look like you just went through a tornado," Jazz remarked. "Oh, where did you get that amulet, Andy?"

"Uh… a dragon ghost maiden gave it to me," Andy said honestly.

Takuya gave Andy a look that said, 'you really think she would buy that?', not that he said it out loud.

Andy only gave a shrug. He didn't expect Jazz to take it seriously, that was why he said it.

"Right… and I'm the tooth fairy," Jazz replied. "Is that for a girl you're planning to ask for the upcoming dance?"

Takuya blinked as he heard that. "Hold on, there's a dance?" He asked. In the commotion of the last few days, he had not paid attention to school activities, so this was the first he had heard of it.

"Didn't you know? There's a dance coming up in about a week," Danny said. "A lot of our classmates are looking for dates, Tucker especially."

Hearing that, Takuya chuckled at the idea. "Only Tucker would try anything to get a date," He joked. Then he went serious. "But with the hecticness of the last few days, I didn't pay attention to the school activities. That shows how inattentive I can get sometimes." Again, it was a jab at himself to make the twins not feel bad.

"I'm not attending this year, I have too much to do, and I never cared about dances," Jazz remarked.

"Maybe you can not do so much extra credit work? You're already good enough to graduate early if you wanted to," Andy pointed out.

Takuya snickered at the remark. _That's just like Jazz to overdo everything._ He thought as he gave a grin. "You always were the bookworm," He teased.

"You know, you three could use some of my 'bookworminess' to get better grades," Jazz retorted.

That earned her a flinch from Takuya. _Yeah, my grades are not the best, but I still study._ He thought to himself.

Danny frowned as he rubbed the back of his head, lately his own grades have been going down the toilet. Andy just rolled his eyes, his grades weren't stellar, but they weren't bad either.

"Speaking of which, I think we're going to do some research now," Andy said. "So you enjoy your 'bookworminess'."

Takuya grinned again before he led Andy and Danny up to their room. Once they were upstairs, he looked at Danny. "Okay, so how do we start? Just type in 'ghost amulet' into the search engine?" He asked as he sat down on Danny's bed.

"That's a start," Danny said as he sat down on a chair by his desk, he had his computer set up there.

Andy watched as Danny turned on the computer, waited a minute for it to boot up, then got on the internet. Danny typed in 'ghost amulet', but there were way too many different results, most of it were fiction.

"Maybe it might help if you could be more specific?" Andy suggested.

"Like how?" Danny asked.

"Maybe… type in 'dragon amulet'? Or 'dragon ghost amulet'? Or an amulet that turns someone into a dragon? Try any of those," Andy suggested.

Takuya looked at the screen in thought. "I would try 'dragon ghost amulet'," He suggested. "I think that would yield some sort of results. If not, then do 'dragon amulet'."

Danny sighed before he started to type in 'dragon ghost amulet'. The results were easier this time. There were a few from fiction, but there was one that had a picture that looked exactly the same as the one Andy was wearing.

Takuya saw it and pointed it out. "Hey, try that one."

Danny moved the cursor over the website and clicked it, bringing up the information they had been seeking.

"Wow…" Takuya murmured as he saw it was the same one Andy had on his neck. "I think we found our jackpot."

Danny nodded. "Yeah," he gave his cousin a grin. "Nice work on that."

"Look, it's called the Amulet of Aragon," Andy pointed out at the title. "It says that it's able to transform any wearer into a dragon under extreme emotions such as stress or anger."

For a minute, the three boys were silent as what Andy just read began to sink in.

"W-wait a minute… am I going to be turned into a dragon if I get mad?" Andy frowned.

Takuya gulped at hearing that as Danny somewhat paled. The two boys didn't like that idea, but each for different reasons.

"N-not if you keep calm," Takuya said.

"Yeah, bro." Danny agreed. "Just don't let anyone get to you."

Andy gave both of them a deadpanned look. "Uh-huh, do you not know how poorly that tends to go?"

The older boy grimaced at that. _Yeah, he has a point…_ Takuya thought. "Uh...sorry. Not a smart suggestion on my part…"

"Listen, if we can't get this amulet off, then me turning into a dragon isn't an 'if' but a 'when'. I'm pretty much a ticking time bomb at this point," Andy stated.

Unbeknownst to Andy and Danny, that feral look crept into Takuya's eyes at hearing that. _So that ghost maiden made it so Andy was to be a threat?_ He thought, feeling anger creeping up into his body.

"I'm sure there's got to be a way we can get that amulet off of you," Danny quickly said. "You said that dragon girl said this was a test for you, right? Maybe after the test is over, she'll take it back."

"But what is this test?" Andy asked. "She was way too vague, how do we know this test doesn't involve me turning into a dragon?"

"I'm not sure," Takuya admitted. "But whatever the reason, we have to tread lightly. That ghost maiden may have left it with you just so that could happen on purpose." Of course, he was hoping he was wrong on that, but when one had been through what he went through in the Digital World, chances could not be taken.

"Maybe the test is to see if you could control your dragon form?" Danny suggested.

Takuya remembered when he first got his Beast Spirit, he was out of control, and attacked his own friends. It was Tommy who managed to calm him down enough to snap him out of it. He couldn't imagine what would happen if Andy went on a rampage, especially in a public area.

For once, he was wondering if he could do something, or if that experience of his own could be applied in any way. _I hope I can help Andy with this if that ever comes to pass…_ He thought grimly.

Danny looked at Andy. "I don't think you will have much of an issue with the control thing. You tend to be more level-headed than me."

"That doesn't mean I can't still get angry," Andy pointed out. "Well… I guess as long as this amulet is stuck on me, we can only wait and see… and just hope it doesn't become as bad as we fear."

Danny and Takuya both nodded in response. _I hope so too…_ Takuya thought as he looked at Andy in a concerned manner.

* * *

The next few days at school were brutal. Not in a traditional sense, it was pretty average actually. But Takuya was stressed out, he was worried Andy would suddenly become a giant ghost dragon and go on a rampage. Though Andy had been doing a good job at staying calm so far.

Danny had told Tucker and Sam about the amulet, so they would know what was going on. Takuya had to admit that he admired their loyalty, since they believed Danny without asking a bunch of questions, but then again, considering what they experienced these past few days, it wasn't that hard for them to accept the whole 'turning into a dragon' thing.

For Takuya himself, he was not certain what to expect to happen. All he knew was that the stress was getting to him. He felt more jumpy than usual, and once almost socked Tucker in the face when the boy had spoken up from behind him.

During lunch, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Takuya, and Andy were all sitting at the same table outside of the school. Andy was pretty happy about that, since he hadn't been able to sit with them in a while since the accident.

"Takuya, relax, you act like you're the one with this dragon turning amulet on," Andy said to Takuya while they were eating lunch. "Actually, maybe it's a good thing you're not wearing it, otherwise you would've turned into a dragon twice over already."

Takuya chuckled at the remark. Hearing Andy make a joke seemed to calm him down somewhat. "You're, right. I would have gone on a rampage twice by now."

Danny grinned. "More like five times over."

"Come on, I'm not that bad… am I?" Takuya questioned.

"The way you almost socked me in the face, I'd say you are," Tucker muttered, though he was clearly not in a good mood after being turned down three times in a row by every girl he asked before lunch time started.

"So, strike three thousand?" Takuya asked as he looked at Tucker. "And sorry about that earlier…" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly at that last sentence.

"It's cool dude, but man… what does a guy gotta do to get hooked up with a girl?" Tucker grumbled. "Is it the glasses? Maybe girls don't like the whole 'techno geek' stuff? But even the geeky girls turned me down."

Takuya gave a shrug. "I can't help you there."

"Girls are complicated," Sam remarked as she was eating her salad. "Maybe you just don't have the stuff they're looking for in a guy."

"Like what? I've got charm, good looks, and a devilish charisma," Tucker said. "What more do I need?"

"Well, you're certainly not very humble," Andy pointed out before he took a bite of his turkey sandwich.

Takuya gave Tucker a look. "Um...I don't think I want to get into that topic…" He didn't feel like going into territory he was not good with, and relationships were one of them.

"It's fine, Tuck, I mean Andy, Takuya, and I don't have dates yet either," Danny comforted.

"You three haven't even tried yet," Tucker pointed out.

"Who would you want to take to the dance, bro?" Andy asked before smirking. "Would it be with a very close friend who's sitting to your left?"

Takuya gave Sam a glance. "I think said friend would appreciate it~"

Sam froze, she stopped chewing her salad in mid-bite.

But poor Danny was oblivious to what Takuya was saying. "Who would that be?"

Sam buried her face into her bowl of salad. Andy was trying not to laugh. Tucker rolled his eyes, and Takuya's jaw dropped, he had no idea anyone could be that oblivious.

"Um...never mind…" Takuya muttered. He had not expected Danny to be that dense. _Wow...and Zoey would say I was dense sometimes..._

Danny looked over at Sam, before frowning. "You…"

Danny suddenly stopped as he stared at something. Tucker followed Danny's gaze and he suddenly became lost in a trance. Both Danny and Tucker were smiling as they were staring at something.

"What are you two looking at?" Sam demanded.

"Pauliiiiinaaaaa~" Danny and Tucker both said dreamily at the same time.

Andy turned around to see who his brother and friend was looking at. There she was, the spanish girl who had the prettiest of looks when it comes to girls. Every guy she passed by couldn't stop staring at her in a dreamy way. One guy, who was riding on a bike, got so distracted by her that he fell into a pond. Paulina smirked before she walked to a tree, then sat down at the base of it, and brought out a low fat yogurt.

Takuya frowned. "I can see why many guys fall for her." _Good thing I have a girlfriend already._

He gave Danny a nudge. "Danny?"

"H-huh?" Danny snapped out of the trance he was in. "Y-yeah?"

"You were staring. You okay?" Takuya asked. He hoped to distract Danny from the mean girl's hold.

"Dude, it's Paulina, the most popular and prettiest girl in the school," Tucker spoke up. "You know, what Danny? You could totally try asking her out."

"What? I-I can't… I mean, I get weak kneed if I try talking to a cute girl," Danny replied nervously.

"Oh? And you have no problems with talking to me?" Sam spoke up, glaring at Danny.

Takuya gave a slight flinch at Sam's tone. "You probably should not have said that, Danny…" He muttered. He remembered one time Sam had gone after a boy who said she wasn't pretty enough to be friends with the twins and he had been kneed in the stomach by her as a result.

"I-I didn't mean to imply you're not cute, Sam!" Danny quickly said. "I just mean you're my friend, you know? Of course I'm okay with talking to you."

Takuya could see the slight blush on Danny's face at that as he called Sam 'cute'. He smiled.

Andy turned away from Paulina, looking down at his sandwich. He didn't say anything, but he didn't look very happy.

Takuya glanced at Andy and frowned. He remembered Andy telling him about how he felt about Paulina, and he had to agree with his cousin. _But does Danny know?_ He wasn't sure if Danny was aware of what Andy thought about her.

Sam stood up and pushed Danny out of his seat. "Why don't you just go give your weak knees some exercise?"

Danny stumbled towards Paulina.

"This isn't going to end well for him…" Andy sighed.

Takuya looked at Danny with a bit of worry. He didn't think this was a good idea. "Sam...I don't think that was smart. I mean, Paulina will just try to tear his heart to pieces."

"As much as I'm inclined to agree with you, I did always say not to judge a book by it's cover. Let's see how Paulina will react before we go judging her," Sam answered.

Takuya blinked. He hadn't expected the incident with the cafeteria menu to affect her like that. She would have been all about judging earlier. _Wow...I guess Andy's words made her think for once._ He mused to himself.

Andy frowned a little, but he turned to Danny. Danny's arm leaned against the tree, but it suddenly looked like his arm went through the tree, and this caused Danny to hit his face against the tree before he fell down face first in front of Paulina. Paulina rolled her eyes.

"Please don't say you've suddenly fallen for me. That line is so last semester," Paulina sighed as Danny stood back up.

"No, I haven't," Danny said as he straightened himself up. "I-I mean, I'm Danny." He tried to look cool in front of her in an attempt to win her over.

Then all of a sudden, Danny's pants became see-thru, but it happened so fast that Takuya and Andy weren't sure at what they were seeing before Danny's pants fell down, exposing his red and white polka-dotted boxers. Everyone immediately began to laugh at poor Danny. The turkey in Andy's sandwich fell down as he just stared in shock at the scene.

Takuya smacked his face with his open palm in exasperation. _So much for things going smoothly…_ He thought in his mind as he ran over to Danny.

"You okay?" Takuya asked as he made his way over.

"You know, a gentleman normally tips his hat, but I'll give you points for originality," Paulina chuckled.

Andy walked over to Danny. "Come on, bro, let's get you out of public eye."

Takuya made to follow the twins, trying to keep his temper under control. He didn't like the way the students were laughing at his cousin Danny, but then again, who wouldn't after that little display? _And _how_ did his pants turn see-thru? _He wondered. _There's _no_ way Danny escaped that accident without some kind of side effects now._

"Knock it off, Paulina!" Sam snapped as she marched up to the Spanish girl. "You know, at least Danny had the guts to ask you out instead of just ogling you like 99% of the boys here."

Takuya stopped and looked back at the two girls. "As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. Danny _did_ have the guts to do that. Can't you at least respect that?"

"Why would I care about whether or not he was able to ask me out?" Paulina asked.

"Jeez, you're so shallow," Sam grumbled before she walked away.

Though what Sam said did make Paulina intrigued about something.

* * *

Later that day, Danny, Tucker, Andy, and Takuya were standing in the hallway of the lockers. Danny was pouting because people were still laughing at him.

"Hehe, hey look, it's boxer boy!" A student laughed, pointing at Danny.

Andy shut his eyes for a moment before he snapped at the student. "Get a life!"

The student just grumbled and walked away, but still chuckled anyway. Takuya grumbled to himself. "I don't see why students have to laugh like that at Danny. He didn't do that on purpose. I mean, someone _had_ to have seen his pants turn see-thru, right?"

"My pants didn't turn see-thru, that sounds weird," Danny quickly replied. "But man, I blew it badly with Paulina. She would never even look at me now."

"Probably for the better," Andy shrugged. "And don't worry, sooner or later, everyone will get tired of laughing at you and move on to other things. I mean so you wear boxers, that just shows you have decency."

"I guess…" Danny sighed.

"I doubt they will remember this anyway," Takuya remarked. "I mean, with the dance coming up, no one will want to focus on you and they will want to worry more about finding a date." He then gave Andy a glance. "Is that right?"

"Yeah, teenagers are usually fickled like that," Andy shrugged.

Then suddenly, there was a familiar feminine voice. "Hi Danny!~"

Everyone looked to see it was Paulina, grinning. All the guys around her sighed dreamily, while the girls looked on with envy.

"What do _you_ want?" Andy hissed.

Takuya glared at the girl, not trusting that attitude. His experience with the evil Warrior of Water in the Digital World did not give a good impression of someone who was vain, and Paulina matched that in spades.

"Oh don't get your pants in a bundle. I just came to talk to your brother is all," Paulina answered.

"Oh, I'm sure that's all you're going to do," Andy huffed.

"Hey, how about we leave them alone for a bit?" Tucker suggested. "This might be a good thing."

He then grabbed Andy and Takuya, pulling them away by the arms. Takuya yelped as Andy protested, but the techno-geek wasn't letting them spoil the moment for Danny.

Tucker turned the corner, making sure they were out of sight so Paulina and Danny could talk. "Alright, you two, what is your problem? Paulina hadn't been hostile to Danny yet, so at least give her a chance."

Andy frowned as he crossed his arms. "I… had a nasty run in with her once…"

"And I met a girl similar to her back in Japan when I lived there," Takuya explained. It was a half-truth, half-lie. _I seem to be telling a lot of those these days._ He thought grimly.

"Wait… really? You think Paulina is that bad?" Tucker asked.

Andy looked over from the wall to see Dash just pushed Danny into his locker. Though Andy couldn't hear what was going on, Dash suddenly started acting weird, he picked up Paulina's foot, to which Paulina backed away and gave him a look of disgust. Dash looked to be in a daze before walking away, and Paulina opened the locker door to let Danny out. After they spoke a bit, Paulina gave Danny a palm kiss before she walked away. Danny looked very happy.

"Heh," Tucker chuckled. "That looked like a yes to me."

"A 'yes'? More like a 'how can I dump him the most embarrassing way possible'!" Andy growled, he actually _growled_.

Takuya then jumped as he heard that. He looked at Andy in worry.

"Um...Andy… Calm down, please…" Takuya pleaded. He didn't like that sound at all. "Remember the _necklace_?"

Tucker looked at Andy's amulet. "You think Paulina might've liked that amulet?"

Andy let out an inhumane hiss as his tongue came out like a snake's forked tongue. Tucker quickly held up his hands. "O-okay, I guess not! Calm down, alright? Everything's going to be okay."

Takuya hoped Andy would settle down. Having him go all dragon would not be a good idea. "We can talk Danny out of his 'date', if that will make you feel better."

Andy shut his eyes for a moment to calm himself down. "I doubt he would listen. But I will be keeping an eye on Paulina during the dance."

The older boy frowned to himself. _I guess that means I am going too, since my Beast form may be needed._ He mused to himself with a small huff. "I guess I am going too, then."

"Great, meanwhile, maybe I can get a date if my own pants fell down." Tucker smiled excitedly.

"Tucker, don't," Andy warned.

Takuya nodded. "You may get teased even worse than Danny did."

Tucker frowned at the older boy's words. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Tucker ran off before Andy or Takuya could stop him.

"He might have a black eye or two tomorrow," Andy sighed.

"Oh brother…" Takuya moaned as he smacked his head against a locker.

"Speaking of brother…" Andy turned back to Danny, and was surprised to see Mr. Lancer there, handing Danny a belt, not only that, but Danny's pants were down again. "How the heck did his pants fall down again?"

Takuya frowned. "I think they went see-thru again."

"I wonder if Mom and Dad got a hold of his pants and made them 'ghost pants' or something…" Andy wondered.

Takuya looked at Andy. "I doubt Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack did something like that."

He then had a thought and put a hand to his chin. "Or maybe they did. It sounds like them."

* * *

_At Fenton Works_

"I still can't believe Mr. Lancer wants to talk to my Dad about this…" Danny groaned, his pants tightened with the belt Mr. Lancer gave him. "But at least I got an awesome date for the dance."

"Awesome isn't the term I would use to describe Paulina," Andy grumbled.

"And are you sure you're eating enough?" Takuya asked Danny. _I'm sure not going to ask about how his pants went see-thru since Danny would deny it._

"Yeah, of course I am," Danny answered. "My pants are just… loose, that's all."

"They're not loose, they are…" Andy started before shaking his head. "Nevermind. Why don't you go ahead and talk to Dad about Mr. Lancer's request?"

Takuya, however, was lost in his thoughts, so he didn't hear the twins speaking. Rather, his mind was on Andy and the amulet. _How can I help get that thing off if it burns me?_ He wondered. _And for that matter, _why_ did it burn me? I mean, I have the element of fire to use when evolved, but...it doesn't make sense I would be burned by that thing._

Takuya began to think. _Maybe I have to remove it as a Digimon? I mean even though I am the Warrior of Fire, fire would still burn me as a human._

"Takuya?" The voice from behind him made him jump up in surprise.

"W-what?" Takuya turned around.

"I asked if you wanted to come and back me up when I tell Dad," Danny repeated.

"Oh...Uh, sure." Takuya replied, although he had no idea what he was agreeing to.

Danny gave him a deadpanned look. "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

Takuya gave a sheepish chuckle. "Not really. I got lost in my thoughts."

The younger boy sighed. "I asked if you would come and back me up when I told Dad about the situation with Mr. Lancer and his request."

"Oh… uh…" Takuya didn't really want to have to deal with an angry or annoyed Jack Fenton.

Danny then looked like he had an idea. "Actually, Takuya… nevermind. I can handle Dad myself. You and Andy can… uh… stay up here."

Takuya and Andy blinked. "What? Why?" Andy questioned.

"Uh...no reason," Danny replied. "Just...get to bonding or something. Find out about that amulet some more or something like that."

Before Andy could ask anymore questions, Danny rushed into the kitchen to get down into the lab where Jack was.

"He sure was in a hurry…" Takuya muttered.

Andy walked into the kitchen, frowning. "In a hurry, abruptly leave in the middle of something, getting cold chills, weird things going on with him. He's been all dodgy ever since the accident."

Andy took out a glass cup, and used the fridge's filter water to fill it up.

"Tell me about," Takuya said as he leaned against the wall. "Even though I have been back a few days, I noticed it too. And I don't like it. It's like the accident affected him in some way, but I can only wonder how."

Andy took a sip of the water before he sighed. "Whatever it was, Danny certainly doesn't want to tell us. Because I guess he can't trust us to know something happened to him. Because why the heck not? What does he think we'll do? Dissect him like monsters!?"

Andy's hand completely crushed the cup he was holding, shattering the glass.

Takuya saw that and paled. "Andy, I'm sure whatever is going on with Danny, he wants to get it under control before telling us." He held up his hands in a gesture to calm down his cousin.

Andy looked at Takuya, and for a moment, Takuya saw a similar feral look in Andy's eyes, the look of a dragon. But the feral look faded away quickly and Andy sighed before throwing the crushed cup into the garbage. "Right… I really shouldn't let it get to me, especially right now."

Takuya sighed in relief. "Yeah...good idea."

He then looked at the cup shards on the floor. "Um...I got it." He went to grab a broom and dustpan to sweep the shards into the pan so they could be tossed. Once that was done, Takuya grabbed a towel and began to wipe up the water from the floor.

Andy looked at his hand, the one that crushed the glass cup, but there was no blood on it. He took a closer look to see he had bits of dragon scales on it. He didn't let Takuya know, however, as the dragon scales faded back to skin.

_This is going to be a long week…_ Andy frowned.

Suddenly, Jack came into the kitchen. There was something odd about him, his eyes were glowing an unusual neon green. Takuya even felt a familiar freezing cold aura coming from Jack.

"Ah, hi kids," Jack said with his voice sounding off. "I, Jack Fenton, will be going to Casper High to talk to Mr. Lancer. Because that's what we adults do."

As the bigger man made his way out of the house and kitchen, Takuya looked at Andy. "Okay...that was _weird_, even by Uncle Jack's standards."

"Yeah… it was…" Andy agreed before he looked back at the lab. "Where's Danny?"

"Maybe he is still in the lab?" Takuya asked as he stood up from the floor, the wet towel in his left hand. "I think we could go and look. If not, maybe he went to see Sam and Tucker."

"While we were in the kitchen?" Andy raised an eyebrow. "He'd have to come into the kitchen after leaving the lab."

"Well, odd stuff happens around Danny, remember?" Takuya pointed out. "Maybe this is one of those times."

"Quite. Because apparently Danny's limbs can go through solid objects, why not make him invisible too," Andy grumbled. "I'm going to my room."

Takuya frowned, but nodded. "Okay. Just...remember, stay calm and in control."

* * *

The next day, after school was out, Danny decided to go to the mall with his friends. He was a little grumpy about something. Takuya and Andy were with them, so Danny couldn't say too much, however.

"You know… if you could control someone, like say… a girl, would you…?" Tucker began to ask, as if hinting something towards Danny.

Hearing that, Takuya blinked as he looked back. "Control someone? Why would Danny control someone?"

"It's a hypothetical question," Tucker shrugged.

"And I would say no even if I could." Danny rolled his eyes. "You can get your own date for the dance, like I did."

"You know, Andy and I are going, and we don't have dates." Takuya pointed out. "It's not like it's a requirement or anything."

"Are you kidding? People who show up to the dance without a date are considered losers!" Tucker waved his arms around. "Besides, this could make or break my image."

"You don't even have one," Sam grumbled. "I don't have a date either, not that I care, because I don't like this stupid dance anyways."

Takuya looked at Tucker. "You know, I think Sam wants to go. Why don't you ask her? I mean, she wouldn't reject you, right?"

Tucker blinked at that, and so did Sam.

"Well… I guess since nobody else wants to go with me, and I've asked just about every girl in school already… would you like to go to the dance with me, Sam? You know, as friends?" Tucker asked.

Sam blinked in surprise, but then, a small smile crossed her face. "That would be nice, Tucker." Then it went serious. "But _just_ as friends."

"Of course, just friends," Tucker promised quickly. "At least a date with a friend is better than no date at all."

Takuya smiled at that. "See? Now was that so hard?"

"I'm glad to see you two are growing on each other." Andy grinned. "If you're not careful, bro, Sam may just end up falling for Tucker instead."

Danny was drinking something when Andy made that comment, and this caused him to spit out his drink and cough a little. Andy was now laughing.

Takuya laughed as well as Danny looked at Andy.

"Andy! That wasn't funny!" Danny whined as he threw the plastic cup at his brother.

Andy chuckled when the plastic cup hit his forehead. "Come on, that was gold. If it were anyone else, you'd be laughing your head off right now~"

"You know it too~" Takuya added in the same sing-song tone as his cousin.

"Ugh!" A loud voice grumbled. "I can't believe they sold out of the Flee-Cee-Tee! A fashion outcast for 16 weeks!? I can't survive that long!"

Everyone stared as Paulina was storming around, looking quite angry.

"Looks like your date is throwing a temper tantrum," Andy remarked to Danny.

Takuya grimaced at the sight. "And a big one at that."

Then, he had a grin on his face. "And if you're such a gentleman, then why don't you go and help her?" He suggested.

"W-what? Uh…" Danny frowned, he wasn't sure what to do when a girl was throwing a temper tantrum. "I mean… I guess I'll try."

"Are you sure you should, Danny?" Sam asked. "It's usually not wise to talk to a girl when she's really angry."

Andy gave a glare to Takuya in response. "You just _had_ to make that suggestion, didn't you?"

Takuya paled as he realized Andy was getting mad again. "Um...I was just kidding around!" He exclaimed in his defense. "I didn't mean it literally!"

"Hey, if I don't try to calm her down, then what kind of boyfriend would I be?" Danny asked before he stood up and started to walk over to Paulina.

Takuya looked at Andy and swore he saw draconic scales on Andy's face. "Uh oh…" He muttered to himself. His teasing of Danny had seemed to set Andy off.

However, Andy wasn't quite changing yet. He was able to calm himself down to stop the change. Unfortunately, however, when Danny came up to help Paulina, Paulina started yelling at Danny.

"You know, if you really were boyfriend material, you would've bought me a Flee-Cee-Tee shirt before they sold out!" Paulina snapped at Danny.

"B-but I don't even know what that is." Danny frowned.

"Doesn't matter, you should know what I want! I'm your date!" Paulina hissed.

At this point, Andy stood up from the table. He hissed as he was struggling to contain his emotions, but his anger at Paulina was building. The amulet around his neck started to glow, power began to flow through Andy.

"SHALLOW LITTLE WITCH!" In an instant, Andy grew into a giant, blue and green dragon. He let out a loud roar.

Everyone in the mall stared at the giant glowing dragon in shock, much like with the Lunch Lady when she suddenly became a colossal meat monster, everyone was deathly still and quiet.

Gaping, Takuya realized he had inadvertently set Andy off with his teasing of Danny. _Oh...crap…_ He thought before he looked around for a place to hide to evolve. If this was a dragon fight, he would need the power of the beast.

When Dragon Andy made a move, everyone finally snapped out of it to start running away, screaming in a panic. Tucker and Sam were caught up in the stampede this time. Paulina stared up at the angry dragon, and she passed out.

Danny held onto Paulina and looked up at Dragon Andy. "N-now Andy, calm down!"

Dragon Andy gave no indication that he heard Danny, his red eyes were set on Paulina.

Takuya tried to find a decent hiding spot, only to see a closed off store that was empty. He frowned, realizing it was partly exposed, but it was the only place he could find that was safe.

He ran into the store after some people had moved away from it, and knew he had to evolve.

Looking around and determining he was safe, Takuya invoked the power of his Beast Spirit. The red outline of his second Spirit roared and appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as he invoked a ball of fractal coding on his left hand. Takuya swiped the D-Tector over the coding and called out the phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ He felt the primal power of his Beast Spirit flowing into him as his clothes ripped away and his body became surrounded by the coding. Takuya cried out as the power flooded into his body. His body grew in strength and power as well as size, with red, yellow, black, and white armor forming on his body. A tail extended out from the base of his spine as two large orange wings appeared on his body. His head became like a dragon's almost, but not exactly, and the top of his head was white. His eyes turned sky blue, but had a feral edge to them as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"BurningGreymon!"_

While Dragon Andy was reaching out to Paulina, BurningGreymon flew towards him.

The draconic Digimon slammed into Dragon Andy and knocked him aside before landing and letting out his own roar of dominance. He flared his orange wings wide as he glared down Dragon Andy, sharp blue eyes meeting glowing red.

While the two dragons were facing each other, Danny picked up Paulina with surprising ease and started hurrying out the mall to get her to safety.

Dragon Andy glared at BurningGreymon with such venom that it almost looked like Dragon Andy really hated him. Dragon Andy let out an angry roar before shooting out green fire at BurningGreymon from his maw.

BurningGreymon narrowed his blue eyes before he called upon his one attack that could cancel out the green flames. _"Wildfire Tsunami!"_ The red flames flared into view, forming a protective barrier around his form. The green flames were canceled out by the fiery red barrier, which faded with the flames dissipating.

"WHY MUST YOU INTERFERE!?" Dragon Andy shouted angrily.

"This is not you!" BurningGreymon shouted back. "You are better than this!" Although deep down, the Beast Warrior of Flame had the feeling Andy was too caught up in his rage to realize what was being said to him. _Andy seems to be more dragon-like ghost than human right now._

Dragon Andy's wings stretched out and he started to fly. Although he was bigger than BurningGreymon, he was surprisingly fast, he flew around BurningGreymon quickly, which caught the Digimon off guard, before a blue scaley tail slammed into him with such force that BurningGreymon hit the mall's ceiling.

A grunt of pain escaped the Digimon as he hit the ceiling hard before falling to the floor with a loud _CRASH_, leaving a crater, in which he lay for a moment before his eyes snapped open and he flew out of the impact crater towards Dragon Andy.

"Time to remove the problem!" He exclaimed as he flew towards Dragon Andy and reached for his amulet. But as soon as he grabbed it, the thing burned his three-clawed hand, earning a yelp of pain before BurningGreymon pulled his hand back, panting as he landed in front of Dragon Andy. _Okay, removing it as a Digimon is impossible..._

Dragon Andy, however, wasn't too keen on showing mercy just because BurningGreymon's claws got burned, he proceeded to punch BurningGreymon into the ground with his dragon fists.

In desperation, BurningGreymon called upon his attack once more to drive Dragon Andy back. _"Wildfire Tsunami!"_ The flames forced Dragon Andy to back off, which gave the Digimon some breathing room.

Dragon Andy did back off, however, he wasn't through with BurningGreymon. In his rage, he attacked without hesitation, he shot out another green stream of fire at BurningGreymon. BurningGreymon didn't have time to react. Thankfully, however, he didn't need to. A black and white blur shot in front of him and tackled him down, barely avoiding the green fire.

Looking back as soon as the flames went past them, BurningGreymon was surprised to see the ghost boy from earlier. _Wow, I guess I was wrong about this ghost boy…_ The Digimon thought to himself. _He saved me_.

"Thanks…" The Beast Warrior of Flame panted.

The ghost boy gave an awkward look at BurningGreymon, still not sure about him. "I just… didn't want you to get hurt. But listen, don't hurt that dragon. He's just a human boy who got caught up in a ghost spell."

BurningGreymon was far from dumb, and he knew that Andy was caught up in the spell, but he decided to play along with the news from the ghost boy. "I see. Well, I wasn't trying to. In my defense, I sensed the sudden emergence of an unknown energy and came to merely investigate. Then that ghost...err...the victim attacked me."

Dragon Andy gritted his sharp teeth as he glared at BurningGreymon and the ghost boy. While he was still angry, he seemed more cautious.

"I think maybe it might help if we could calm him down. He's running on rage right now," The ghost boy analyzed.

"But how?" BurningGreymon questioned. "I tried to remove that amulet, get to the source of the problem, but it didn't work. The thing burned me."

"It burns you too?" The ghost boy asked in surprise.

Dragon Andy took this opportunity to attack while they were distracted. He shot a fireball at them, which caused BurningGreymon to move away quickly, and the ghost boy dodged by diving underground, however, the fireball was a distraction. As soon as BurningGreymon moved away from it, he was quickly caught by Dragon Andy's claws, which Dragon Andy used to pin him down on the ground, creating a crater. Dragon Andy glared down at BurningGreymon.

"DIGITAL BEAST!" Dragon Andy roared.

BurningGreymon was once more shocked that a ghost, albeit _Andy_, knew what he was. _Why is it that ghosts here can tell what I am?_ He wondered frantically. BurningGreymon wanted to use his Wildfire Tsunami again, but the ghost boy's words made him pause. _No. I can't use that again_. He reminded himself. Then, he got an idea. Swinging his tail, BurningGreymon whacked Dragon Andy in the side, hoping it would get Dragon Andy to back off.

Dragon Andy let out a roar of pain before he lifted up BurningGreymon and threw him to the side.

Another pained grunt escaped BurningGreymon as he was tossed to the floor hard. _Okay...I think that cracked a few ribs…_ He thought in pain.

Dragon Andy flew over BurningGreymon, and was about to fire another fire breath at him, when the ghost boy suddenly flew up in front of Dragon Andy's face.

"Stop! Please, you're not a destructive monster!" The ghost boy called out in desperation. "You can stop this, Andy! Please listen to me!"

Surprisingly, Dragon Andy stopped his fire breath and glared down at the ghost boy.

Looking back, BurningGreymon was surprised to see Dragon Andy stop at the ghost boy's pleas. _What the…?_

He wondered.

"That's it, just calm down… keep looking at me… don't be a monster," The ghost boy said in a soothing voice.

Dragon Andy kept looking at the ghost boy, and his face started to calm down, no longer rage filled.

For once in his life, the Warrior of Fire was stunned. He had expected to fight Dragon Andy seriously, but this, this changed everything he thought he knew about fighting. _Wow...I guess taking a more calm and rational route is the way to go sometimes…_ BurningGreymon thought to himself.

Dragon Andy took a moment to look at his surroundings, before spotting BurningGreymon. He gave an unknown look at BurningGreymon, it wasn't rage, or fear, but analytic, if such a look could be on a dragon. Then Dragon Andy looked at the ghost boy one more time before he started to shrink down. The ghost boy quickly disappeared, or turned invisible as the dragon shrunk down to human size.

Grunting as he got to his feet, BurningGreymon let his evolution go, having seen no other humans around. He figured it was safe to do so, and soon was back to being the human Takuya. Takuya ran over to Andy. "Andy!"

Takuya stopped when he saw Danny already there, hugging a frightened looking Andy.

Takuya ran over. "Is Andy okay, Danny?" Worry was clear on his face.

"Y-yeah, I don't see any injuries on him, but… he's pretty shaken up," Danny answered in concern.

A sigh escaped Takuya before he winced and his hand flew to his chest. _Okay, that fight _definitely_ at least cracked a few ribs…_ He thought as he hissed in pain._ These ghosts are no joke… and I was fighting with someone who had no experience with fighting as a ghost dragon._

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't… didn't m-mean to hurt anyone…" Andy shakingly said, burying his head into Danny's chest.

"I don't think you did," Takuya assured Andy. "As for me, I just got some dumb luck of nearly being squashed by some falling debris. I think I cracked a rib or two when I dodged the debris."

"H-how's… P-Paulina?" Andy asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Don't worry, bro, Paulina's fine, she just passed out from fright is all," Danny reassured his brother. "Come on, let's get you home. This place will be surrounded by cops soon."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah...good idea…" He agreed, hissing in pain at his cracked ribs. "And I think I need to get my ribs looked at…"

"Do you need any help?" Tucker asked as he and Sam came back into the mall seeing that the dragon was tamed.

"Gotta admit though, that was pretty wild," Sam chuckled sheepishly, hoping to cheer Andy up a little. "I mean this would've totally made for an awesome monster movie."

Takuya wasn't sure if he should be offended by that or if he should just brush it off like it was just a mere comment. In the end, he decided to just let it slide. _Sam doesn't know what BurningGreymon really is_. He reasoned.

Takuya had to lean on Tucker as the group left the mall, and hoped the authorities would think some kind of terrorist attacked the mall rather than a boy turning into a full blown dragon.

"I'm just glad the ghost boy calmed Andy down," Takuya said at last. "I don't think that that BurningGreymon would have stood a chance otherwise." _Even if that was me..._

"BurningGreymon is kind of a mouthful, I'm thinking about just calling it Burn," Tucker chuckled light heartedly.

Takuya had to admit, it was a mouthful of a name, but he chuckled as well. _Well, I'll let Tucker have this one. He is right in a way too._

Though Takuya thought it was weird that the ghost boy was able to calm Dragon Andy down, Danny, Tucker, and Sam didn't seem to think it was weird, or they didn't express it. Takuya decided not to think about it right now, because his ribs were killing him.

* * *

**Titanic X:** **ZAFT Convoy: **Well, enjoy this chapter then!

**Irusha the Kitsune chapter 1****: ZAFT Convoy:** I hope you enjoy this as well. And welcome to the story!

**DarkFoxKit:** Hi FaravusGaming, glad that you're loving this so far.

**NOTE: **Any flames and/or hate-filled reviews **_WILL_** be reported and/or deleted depending on if signed or not.


	4. Dragon VS Digimon

**Here is chapter 4~ :3 DarkFoxKit owns Andy Fenton. Danny Phantom and Digimon do not belong to me.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Dragon Vs. Digimon**

Takuya was in the living room, watching the news. There was a news reporter talking about how the authorities didn't believe eye-witnesses of a dragon destroying the mall fighting with another dragon-like creature, and some kind of flying boy. Instead, the authorities claimed it was just a terrorist attack.

"Wow, there were several eye-witnesses of a dragon attack, and they still claimed it was just a terrorist attack," Danny mumbled as he was walking into the living room.

"Well, I think the terrorist claim is more believable," Takuya pointed out. "At least to the rest of the masses anyway."

"True, and if Mom and Dad heard about this ghost dragon, they'll be down at the mall with guns blazing," Danny chuckled. "That's the last thing we need."

The older boy gave a glance at Danny. "By the way, how's Andy been?" Takuya asked. "He seemed pretty shaken up last I saw." The concern was evident in his voice.

"Yeah, I don't blame him. Andy says he doesn't remember a lot while he was a dragon, but he knew he did a lot of damage at the mall, he was worried he really hurt or… even killed someone while he was on a rampage," Danny informed. "I did assure him nobody got seriously hurt, but he's still scared of what could happen the next time something sets him off."

Takuya frowned at that. _I know Andy doesn't like to show his mental state, but I can't say I blame him for worrying about that. I know when I lost control of my Beast Spirit I was worried about losing control again for a while too._

"I just wish there was something I could say to help comfort him a little," Danny sighed.

Takuya nodded before he stood up, though his ribs were still sore, at least they were healing. "I'll go talk to him."

"Are you sure? I know you're not usually that good when it comes to emotional speeches, that's usually Jazz's forte, but considering the situation, she wouldn't be able to help comfort Andy since she doesn't even believe that he can turn into a dragon," Danny remarked.

"Heh...you would be surprised," Takuya joked back before he went upstairs, leaving Danny in the living room, and headed to the door of Andy and Danny's room.

He knocked on the door. "Andy?"

Takuya waited for a moment before he heard Andy's voice. "You can come in… the door isn't locked."

He opened the door, seeing Andy sitting on his bed. "Are you doing okay?" Takuya asked. "Danny said you were worried about hurting someone when as a dragon."

"Well… yeah, of course I am. I mean did you see the mess the mall was in after my little rampage?" Andy frowned. "That was no small mess. Half of the mall was pretty much destroyed."

"I can't say I blame you," Takuya said as he walked in and sat down on Danny's bed. "Anyone would be scared about that like you are."

"I would be worried if I wasn't," Andy remarked. "I knew it was going to happen… I just… well… knowing it would happen and having it actually happen are two very different things. What will I do the next time it happens? Would I end up destroying the school next? What if this time I really do hurt someone?"

Takuya pursed his lips at that, trying to think of a way to give Andy advice without giving away his own secret. Then, he remembered what Tommy had told him after that incident when he lost control of his beast spirit. Looking at Andy, he gave a small smile. "Just try to remember who your friends are. You don't want to hurt them, so just remember they are your friends and you won't lose control."

He wasn't sure how relevant that advice would be, given how this was a ghostly dragon amulet, but it didn't hurt, at least Takuya hoped it didn't.

"Maybe…" Andy said softly. "I… mostly remember fighting with that dragon. I don't know why, but something about it just… really worried me, and irritated me."

Takuya paused at hearing that. "Really? What worried you about that dragon?"

"It's a bit hard to put it into words. I didn't feel that way when I saw him before, but when I was a dragon… he felt unnatural, in a different way. Like… I could tell he was made of data, I could see and sense all those zeros and ones on him for some reason. It angered me. I… don't know, it might be a ghostly instinct or something," Andy shrugged.

Hearing that, Takuya had a thought. _Maybe that flash of heat I feel is a reaction to a ghost…_ He mused before he paused. "Wait, you said 'he'. Is that dragon male?" He was a bit panicked now.

"Yeah, it's weird, but I could somehow tell that BurningGreymon was male. It might be because dragons can tell another dragon's gender," Andy said.

"Makes sense since most dragons are beasts of an instinctual nature," Takuya mused. He knew that bit from his own experiences.

Andy sighed. "About what you said… of remembering who my friends are… I thought that's what calmed me down in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Takuya asked.

"I thought I saw… Danny talking to me, he was telling me to calm down," Andy answered. "It was the first time I realized what I was doing as a dragon, then I shrunk down."

Takuya realized Andy had no idea that his brother was missing and that the ghost boy was the one who did it instead. Figuring a little white lie wouldn't hurt, he shrugged. "It was. I didn't see him from where I was hiding, but I could hear his voice."

Andy frowned a little. "But… that confuses me… he was obviously flying. How else could he have gotten up to me at that point?"

"I think the ghost boy was helping him, just remained invisible," Takuya lied.

"I guess… that makes sense… wouldn't want to risk angering the dragon more by carrying said dragon's brother," Andy muttered. "But even if I could remember who my friends are… I don't have a lot of friends, and it's very possible I would turn into a dragon if I was alone in the hallway with Dash or something."

"Then just think about who your family is," Takuya replied. "I mean, that also helps." He did consider his friends like family too, after all. "Your brother and sister, your parents, and me are all important to you."

"That's… not the problem. If I was alone with Dash, and my anger is at him, and none of my friends or family are nearby… what's to stop me from… I don't know, smashing, crushing, or eating Dash?" Andy pointed out.

Takuya frowned at that before an idea crossed his mind. "Then don't. Think about how they would react. Would they _want_ you to do something you would regret?"

"That's easier said than done. You don't really think about these things while in a draconic rampage," Andy sighed. "But that's not to say I won't at least try. Maybe if we're lucky, that ghost boy or BurningGreymon will be nearby and stop me again."

Takuya could only nod and sigh at that. "I hope so…"

Andy looked directly at Takuya. "Now… would you tell me about those ribs?"

Takuya froze.

"I saw how you were limping and rubbing your ribs. You obviously got hurt back at the mall," Andy stated.

"It was from diving to the floor and from some debris that went flying," Takuya lied. "Some of the debris hit me in the chest. It cracked at least one rib." He was _not _revealing it was from when Dragon Andy tossed him aside when he was evolved.

Andy sighed. "I'm sorry, it's my fault you got hurt."

"N-no, it's not your fault!" Takuya assured him. "_I_ was the one who was dumb enough to remain in the area."

"Well… regardless, I will have to be more careful from now on, at least until we can get rid of this amulet," Andy said softly. "I don't want to hurt anyone else, whether directly or indirectly."

Takuya frowned at that. _But how can we get that amulet off of Andy? Danny can't, and I can't in either human or Digimon form._

"That ghost maiden we saw, the one who put this amulet on me…" Andy started. "She might be able to take it off… if only we could find her."

"That would require us to go to the Ghost Zone, and we have no transport to get around there. Plus, we have no idea what lurks in there anyway." Takuya pointed out. "Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack won't let us into the Ghost Zone anyway."

"Right… well, let's call finding the ghost maiden plan B then…" Andy agreed.

Takuya smiled at that. "Good." Then he grinned a bit. "Now, why don't we see if we can find you a date~?"

"Come on, going to the dance is the last thing on my mind," Andy grumbled.

"We need to get your mind off of _that_," Takuya said as he pointed at the amulet while putting an arm around Andy's shoulders. "And a dance is one way to do that."

Andy didn't look so sure.

"Come on, Andy, you can't lock yourself up in your room forever. That isn't healthy, and while I understand your concerns, you should still go out and let yourself have some fun. Besides, if you stay locked up, you're going to get angry and irritated eventually. You wouldn't want to turn into a ghost dragon while you're at home, would you?" Takuya pointed out.

Andy shivered at the idea, not only could he seriously hurt his own family, but his parents may also try to tear him apart.

Looking at Andy, Takuya spoke again. "So, which is it? Remain here and become irritated and angry, or get out and have some fun?"

"Either way, it's risky… so it's a 'pick your poison' situation?" Andy grumbled.

"More like pick the lesser of the two evils," Takuya chuckled.

"Fine… I suppose trying to find a date for the dance or something would help take my mind off it," Andy sighed. "Not that I'm expecting to find one."

Takuya grinned. "Well, you never know~" He sang before grabbing Andy's arm and pulling him out of his and Danny's room.

As Takuya was dragging Andy towards the front door, Danny noticed them.

"Hey, where are you two going?" Danny asked, curiously.

"Just going to see if we can find a date for Andy," Takuya answered before he opened the door. "We'll be back before dinner!"

Andy yelped as he was dragged out of the house with his cousin.

Takuya made sure to keep a firm, yet light grip on Andy. "So, where so we start?"

"Uh… well, since the mall is shut down for the time being… maybe we'll try the Nasty Burger?" Andy suggested.

"Is that the restaurant I saw when I first came back here?" Takuya asked. "Because it wasn't here when I left for Japan."

"Oh, yeah. The Nasty Burger was built a year after you left, so it's relatively new," Andy answered. "It's a great hang out place for Capser High students. Don't let the name fool you, their food is actually pretty good."

"Really?" Takuya asked with a grin. "Can you show me? I've never been there before."

Andy chuckled. "Sure. You like burgers, right? Especially ones with a lot of meat? Nasty Burger has that."

Takuya felt his stomach growl. It was then he remembered that his evolutions took a lot out of him and left him starving. "Yeah, I could eat a whole one of those. I'm starved."

Andy smiled as he lead Takuya down the street to the fast food restaurant. When they went inside the Nasty Burger, Takuya was greeted with the smell of food. There were indeed a lot of teens here from Casper High, he could already see people like Dash, other jocks, and even those who were deemed as 'nerds' around. There were also the girls from school, though several of them already had their dates with them.

The two boys walked over to the main counter. "What do you think I should get, Andy?" Takuya wondered as he eyed the menu. "Any good recommendations?"

"I usually like to get the number 10 combo myself, it includes two Mighty Meaty Cheesey Melts, along with fries, a large drink, and even a turnover pie," Andy recommended.

"Sounds good," Takuya grinned. He then faced the main cashier. "I'm going to try the number 10 please." _Good thing mom sent me here with some American cash._

The cashier was a young adult lady with blonde hair tied in a ponytail, she looked to be bored as she typed in Takuya's order. "Will that be all, sir?"

Takuya blinked, but nodded. "Uh...yeah, that is." He replied. He looked at Andy with a confused look.

"She's been working here part time for a few years, it's bound to get boring after a while," Andy explained with a shrug.

"Okay then," Takuya shrugged.

The lady added Takuya's total. "That will be 13 dollars and 48 cents."

The older boy handed her a 10 and a 5 dollar bill from his wallet. "Is that enough?"

The lady employee took the dollar bills from Takuya, before she opened the cash register, put the dollars in, then handed Takuya his change and a receipt. "Your order will be out soon."

Takuya nodded before he turned and walked off to find a booth with Andy. "So, how long do the orders take?"

"Depending on how busy they are, it usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes," Andy answered.

Takuya shrugged. "I guess that's normal," He replied before he saw an open booth. It was next to Valerie, and she seemed to be sitting alone. "Hey, let's go sit over there."

Andy blinked as he saw Valerie sitting in the booth next to the one Takuya was going to. Andy walked over to the booth, and Valerie took notice of them.

"Oh, hey Andy, hey Takuya," Valerie greeted, taking a sip of her soda.

"Hey, Valerie. Who are you going to the dance with?" Andy asked. "Being one of the popular kids, I would think someone would be going out with you."

Valerie sighed, looking a little annoyed. "I _was_ supposed to go with Kwan, but he blew me off because Veronica said she'll go to the dance with him instead."

"Oh… ouch… I guess that's the food chain in high school…" Andy rubbed the back of his head at hearing that Valerie got dumped by her date.

Takuya then gained a silly grin. "Well, Andy here is looking for a date as well," He quipped as he rubbed Andy's black hair mischievously. "Why don't you go together?"

Andy slapped Takuya's hand away. "Stop it!"

Valerie was smiling in amusement at their antics. "So you're looking for a date?"

Takuya looked at Andy and Valerie. "Andy is. He wants to go to the dance since his brother is, and his two friends are as well."

"Your friends and brother leaving you out again?" Valerie asked, raising an eyebrow at Andy.

"Not as much since Takuya got here, but you know, I could just go to the dance without a date," Andy shrugged. "Tucker was the one who was making a big deal out of getting a date. I think that desperation is what made all the girls reject him though."

Takuya put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hmm… I think Tucker needs to lighten up a bit. Then maybe some girls won't reject him as much."

"True, girls can sense the desperation," Valerie chuckled. "But since you don't have a date, and I don't have a date, nor am I interested in looking for another, I can take you to the dance, Andy."

Andy looked at Valerie. "I'm sorry, what?"

Takuya grinned as he put an arm around Andy's shoulder again. "You just hooked a date~"

Andy slapped his cousin on the head, but the grin didn't fade from Takuya's face.

"What say you pick me up at around 7? The dance starts at 7:30," Valerie suggested.

"Uh… y-yeah, sure," Andy answered, feeling some heat rushing to his cheeks, he hadn't really been expecting to find any date, he was just humoring Takuya.

Takuya then sat down in the empty booth. "This is my first time in the Nasty Burger," He commented before he had a thought. "By the way, why name it 'Nasty Burger'?"

"It was originally going to be called Tasty Burger, but someone put an 'N' where the 'T' was supposed to be as a joke, but it kinda stuck because a lot of teens liked it, and it became popular pretty fast. So why change it, right?" Andy informed with a small chuckle as he sat down in front of Takuya.

"Heh...I guess the joke backfired on the prankster." Takuya chuckled as well. "Some joke it turned out to be."

"I think the prankster ended up getting credit though, so that made them a winner in the end, just an unexpected one," Andy remarked.

Soon, a waitress came over and put a tray of food on the table. "Here's your order."

Takuya grinned as he picked up the first burger and took a bite. It was very good, just like Andy had said it would be. "Wow! This _is_ good!"

Andy chuckled at the sight of Takuya with cheese all over his mouth. "Told you so."

Takuya couldn't remember having a burger this good since the burgers he ate at the Burgermon's place in the Digital World.

Valerie was laughing. "Looks like someone likes his burgers."

"Heh, Takuya loves burgers," Andy chuckled. "He once tried to suggest adding extra meat in his burgers once before he moved away to Japan. And that burger he had was already a big whopper."

Takuya went red beneath the cheese on his mouth. "I couldn't help it!" He exclaimed in his defense. But he _was _a burger nut. "I was younger at the time!"

"Yeah, and not much has changed, burger boy." Andy smirked.

Takuya grumbled. "Why did you give me that nickname anyway?" He muttered. "I am not _that_ obsessed with burgers…"

"You once ate more burgers than Dad did," Andy reminded.

Takuya was now sure his face was as red as his armor in his Digimon forms. "Never mind…" He grumbled before he took another bite of his burger.

* * *

Despite having a rough start to the week, things were looking up again. Andy got a date with a friend, and there hadn't been anymore dragon rampages. Though Andy was still worried about it happening again. Although Danny, Tucker, and Sam would sometimes go off on their own to talk in private, it wasn't as bad as it used to be for Andy since he now had Takuya to keep him company, though both boys still wanted to know what it was that Danny, Tucker, and Sam were hiding.

And finally, on the night of the dance, Maddie was in the kitchen with Jack, Jazz, Danny, Andy, and Takuya. Maddie was putting on a tie on Jack, while Jack was grumbling.

"I still can't believe I have to chaperone this dance. I don't even remember agreeing to this," Jack complained.

That made Takuya perk up. He could clearly recall the day Jack had unexpectedly run out of the house with glowing neon green eyes. A thought crossed his mind at that point. _Could the glowing green eyes have something to do with why Uncle Jack has no memory of asking to chaperone the dance?_ He wondered.

He looked himself over briefly. _Suit? Check, D-Tector in pocket? Check. Small flower? Check. Tie? Check_. He was certain he was ready to go now.

"Well, you did, Jack, and so we want to make sure we look nice for the dance," Maddie answered back.

"I think it's great when you guys do anything that doesn't have anything to do with your sick obsession with ghosts," Jazz inputted.

Takuya felt like smacking his head with his hand. "Jazz, there are no ghosts that will show up at the dance."

"At least, that's the ideal scenario," Andy grumbled as Danny was drinking a glass of cold milk.

"Don't worry," Jack assured them. "If a ghost _does_ show up, I'll be there to drive it off, capture it, and then dissect it!"

Andy and Danny both cringed at that, with Danny nearly spitting out the milk he was drinking.

Takuya smacked his head against the wall with a _thud_. _Way to go, Uncle Jack..._

Jazz rolled her eyes at Jack's claim before she turned to the two boys. "By the way, Danny, Andy, I'm onto your little secret~"

At that, Danny actually did spit out the milk he was drinking, right into Andy's face. Danny coughed a few times while Andy was fumbling around for a napkin.

At hearing Jazz's teasing tone, Takuya too had frozen up. _What does she mean?_ He wondered. For a moment he was worried she was trying to find out his own secret.

"The clumsiness, the nervousness, I can't believe I didn't see it before. You both have a girlfriend!" Jazz pointed out proudly.

For his part, Takuya let out an audible sigh. _At least she wasn't trying to find out out mine…_ He thought in relief. Then he spoke up. "Um...yeah. They do." Takuya then paused. "But only for the dance!" He added quickly.

"No, they're not our girlfriends at all. There's a difference between a girlfriend and a date to the dance," Danny spoke up when he recovered from his spit take.

Andy finally managed to grab onto a napkin and began to wipe his face. "Danny, could you have aimed at the floor instead of at me?"

Danny had the decency to at least look embarrassed about what he did to his brother. "Uh...sorry, bro."

"That's great, boys! Perhaps you should let us meet your dates, so we can show them the proper way of tearing a ghost apart molecule by molecule!" Jack grinned.

"No thank you, these girls aren't interested in ghost hunting," Andy grumbled.

Takuya looked at his uncle. "So, um...are we going to go meet up with the girls?" He asked.

"Actually, we have to get to the school to get everything ready," Maddie spoke up. "You kids will have to go pick up your dates on your own. Think you can handle it? Maybe Jazz can drive you if you need to travel by car."

For once, Takuya wasn't sure how to react to that. On one hand, it wouldn't be an issue, but on the other, there was the amulet to worry about. "Uh…"

"It'll be fine, a stroll through the city at night will be nice," Andy spoke up for Takuya.

"Yeah, we can split up and pick up our dates and meet up at the school," Danny suggested.

Takuya nodded, realizing it would be better that way. _Nice, Andy._ He thought. _If we are split up, if you transform, then there is less danger to the others._ A bit of pride filled him at that.

"Great, you all go have fun," Jazz said.

"So you're not going?" Danny asked his sister.

"No. I'm not interested." She replied before turning away from the boys.

* * *

Takuya decided to follow Andy after Danny went the other way to pick up Paulina. Andy purposefully decided not to ask about Paulina to keep himself from losing his temper again. Andy and Danny were both wearing a fancy black suit, Danny wore a blue tie, while Andy wore a red tie.

As for Takuya, he wore a black suit with a black tie since that was all that had been left for him in the tie department, courtesy of Jack Fenton.

"So, what do you think Valerie will be wearing to the dance?" Takuya asked, trying to make conversation.

"A dress?" Andy shrugged. "This is the first time I'm going to a school dance with a date."

Takuya chuckled nervously. "I only went to one school dance back in Japan, and it was with my girlfriend. But she and I weren't truly there as dates. We were just friends at the time."

"Huh… you know, it's kind of weird to hear you have a girlfriend," Andy remarked.

"W-well, we're not...really an item...yet…" Takuya muttered, his face turning red. "I call her that because she's a girl and a friend. But…" His blush gave a lot away about how he felt about Zoey.

Andy was snickering. "Maybe later you should tell me about her~"

"A-ANDY!" Takuya exclaimed, his voice suspiciously higher than it should be, and his face was almost beet red now.

"You are just too easy sometimes, Takuya~" Andy laughed.

"S-shut up!" Takuya almost squeaked out before he looked up. "Um… are we almost at Valerie's house?"

"Yup, try not to get too heated up before we get there," Andy teased.

Takuya groaned as his younger cousin walked up to Valerie's door and rang the doorbell.

The door opened, and Valerie's father, Mr. Gray, was at the door.

"Ah, you must be that Fenton kid Valerie was talking about, Andy, right?" Mr. Gray asked.

"Yup, that would be me, Mr. Gray," Andy greeted.

Mr. Gray smiled warmly. "Well, I hope you have a fun time with Valerie."

"I will, Mr. Gray." Andy said as Valerie walked up in a nice yellow dress that was strapless, and wearing matching dress shoes. Andy felt his cheeks heating up at seeing her outfit. It looked quite nice on her.

"Thanks for coming, Andy~" Valerie grinned, seeing Andy's blush.

"Y-yeah… uh… g-glad to uh, be here," Andy shyly answered back.

Behind Andy, Takuya was snickering at his cousin's reaction. _Andy is so shy sometimes, it's cute to tease him about._

"Have fun at the dance Valerie," Mr. Gray said as Valerie walked out of the door.

"Thanks, Dad!" Valerie smiled before she, Andy, and Takuya began walking towards Casper High.

"So, Andy, I've been meaning to ask… but what's with the amulet?" Valerie questioned as they were walking. "Isn't that a little… girly on you?"

"It… uh… someone really wanted me to wear it," Andy answered a little nervously. "Does it look _that _girly on me?"

Takuya looked at Valerie. "Uh...yeah. Someone gave it to him and said he could wear it for the dance." He added, trying to back up Andy's story.

"I just said that," Andy grumbled.

Valerie chuckled. "Well, it is unusual for a boy to wear an amulet, but I guess it does have a charm on you."

At this, Andy blushed even more. He put a hand on his cheek, trying to hide a bit of his blush.

Takuya grinned and rubbed Andy's hair with one hand. "She likes it~"

"Shush, you!" Andy hissed as he slapped Takuya's hand away. "And I spent an hour combing my hair."

"Sorry," Takuya chuckled, although he was not too sorry at all. "But you're just too fun to tease sometimes."

It wasn't exact, but Takuya did throw Andy's words back at him.

"Now, now, you two, let's not start teasing each other before we even get to the dance floor," Valerie chuckled.

Takuya gave a goofy grin before he calmed himself down. "Okay, I think I can wait." He said with a smile now.

Andy gave a small smile of his own at that. _Sometimes I forget Takuya likes to tease us like we do to him._

* * *

_Casper High_

Andy, Takuya, and Valerie arrived at Casper High, it was already filled with students. There were nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, and average students alike. Not everyone had a date, but the majority of the students did have someone with them.

_At least I'm not the only one without a date._ Takuya thought as he looked around. He just hoped Andy could get through the night without turning into a dragon. _But if that _does_ happen, then I am ready…_ He added as his hand went to his pocket discreetly.

Inside Casper High, there were tables with all sorts of food, and a huge punch bowl. There was a disco ball on the ceiling, and a DJ with loud stereo speakers. The students were already dancing around. Mr. Lancer, Jack, and Maddie were watching the dancers.

"Hey, I see Tucker and Sam are already here," Andy noted.

Tucker was wearing a black suit himself, while Sam wore a black and purple dress, she looked quite pretty actually.

Takuya could see Sam did indeed look pretty, and a thought crossed his mind. _Wow. I wonder what Danny would think if he saw Sam in that dress._ He mused. _She looks good._

"I wonder if Danny is here yet…" Andy looked around.

"You mentioned that Danny had a date, right?" Valerie asked. "Who was he going out with?"

Andy frowned a little. "He's going out with Paulina."

Valerie blinked at that. "Really? How did that happen?" She was surprised. "That doesn't sound like her at all."

"No, it doesn't, does it? Unless she was hoping to steal him away, or humiliate him…" Andy looked away as he could already feel his eyes burning.

Takuya noticed Andy's eyes were turning red and into slits.

"Um...okay, Andy. Remember, we're here for fun, not to think about _her_." He reminded his cousin. _This is _very_ bad..._

"Right…" Andy took a deep breath and let it out to calm himself. "How about we hit the dance floor and just have some fun?"

Seeing Andy calm down, Takuya felt himself relax too. "Sure. Although...I don't think I will make a good impression if I try to dance…"

Valerie smirked before she took Andy's hand. "Then we can show you how it's done, burger boy~"

Takuya blushed at the nickname. "Valerie!" He squeaked out, his face turning red again. He was able to fight Digimon no problem, but that nickname...

Valerie took Andy into the dance floor, and the two of them started to dance. They didn't dance all romantically, mostly because the music was too upbeat for that, but they did have fun keeping in tune with the beat. It also helped that dancing kept their minds off of things.

Takuya sighed in relief as he went to the food table.

_Even after that burger set, I am still somewhat hungry._ He mused as he began to pick up some food, like chips, and some cheese sauce. There were even small sandwiches that he helped himself to. _I guess I should have gone with my Human Spirit since that takes less energy..._

Then Takuya saw a familiar girl wearing a pink dress. He recognized this girl as Paulina. She was talking to Dash, but he didn't see Danny.

_Huh, that's odd._ Takuya noted to himself as he swallowed his sandwich. _Where's Danny? I could've sworn he was picking up Paulina._

Looking around, Takuya tried to find Danny, only to see his Uncle Jack come walking by with the glowing green eyes again. _Uh oh..._

The green eyed Jack was talking to Mr. Lancer about something, before he quickly whisked Maddie away from Mr. Lancer to go dance with her.

Takuya frowned at that, but he didn't dwell on it because a few seconds later, he saw Danny. _Okay, that is odd. Where did Danny come from?_

Danny walked over to Paulina, and was trying to talk to her. Paulina just looked away from Danny, like she was disgusted with him. Takuya frowned more at that. Danny looked sad, like a kicked puppy. Takuya realized that if Andy saw this, there would be a dragon going on a rampage right now.

Takuya walked over to Danny, hoping to give Paulina a piece of his mind before Andy realized what had just happened. "What is going on here?"

"What do you think? I'm dumping this boy for the captain of the football team. It's only natural, after all," Paulina said like it was fact. "Why settle for the run down car when you can just get a new sports car?"

"Yeah, Fenton's got nothing on me!" Dash puffed out his chest with pride.

"Yeah, well, sometimes the run down car is more reliable than the new sporty one." Takuya growled, trying to keep his temper in check. _I don't need Andy to see me lose it, because then_ he_ will lose it!_

"I thought you wanted to come to the dance with me, Paulina," Danny spoke up.

"I did, I wanted to steal you away from that goth friend of yours. But then I realized she wasn't actually your girlfriend, so there was no reason for me to keep up with being your date anymore," Paulina stated. "Don't feel bad though, I do this with all the loser guys I find."

_Okay. I _really_ want to call her what she is, but that won't do much good if Andy hears it._ Takuya told himself. _Just think it. She acts like a hag, yes, but I am _not_ going to say it out loud._

Though the hurt look on Danny's face almost drove Takuya to do just that.

Then suddenly, Danny straightened up like something just shocked him, a weird mist came out of his mouth, but it wasn't blue this time, it was red. Danny looked confused, but alert.

"I'm… going to go… uh… cry my feelings out in the bathroom," Danny quickly said before he ran off.

Takuya was confused before he suddenly felt this rush of heat again, but it wasn't like it normally was. Whereas with ghosts it was more like a calm warmth, this was more primal. He looked around, only to feel his heart stop when he realized something. One of the monitors was flickering, and on it was a _very_ familiar symbol he had seen only in the Digital World.

Feeling alarmed, Takuya rushed to where Andy and Valerie were dancing, but he only saw Valerie there.

"Valerie?" Takuya asked as he reached her. "Where's Andy?"

Valerie frowned, before shaking her head. "I don't know, he said he felt something was wrong, and he just ran off."

Takuya didn't like hearing that. "Listen, Valerie, I know this sounds crazy, but things are going to get a bit _ugly_ here." He pointed at the monitor. "_That_ is not a good sign to see."

"What does it mean? Do you know?" Valerie asked, looking worried.

"Just that it means danger," Takuya muttered darkly. He had not seen the symbol of the Celestials in four years, so to see it now was not a good sign, especially since it looked a bit...off, like it was...dark and corrupted. _Is someone trying to mock the Celestial Angel Digimon?_ He wondered to himself.

The entire school started to shake, which stopped all the dancers as they looked around in confusion. Takuya could sense that there was heavy and powerful data being gathered just outside the school.

He literally let out a gasp at the sudden primal heat that filled his body. Running to the doors, he pushed them open, only to see an unusual fog that had _not_ been forecasted earlier that day. "Okay… _that_ is not normal…" He muttered under his breath.

Takuya could only wonder if this had anything to do with the Ghost Portal being opened. _It doesn't seem likely, because the Ghost Zone doesn't have data. So then..._what_ is going on here?!_

Takuya wasn't the only one here, however, he saw Andy was standing there as well, looking into the fog.

Looking around, Takuya tried to ignore Andy was there, but he could not. This was not a good sign.

"What… is this?" Andy questioned, not seeming to notice Takuya was there.

All around them, there was a creepy fog that had come out of nowhere, enveloping the school and the town buildings in the immediate area. Andy let out a sudden gasp before he ran deeper into the fog, and Takuya quickly lost sight of him.

The older boy ran after Andy, trying to find him, but he realized he needed to evolve if this was a Digimon attack. Or even a ghost attack.

Since there was so much fog around, and nobody else was nearby, Takuya figured he should spirit evolve now before something happened. That way, he'd be ready.

Looking around and determining he was safe, Takuya invoked the power of his Beast Spirit. Then, the cocoon of coding surrounded him before bursting to reveal the form of BurningGreymon.

Now evolved, BurningGreymon landed as he looked around for any sign of the attack. He knew it would be wiser to wait until he could see the enemy, or wait until the enemy attacked first so he could find out where they were.

Then, suddenly, BurningGreymon heard growling, a dragon growl. And in the fog, he could make out a large, dragon-shape, with large wings, a long tail, and a long neck.

BurningGreymon was not sure if it was an enemy Digimon, or if Andy had gone into that dragon form again, so he decided to play it safe and try to find out what it was. He, with a swiftness and agility that his size should not have, crept towards the shape, making sure one of his cannons was armed in case there was something that went down.

When BurningGreymon got closer, he could make out the creature easier now. It definitely wasn't Andy. It looked to be bigger than dragon Andy actually. It was crimson red and black from what BurningGreymon could see, it had two pairs of wings on its back with spikes and arrows sticking out of it. Its tail looked to be wrapped up with tentacles, and a huge spiraling blade at the tip of it made of steel. Its head was covered by a metal helmet-like object, with a huge horn that resembled a saw-blade. It looked almost like a fox dragon of some kind.

"What… is that thing…?" BurningGreymon questioned, having never seen this creature before.

BurningGreymon's D-Tector began to act up, and a voice in his head spoke up.

**"****DexDoruGreymon is a Ghost Digimon and a carrier of the X Antibody. An Undead Digimon of the Prototype Digimon "DORU Series" that was experimented on in search of further digivolutions, and was said to, at the time of the experiment, resemble its final form." **

It was that information that made BurningGreymon realize this was a Digimon. _Okay, if that's a Digimon, _how_ can it be here in the real world?!_ He wondered before he realized that he had to act. A growl escaped him before he flared his wings and flew in as fast as he could. A roar escaped him as he collided with DexDoruGreymon in a brutal tackle.

DexDoruGreymon let out a roar of its own when BurningGreymon tackled it, and slammed its tail into BurningGreymon's back, knocking him to the ground.

A grunt escaped the Beast Warrior of Flame as he landed on his side, trying to keep his ribs from cracking even further. He managed to stagger back to his feet, deeming long range was the best way to go. _Okay, close-range won't work, so long range it is…_

BurningGreymon started to fly back, but he saw a small figure that made him gasp in horror. Andy was running up to the Digimon.

BurningGreymon didn't waste a second as he flew towards Andy, trying to keep the human from running up to DexDoruGreymon. A clawed hand reached out and grabbed Andy around the waist as BurningGreymon flew up higher and away from DexDoruGreymon's physical attack range.

"What the? You again?" Andy asked in surprise as BurningGreymon carried him.

"That's a foe you cannot fight." BurningGreymon said, hoping Andy wouldn't recognize the hint of his human voice that still remained in his tone.

"Fight? I wasn't going to fight it. I'm not suicidal." Andy frowned. "But… it felt like it was…"

"... What?" BurningGreymon asked.

"It felt like it was calling out to me, like it needed my help or something," Andy answered softly.

Looking back, BurningGreymon narrowed his blue eyes slightly. _Is it possible…?_ He wondered. _Could I try it…?_

BurningGreymon glanced back down at Andy. "Okay, look. I have an idea on how this can be handled." He began. "But I need you to just trust me when I say I can help it."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

BurningGreymon landed near the school and put Andy down.

"I am not known as one of the Legendary Warriors for nothing," BurningGreymon said as he faced Andy before looking back at DexDoruGreymon. "I have the ability to restore a creature like that to its original state."

The DexDoruGreymon let out a roar, though it wasn't in anger or rage, it was in pain, like it was going crazy. It started to fly up.

Andy looked up at BurningGreymon. "I… I trust that you can do that, but can you really face it all on your own? That thing looked pretty tough."

BurningGreymon looked down at Andy. "I can," He began. "And I will do my best to help it." He flared his orange wings and took flight. _At least… I hope I can._

BurningGreymon closed in on DexDoruGreymon. When Dex saw Burning getting closer, it didn't hesitate to attack.

_"__Bloody Cave!"_ Dex shouted before it charged in with its saw-blade horn at Burning.

Burning saw that and almost yelped if he didn't flip his body to the side, the blade barely missing his stomach area. Though the blade did scratch his side, cutting through parts of his armor.

A grunt escaped Burning at that, seeing blood and data seeping out slowly. _Okay...that was close!_

Dex flew quickly around Burning, it was surprisingly fast for a Digimon its size. It was coming in again for another attack.

_"__Bloody Cave!"_ Dex's saw-blade horn got in close again.

Burning flared his fire attack in response. _"Wildfire Tsunami!"_ Fire flared around him and flew towards the blade when he swung his tail, unleashing a fiery shockwave.

Dex ended up slamming headfirst into the fiery shockwave, not seeming as bothered by the flames as the ghosts were. Due to its dragon-like nature, it had resistance to digital fire.

Seeing Dex charging into the flames without being that affected surprised Burning, but he didn't let that get to him. Instead, he decided to go physical since it seemed long-range was not as effective as he had hoped. He flew in, slamming a clawed fist into Dex's head.

Dex's head was protected by the metal helmet, however, so Burning wasn't able to get a lot of damage in. Dex then shoved Burning away before it tackled him into the ground. He then lifted up its head and began to create a giant meteor that was ten times its own size.

_"__Metal Meteor!"_ DexDoruGreymon roared.

BurningGreymon's eyes widened in horror.

"Hang on! This might feel weird!" A familiar voice called out.

Burning felt something cold touching his shoulder, and his body was suddenly becoming see-thru.

The meteor wound up going _through_ his body and creating a crater in the ground, only for Burning to return to solid form. He looked back and saw the ghost boy hovering there.

"We've gotta stop meeting like this," The ghost boy joked.

Burning chuckled at that. "That we do," He replied before getting to his feet again.

"So… what is that thing? It feels like a ghost, yet it also feels… very different from a ghost," The ghost boy asked as he and Burning looked at the DexDoruGreymon, which was shaking its head around, like it wanted to shake off water or insects.

"That's because it is similar to what I am," Burning muttered. "I can only say this thing needs help."

"How do we help it then? It's too dangerous as it is now… you don't think that thing was human and got turned into a dragon like An- that other boy, do you?" The ghost boy asked in concern.

"No," Burning assured the ghost boy. "It is not like that situation. I think someone has brainwashed this thing." _As if that didn't happen enough when I was in the Digital World_...

Dex finally got tired of waiting and began to summon several giant meteors in the sky._ "Mass Metal Meteor!"_

"That… doesn't look good…" The ghost boy gulped.

"You're telling me…" Burning muttered under his breath. _C'mon_..._how can we beat that many meteors?!_

"STOP NOW!" Another roar suddenly joined in.

Green fire went past Burning and the ghost boy all of a sudden, and it slammed into Dex. Dex let out a loud howl of pain and agony, the meteors in the sky all shattered due to the break in its concentration.

Burning was surprised as he saw that. Looking back, he swore to himself as he saw the form of Dragon Andy coming down.

"Uh… is this a good or bad thing?" The ghost boy questioned nervously, seeing Dragon Andy as well.

Burning carefully watched Dragon Andy, looking for any sign of him going on a rampage. But he could see no sign of that so far. _Is it possible…?_ He thought with a bit of hope. _Does he have control…?_

There was no rage on Dragon Andy's face, but rather a look of focused anger. He seemed to be ignoring Burning and the ghost boy as he looked up at Dex. DexDoruGreymon looked down at Dragon Andy. Then both dragons let out their own roars at each other. Dragon Andy flew up towards Dex. The two dragons began to fight in the air, but the fog was still thick, so Burning and the ghost boy had trouble seeing the battle itself. But there was a lot of green fire from what Burning could see.

Burning wanted to fly in and help Dragon Andy, but his ribs were aching again, so he was effectively grounded for the time being. He tried to keep an eye on Dragon Andy, but the fog made it hard to do so.

"I've got to help him!" The ghost boy shouted suddenly in a worried tone.

Without waiting for a reply, the ghost boy shot up towards the fighting.

* * *

With BurningGreymon down, Danny knew that he had to do something. Andy, his brother, was fighting against this dangerous creature all alone, and he wasn't going to let his brother get himself killed. When Danny got close enough, he saw Andy barely avoiding a stab from the fox dragon's saw-blade, but he couldn't avoid a jab from its sharp tail. Andy let out a roar of pain as his back began to bleed out ectoplasm.

Danny saw that and gasped before flying in. He landed on Dragon Andy's head, grabbing onto his horns. "Hey, I think I have an idea!" He said to Dragon Andy. Dragon Andy looked up at him in confusion. "Just trust me!"

Andy, in his dragon form, looked back to the unknown creature before them. "Just fly towards it." Danny suggested. "I will turn us intangible, then when we return to tangible form, fire off your fire breath at it!"

Danny wasn't sure if Andy in this state could understand him, but he hoped that his brother got his message one way or another. Dragon Andy did start flying towards the creature, however, so it did look like he understood Danny at least.

Danny smiled to himself before he saw the creature preparing to unleash its meteor attack again. He concentrated and turned himself, plus Andy, intangible. The meteor attack passed through them with ease. Once that was over, they returned to a tangible state. "NOW!" Danny shouted. "Let it have it!"

Andy didn't hesitate to shoot out his flames at the creature. The creature quickly flew away to try to avoid the fire, but it wasn't able to escape it completely. Its underbelly got caught up in the flames and it howled out in pain. It still wasn't finished yet, however, and it spun around, slamming its tail into Andy's side. Andy roared out in pain as he was pushed to the side in the air. Danny hung onto Andy's horns to keep from falling off.

"What does it take to bring this thing down?" Danny hissed when Andy finally managed to stop their falling.

Then, Danny had a crazy idea. "Hey, try and dive bomb it!" He suggested. "Just fly up as high as you can and then dive in, firing off your fire. Think you can do that?"

Andy acknowledged it with a huff before he began to fly up into the sky quickly. It was at a speed Danny wished he could fly himself. The other dragon was roaring out and tried to chase after them, but it was slow due to the injuries it had.

When Andy reached the sky above the clouds, he started to move his body where he was at a nosedive. Danny held on tight to Andy's horns as the dragon boy began his dive. Andy instinctively began to tuck in his wings to move faster. The dragon amulet on Andy's neck started to glow white, and his body began to shrink all of a sudden. Danny gasped, wondering what was happening, and was worried that Andy was turning back to human.

However, that wasn't the case. Andy's body was shifting into a different dragon form. It was much smaller than the dragon form he was in, but still big enough for Danny to ride on. Andy was now a white dragon, with blue eyes. His wings were much bigger, he also had sub wings at the base of his tail, and two more sub wings at the tip of his tail. His neck was shorter and thicker. His claws weren't as sharp. And, if Danny didn't know any better, Andy actually looked cute.

Danny was surprised at the sudden change, but he was also thrilled to see his brother hadn't turned human yet. This was a good sign, he hoped.

Andy was going much faster now, so much so that he was making a whistling noise as he got closer to the dragon. With his eyes focused, his aim precise and true, Andy opened his mouth and unleashed a purple looking bolt ball at the other creature. As soon as the purple ball hit the creature, there was a loud and large explosion of fire that caused a shockwave.

* * *

BurningGreymon looked up at the sudden explosion, and felt worry jump into his throat at the sudden light he saw through the fog. _Did they win?_ He wondered. _Or was it that they lost…?_

He hoped it was the former instead of the latter. Burning cursed his cracked ribs and the pain they were causing him.

All of a sudden, a large figure fell right in front of him. It fell so hard that it caused the area to shake a little. Burning blinked as he saw what looked like fractal code surrounding the creature, which turned out to be DexDoruGreymon.

At once, he knew what to do. Fractal coding surrounded him as he shifted to his Human Spirit. _"Slide Evolution!"_ He cried before the coding faded and burst, revealing his smaller, humanoid form. At once, the Warrior of Fire walked over and drew out his D-Tector. "Time for the fires of revenge to burn out," He said before he drew the D-Tector across the coding. _"Fractal Code, Digitize!"_

He drew in the coding before the darkened form became smaller and turned into its Digi-Egg form. In a matter of moments, it was over. Takuya surrounded himself in a digital cocoon before he was turned back to his human form.

Not long after that, a white dragon flew down and landed, and the fog around them began to clear up. This was a new dragon to Takuya, but he could see the ghost boy was on top of it.

Takuya was unsure if this was a good thing, but he made his way over anyway. "Hey, where's Andy?"

The white dragon let out what sounded like a cooing sound. The ghost boy was about to answer when the dragon amulet around Andy's neck suddenly fell to the ground. With that, Andy suddenly turned back to normal, and the ghost boy was on his shoulders. This caused Andy to fall down, and the ghost boy right on top of him.

Takuya couldn't help but laugh at the sight. He walked over and held out a hand to both the ghost boy and Andy. "You two okay?"

"My back aches… but I think I'll live," Andy sighed as he was grateful to take Takuya's hand and stand up.

The ghost boy floated off of Andy and smiled. "Well… uh… I'm glad you two are safe."

The ghost boy looked like he was about to take off, when Andy suddenly called out to him. "Wait! … Um… who are you?"

Takuya looked at the ghost boy. He too was wondering the name of the ghost boy. "I want to know as well."

"Uh… well…" The ghost boy gave a sheepish grin. "You could call me Da- err… Phantom. Yeah, just call me Phantom."

"Phantom?" Takuya questioned as he tilted his head to the left in confusion.

"Yeah… I uh… you don't have to worry about me. I may be a ghost, but I mean no harm," Phantom explained. "I usually prefer to protect then cause harm."

Takuya recalled how Phantom had saved him when he was BurningGreymon and smiled a bit. "Well, I saw some of the results myself, so I see no harm in giving you a chance."

Andy was giving Phantom an analytical look. There was something about Phantom that was familiar to him.

Phantom gave a nervous grin. "Thanks… well, I should go. You two better be more careful next time with getting caught up in these battles."

Takuya gave a nod. "We'll try to stay away from the battles, but we can't guarantee it."

"Thanks for… helping out back there, Phantom," Andy said quietly.

Phantom nodded. "You guys take care now."

Phantom then disappeared, likely turning himself invisible before flying off somewhere.

With Phantom gone, Andy and Takuya looked around, seeing quite the destruction of the football area. But Andy was a little confused.

"The amulet… it's gone," Andy pointed out, seeing how the amulet that fell off of him was just gone.

Sure enough, Takuya could see it was gone as well. "Huh...That's odd," He noted before he remembered that Digi-Egg he had seen. _Uh oh…_ he thought with worry on his face.

Takuya looked at where the Digi-Egg was. Normally, when he purified a Digimon and they turned back into a Digi-Egg, they would float away to a nursery village where they would be reborn again, but this Digi-Egg didn't. It likely couldn't due to it being in the real world.

He walked over to it and picked it up, confusion and concern on his face. _What am I going to do with you…?_

Andy looked at the purple and white egg that Takuya was holding. "Hey… where did you get that egg, Takuya? I've never seen an egg like that before. And what happened to that dragon creature? Did… did I obliterate it…?"

Takuya jumped at Andy's voice before he looked back. "Uh, no, you didn't get rid of it. That BurningGreymon did." He lied. "And I don't know what this egg is. I just saw it remain behind after BurningGreymon left."

Andy frowned. "I thought BurningGreymon said he would fix it, not kill it…"

Takuya winced mentally at that. "I think this is what he meant. He returned it to its...earliest form. It...wasn't exactly killed."

Andy looked at the egg curiously. "... It turned into an egg…? What… exactly are these creatures?"

For once, Takuya was at a loss at what to say. He couldn't just say what it was, now could he? _Andy would think I am nuts._

Andy noticed the hesitation on Takuya's face, and frowned, he recognized that hesitation. It was the same hesitation Danny had whenever he tried to talk about his secret or the accident. "... I get it… it's not something you want… or maybe even could talk about…"

Takuya looked up at the younger boy as he turned around.

"... I'm going back to the dance… I'll let you handle that egg," Andy sighed before he walked away.

Takuya looked down a bit, feeling somewhat guilty for not answering Andy. _I was doing so well with him… Boy, did I blow it now…_ He thought. _And it's all because of my own secret..._

* * *

Titanic X: Enjoy this next one~! :3


	5. A baby Digimon?

**ZAFT Convoy: **Here is a new chapter~!

**DarkFoxKit:** ***Yawns*** So, tell me, ZAFT, you ever thought about something funny or weird on the ANs? Or do you just want to say there's a new chapter every update?

**ZAFT Convoy:** No, not really, but I can. :)

**DarkFoxKit:** I guess we don't have to. Usually I do it because my co-writers want to do it.

**ZAFT:** It's fine. It would be fun. :)

**DarkFoxKit:** Then in that case, I should drag someone on here, like Andy or Takuya to join us and make this more fun~

**ZAFT:** I call Andy~ ***Grabs Andy and drags him out***

**DarkFoxKit:** Where did you get him?

**Andy:** Eh? What the? Who are you?

**DarkFoxKit:** Andy, meet ZAFT, a fan and a new co-writer for you~ :3

**ZAFT: **Nice to meet you~! ***Hugs Andy*** You are so adorable!

**Andy:** Oh great, first Key, then Onyx, and now ZAFT? How many more co-writers are you going to bring to help torture me?

**DarkFoxKit:** As many as I want! Your pain and misery is our entertainment! Mwuahahahaha! Now be a good boy and go play with ZAFT~

**ZAFT: **I will not torture Andy like you do, but I _will_ have some fun with writing him. :3

* * *

**Chapter 5: A Baby Digimon?**

The rest of the night went by fairly quickly. Danny ended up dancing with Sam after Paulina dumped him. Andy went back with Valerie to dance with her. Takuya watched the dance for a little while, but he headed back to Fenton Works because he was sure Andy didn't want to see him right now, and he needed to call someone about the Digi-Egg in his arms right now.

When Takuya was in Fenton Works, alone in his room, and made sure the door was closed, he picked out his D-Tector. After some messing around with it, he was able to get a hold of Koichi, the Warrior of Darkness. The symbol of Darkness appeared on the screen.

_"Takuya?"_ Koichi asked as Takuya grinned.

"Hey, Koichi." He greeted. "Been a while, huh?"

Koichi chuckled over the line. _"It sure has. How have things been in America?"_

"Fine. Listen, I have a bit of a problem of the...digital nature…" Takuya began. "Let's just say a Digimon attacked in the real world, and now there is a Digi-Egg here."

_"What?!"_ Koichi was shocked. _"How is that possible?"_

Takuya sighed. "I don't know, but it is going to possibly cause problems, and I want to know how we can get it back to the Digital World, if at all."

Koichi didn't answer at first, but then a sigh could be heard. _"I'm not sure we _can_ return it to the Digital World…"_

Takuya groaned. "Great…" He moaned as he put his head to the bedsheets. "Okay, thanks for that…"

Koichi sighed again. _"I'm sorry I can't be of much more help."_ He admitted. _"But this is the first time we have encountered this. How and why did this Digimon come into the real world in the first place? Could you explain what happened?"_

"Let's just say that a creepy fog rolled in at the school dance, and then there was a Digimon outside. It wound up attacking and I had to evolve." Takuya admitted. "But before that, I saw what looked like a mockery of the Celestial Angel Digimon's symbol on the monitor in the school gym."

Koichi gave a troubled look at that._ "How… troubling… you don't think something happened in the Digital World, do you? Is Cherubimon corrupted again? Or did something else happen?"_

"I don't know, but Ophanimon would have alerted us if something was wrong." Takuya muttered. "I think we should keep ourselves on alert in case she does contact us."

_"Right, I'll let Koji know about this, maybe we can investigate,"_ Koichi answered._ "Until then, you'll have to figure out what to do with the Digi-Egg on your own."_

"Okay," Takuya said. "Thanks for that."

Koichi smiled before his symbol vanished from the D-Tector and Takuya looked at the egg again. _Why was Andy drawn to the egg?_ He wondered. _Could it be the Digimon was sent here for a reason?_

Takuya didn't remember too much about how to take care of baby Digimon, but he had encountered some before in the Digital World. He wasn't sure how long it would take for a Digi-Egg to hatch, but this one seemed very still. There was no sign of it moving around, or seemed to be even alive at all.

He decided to leave the egg for now, since it wasn't doing much of anything. _Perhaps we can deal with it in the morning… but I'll be sure to keep a close eye on it._ He mused before he began to take off the suit he was wearing. _This thing is itchy..._

* * *

Takuya didn't even realize he fell asleep on his bed until he heard the door open up. He quickly jolted awake, seeing the egg was beside him on his bed, and Danny was standing there, looking surprised.

"Hey… thought I'd come and check up on you after you left the dance early," Danny said softly.

"Uh, yeah. I wanted to get home before I fell asleep." Takuya lied, making sure the egg was hidden under a pillow. "You got home alright, I see. What happened with Paulina?"

Danny sighed. "She… decided to dance with Dash in the end. Dash didn't stay with her for long though, which surprised me a little, I kinda figured the most popular jock in the school would want to date the most popular girl in school. But I still had a good time, Sam decided to dance with me for a bit."

Takuya smiled at that. "I'm glad she had a fun time too. I'm sorry about what went down with Paulina, but what can you do?"

"Yeah, though maybe Paulina might like me more if I was popular," Danny grinned.

"She's too shallow, you shouldn't like her just because she looks pretty," Takuya sighed.

"Heh… Andy said the same thing," Danny chuckled sheepishly. "But speaking of Andy… did something happen between the two of you? Andy seemed… quiet whenever I mentioned you to him on our way back home."

"You could say that…" Takuya said, unsure of what to tell Danny now. He sure as heck couldn't spill about what happened with the Digi-Egg. _Danny would freak out if he realized I have an egg here._

"Well… I hope you two can make up soon," Danny said before he frowned. "Andy… hasn't been quite… himself lately since the… accident. I know most of it was my fault, but… I… I had my reasons… I just couldn't let him… see… what…"

Danny stopped and shook his head. "The point is, ever since you came back, Andy had been in a much better mood. And whenever I couldn't hang out with him for… my own reasons… he still has someone to talk to and hang out with."

Takuya frowned at that. "Yeah. I think we'll make up. It just… will take some time." _And I hope I can explain things to Andy soon..._

"Okay… but try not to take too much time, I can't help but worry about him," Danny said softly.

The older boy could only nod as his hand went to his pocket where his D-Tector was. "Same here…"

* * *

A few days passed since the incident with the dance. The Digi-Egg still didn't hatch or seemed close to hatching, which was making Takuya a little bit worried. He didn't think a Digi-Egg would take this long to hatch after being purified. And he still hadn't been able to talk to Andy.

Danny had been going out at night lately with Tucker and Sam. They claimed to be studying for the upcoming test, but Takuya didn't know why they had to leave the house to study.

Takuya himself had been trying to study as well, but with his mind on the Digi-Egg, it wasn't going so well. In fact, he was sure he would get about a C or C- because of how little he was actually getting studied. _Maybe I should ask Andy for help?_ He mused as he looked at the book.

Takuya looked around the house for Andy, the boy wasn't in the kitchen, or the living room, but he was in his and Danny's room. Andy was reading a manga on his bed, which momentarily surprised Takuya to see a manga outside of Japan, until he remembered Andy had always been a little bit of an anime nerd.

"Andy?" Takuya asked as he looked in. "Can I ask you for some help on the biology studying?"

Andy looked up from the manga he was reading. "You want my help? You could've just asked Jazz… she's good at every subject."

Takuya shrugged. "Biology is your best subject, so why not?"_ Plus, it would get us bonding again._

For a moment, Takuya was worried that Andy would reject helping him with his biology studies, but Andy put a bookmark on the page he was reading before closing the manga.

"Sure, I guess. I don't really have anything better to do," Andy sighed.

Takuya grinned before he plopped down on Andy's bed next to him. "Great! I was wondering if you could help me with the DNA stuff. I have _no_ idea on genetics and how they work."

Andy sat up as he looked at the book Takuya was showing him. "DNA is a very complex subject, but it's really interesting when you learn about it, and what someone could change into if their DNA structure was mutated or changed in some way."

"Oh? How so?" Takuya asked as he looked at the book as well. "What could change if someone had their DNA altered?"

"Hmm… to put it in an easy way to understand…" Andy thought for a moment. "Think of it like an anime. If a protagonist's DNA got changed by… let's say a virus that an animal transferred into them, like a were-wolf, it starts to change their DNA. The person's DNA starts to shift and adapt to the virus that's slowly changing them, the person may start to show signs of wolf-like behavior, such as howling, snarling, scratching with their foot instead of their hands. And depending on how much their DNA changes, or how many, and if it will continue to change their DNA, they could become half wolf, or full wolf. You change a code in a person's DNA, then they will change into something else entirely. It's quite interesting, isn't it?"

Takuya chuckled at that. "Yes, it is. And I think I understood that reference clearly." He gave a grin at that.

Andy smiled a little himself. "Now for genetics, if two people create an offspring, that offspring will gain both parents' DNA. Now let's say one parent was human, plain and simple, and the other was a lizard person. The child would likely be half lizard, half human. There is a chance their evolution in their DNA structure will allow them to shift between both forms, so they can look all human or all lizard instead of half and half. It helps them blend into the world."

"So, it would be an adaptive trait," Takuya mused. "I see how that could work."

"Yup. It's a lot more fun and easier to understand if you think about it like that instead of all these long, scientific words that make no sense," Andy chuckled.

Takuya grinned. "This is why I say it's your best subject. The way you explained it was far easier to understand than those long names."

"Of course, you will have to memorize some of those words for the test," Andy sheepishly admitted. "The test is brutal when it comes to names."

Takuya sighed. "I guess you have a point."

"Anything else you need help with?" Andy asked.

"No, not really. I think I needed help with that the most." Takuya admitted. "But that was very helpful." He grinned.

"Glad I could help. Now… I'm going to go back into my research," Andy said before picking up his manga again.

"Research? You're just reading manga!" Takuya pointed out.

"Oh… you know… manga could be considered research for… certain things," Andy said vaguely.

Takuya began to feel a bit nervous. _Is Andy onto me?_ He wondered. _How could I forget how observant he is?_ "Uh...is that so? What kind of things?" He wanted to be sure it wasn't what he thought it was.

Andy seemed to be studying Takuya, which made Takuya feel even more nervous, but he tried to hide it with a neutral face.

Andy then gave a friendly smile. "Oh you know, since ghosts exist, I just wanted to know if there's anything else that could exist that we just thought didn't before."

"Okay…" Takuya murmured. "Yeah...then, I'll just let you get back to that...research. I...will be...getting a snack…" He lied before he stood up and left the room.

* * *

The next morning, Andy was in the living room with Jazz. He had been keeping a close eye on both Takuya and Danny lately. He had a crazy theory in his mind that made the world seem a lot more anime than it should, and he couldn't confirm it yet until he either saw it with his own eyes or they outright admitted it.

"You know, Andy, I'm getting a little worried about you. You seem a bit more obsessive than usual…" Jazz frowned as she was going through the mail.

"Don't worry, Jazz. I'm only trying to figure out if my theory is true. Don't a lot of scientists do that? Have a theory and then try to see if it's true?" Andy asked.

"What theory?" Jazz asked, cocking an eyebrow at the comment. "You have a theory? About what?"

"Considering you're… a skeptic, I think it's best I don't share my theory until I know it's true," Andy answered. "I don't need you thinking I've jumped off the deep end or something."

Jazz frowned, but decided to let Andy have his small 'theory', whatever it was. "Okay, little brother. I won't pry."

Then Jazz saw something in the mail that made her jump up from the couch all of a sudden, and she raced into the kitchen where everyone else was.

Jazz entered, and held out the magazine and letter. "Omigosh! I can't believe it! They said yes!" She exclaimed with excitement in her voice.

"Oh? Who said 'yes'? The person who you asked if you were a know-it-all snob?" Danny asked in a mocking tone.

Takuya snickered at that, to which Danny gave a goofy grin to him, but Jazz just gave the two boys a glare.

"No, Genius Magazine!" She explained as her gleeful look returned to her face.

"What's Genius Magazine?" Jack asked. "Is it the swimsuit issue?"

Jazz sighed. "Dad, Genius Magazine is for Women Geniuses, by Women Geniuses, and about Women Geniuses! I just got the confirmation that they want to put Mom on the cover!"

"What?" Takuya asked. "Why? Isn't what she does a bit...unusual for a living?"

"Maybe, but Mom is a genius, and maybe she could show that I just have a couple of eccentric genius parents instead of just ghost hunting freaks," Jazz answered.

"So this is to just satisfy your desire for a normal set of parents?" Takuya asked with a frown. "Why don't you just accept that your parents have chosen what they want to do?"

"I didn't say that. I just meant I don't want people thinking they're just delusional people who hunts something that doesn't exist. At least this way people can see they're actually very intelligent people that have their own ways of doing things," Jazz explained.

"Okay. I get it now." Takuya replied. _I have to admit, that is a very good idea._ He admitted to himself. _Even I can see they are geniuses. Maybe this will get them some more respect._

"I appreciate the thought, sweetie, but I do hope Genius Magazine will let me stand by Jack," Maddie said as she looked at the papers. "Because your father and I are a team after all."

"I believe for every genius woman, there is a genius man!" Jack smiled proudly. "And speaking of geniuses, this is our latest invention! The Ghost Gabber!"

Jack held up a device of some kind, it had two big light bulbs that acted like beeping radars.

"This baby translates every word a ghost says into everyday language we humans use!" Jack explained as he pointed at the device. "Why don't you try it, son?"

Jack held the device in front of a very nervous looking Danny. Danny wasn't sure how the device worked since he would be speaking English, but he decided to try it anyways to humor Jack.

"Uh… boo?" Danny tested.

*I am a ghost. Fear me* The device translated, surprising Takuya and Danny. Takuya was a bit worried now. _Why did that device translate what Danny said?_

"Here, let me try something," Takuya suggested. "OoOoOo!"

The device didn't do anything.

_Ok, now I'm _sure_ that device reacted to Danny for some reason!_ Takuya thought as he glared at the device. _That is not normal._

"Uh- I better get to school!" Danny quickly said.

*I better get to school. Fear me.* The Fenton Gabber repeated, and with that, Danny was gone from the chair.

Takuya looked at his aunt and uncle. "I had better get to school too." _I just hope that Digi-Egg doesn't hatch while I'm at school._ He thought as he grabbed his backpack, having stuffed the egg into it before going to Andy for some help with biology.

"I'll be going too!" Andy said as he walked into the kitchen, grabbed some toast, and stuffed it into his mouth.

As Andy walked by Takuya, however, the Digi-Egg moved a little.

Takuya had no idea the egg had moved though, as he was walking and the movement hid the Digi-Egg's slight shaking.

* * *

At Casper High, Mr. Lancer handed everyone their test results. Danny hadn't been too happy with his results.

"I GOT A D!?" Danny shouted after class let out.

Takuya winced at Danny's shout. He looked at his own test, where the big fat C+ sat in the corner. A sigh escaped him. _Well, at least I passed, albeit barely..._

"So much for the Fentons being a family of geniuses," Tucker joked.

"Not helping," Sam hissed.

Danny groaned, rubbing his hair. Andy looked at Danny for a moment.

"You know, this was a biology test, you could've asked me for some help bro, but you were a little too busy 'studying' with Tucker and Sam," Andy remarked.

Takuya looked at Danny. "I asked Andy for help, and I managed to get a C+," He pointed out. Then he saw Danny's deadpan look on his face. "Uh, right… Not helping…"

Danny sighed. "I can't get a D, my parents will kill me! My grades haven't been doing so well lately, and I really needed to pass this one."

"Can't you ask Mr. Lancer if there is a way to boost your grade?" Takuya asked as he looked at Danny again. "It seems like that would be a good way to get it up."

"Mr. Lancer always gives us a way to pull our grade up," Sam spoke up. "It's called 'extra credit'. I think that if we can write about a very interesting discovery about Sampson, one of the last two purple back gorillas in the world, Mr. Lancer may pull Danny's grade up enough to pass."

"The purple-back gorilla, huh?" Takuya mused as he put a hand to his chin in thought. "That sounds like it might be a good topic."

Danny sighed. "I don't know… I'm not sure if I would have time to do research on a gorilla in the zoo."

"Don't worry, I can be your time manager," Tucker volunteered, holding out his PDA. "As long as you have someone to help organize your schedule, you'll have time for researching, studying, and… other things!"

"Uh...a time manager?" Takuya asked, skeptical at best. He didn't really think that was possible, but he then shook his head. "You know what? Never mind. I don't want to know…"

"Fine… I suppose we can have a trial period… but you're not going to handle anything… fragile, Tuck," Danny warned in an annoyed tone.

"I already wrote down not to let me handle the… fragile thing." Tucker smiled sheepishly.

"So what are you two going to do since you already passed your tests?" Sam asked Takuya and Andy.

"Oh, you three go on ahead. Takuya and I can use this time to bond a little~" Andy grinned, putting an arm around Takuya's shoulder.

Takuya gave a slight yelp as Andy pulled him close. "Uh, yeah...go ahead…" He managed to slip out from Andy's grip. "We'll...be bonding…"

"Great, glad to see you two are getting along." Danny smiled. "We'll be at the Amity Zoo if you need us."

Takuya gave a smile to Andy before he saw the trio leaving. He looked back at Andy. "So...what do we do now?" He questioned.

"Wanna go to the Nasty Burger?" Andy offered.

"As long as you don't call me 'burger boy' again," Takuya grumbled, but he didn't mean it. He then gave a teasing grin to Andy.

"Alright, and I'll tell you what; it'll be my treat, cuz~" Andy grinned back.

"Let's go then!" Takuya cheered. He loved it when he hung out with Andy, even if they did tease each other from time to time. But who wouldn't in a family? Though it was still an odd feeling to only be hanging out with one of the twins instead of both of them, they used to stick to each other like glue.

* * *

When Takuya and Andy came into the Nasty Burger, Takuya got his order, which Andy paid for, and they took their seats by the window.

"So, how do you think the research for the extra credit is going?" Takuya asked as he bit into his burger. "Aren't purple-back gorillas supposed to be almost extinct?"

"There's still two left in the world, and they're supposedly both male, so they will be extinct before long," Andy answered, taking out a manga from his backpack and started reading it.

"Doing your 'research' again?" Takuya asked, not liking the fact that Andy was claiming reading his manga was research.

"Hmm… more like instructions on how to handle something." Andy smiled softly.

"Handle what?" Takuya asked, a bit nervous now, although he hid it well.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about, I'm sure," Andy said. "Just relax and enjoy yourself, cuz~"

Andy's grin suddenly seemed to resemble more of a sly fox grin than a friendly one.

Takuya felt a shiver run down his spine, but he kept his face neutral. "Okay…" He murmured, biting off some more of his burger. _What is going on with Andy…?_

As Takuya was eating, he thought he felt something in his backpack was moving a little.

Looking down, he opened up his backpack, only to stare in shock at the Digi-Egg moving around. _Since when did the egg start to move?_

"Hmm? Something the matter?" Andy asked, seeing Takuya looking in his backpack in shock.

"Um...remember that egg thing we found?" Takuya asked Andy without even looking up. "Because I think that thing is moving…"

"The egg? I thought you took it somewhere already." Andy frowned, raising an eyebrow. "You kept it all this time?"

"I was unable to send it back to wherever it came from," Takuya admitted. "And I didn't want Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie to think it was a ghost egg so I took it with me."

"I see… and it hasn't hatched after all this time?" Andy asked. "And what would we do if it does? It could turn back into that monster again."

Takuya knew it wouldn't do that, but Andy _didn't_, so he had to come up with something to say and fast. "Well...it didn't seem to be doing much at the moment when I had it, so I figured it was safe to carry around. And right now it's just slightly moving. I don't think it will hatch yet."

"Let me take a look at it," Andy said before he got up from the booth he was sitting on and walked over to Takuya's backpack.

When Andy bent down, the egg suddenly started to move a lot more, and even hopped in place. "It… sure looks lively."

"It's...never done that before…" Takuya murmured before a thought crossed his mind. _Wait...what if that Digimon was sent here because of Andy? But why…?_

"Are you sure it won't hatch suddenly?" Andy asked a little nervously, seeing how lively the egg was.

"Um...no…" Takuya admitted. "Not with this going on." He gave a nervous glance at Andy. "I wouldn't touch it, just in case."

Andy stood up and backed away from the egg, the egg stopped moving and went still again. "... That's a very weird and fickle egg."

Takuya seemed to relax as the egg stopped moving. _Okay, I think it is reacting to Andy for sure. But we can't be too careful. If he touched it here, things could've gotten ugly._

Andy sat down and sighed. "I think after you eat, we should go back home or somewhere private, just in case that egg does hatch. But if it hatches into that monster again… be ready to run for it."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah...good idea…" He admitted, although he knew it wouldn't. Having finished his food, Takuya then stood up with the egg in his backpack and began to walk out, Andy followed behind him.

* * *

When the two boys got back to Fenton Works, they headed straight into Takuya's room, before closing the door. Takuya took the egg out of his backpack and set it on the ground.

"So what do we do now, just wait?" Andy asked. "Eggs usually need warmth to hatch, but I don't know how that applies to giant fox dragons."

Takuya looked at the egg again. "Well, it seemed to react to you, so maybe it wants you to rub it or something."

"I am not going to be its 'mama'," Andy huffed. "I'm sure it was just coincidence it reacted like that when I got close to it."

"You sure? Because it looks like it's jumping a bit right now," Takuya pointed out as he looked at the egg. Sure enough, it was bouncing a bit.

Andy frowned as he hesitated. "... Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean if you're right, and it is reacting because of me, then maybe it might be better if I just left it alone? We don't know what will happen if that thing hatches."

"Well, we can't just let someone find it either." Takuya said. With that, he gave Andy a slight shove forward. "It'll be fine." He added with a mysterious grin. "We just bolt for the door if it turns into that dragon-thing again."

"In the house!?" Andy shouted before Takuya shoved him forward once more.

"Oof!" Andy fell forward and landed on his knees, and his hands were on the egg.

As soon as Andy touched the egg, it suddenly began to glow brightly as cracks began to show on the egg. Andy quickly let go and scrambled back as the egg continued to crack, until a small lavender furry head popped out. It looked like a fox or a cat-like creature with no body other than the head. It had a tooth mouth, white fur on its mouth, and yellow and black eyes.

As soon as Takuya saw it, he heard the voice in his head. **"Dodomon is a Slime Digimon and a carrier of the X Antibody. Its whole body is covered in a tough fur named "Mithril Hair"."**

Takuya frowned as he heard that. _X Antibody? That is the second time I heard it. Wonder what it is…_ He shook his head. _I can't think about it right now. This is something Andy needs my help with!_

Looking at Andy, Takuya gave a grin. "Well, does that thing look menacing?"

"Uh…" Andy started to say before the Dodomon leaped at Andy suddenly and stuck onto his face. "YAH! GET IT OFF!"

Takuya realized this was both alarming and funny, hence why he was laughing as he tried to take the baby Digimon off of Andy's face. "Okay, sorry for laughing, but that was just funny."

The baby Digimon refused to let go of Andy's face, but Takuya managed to yank it off. Andy groaned as he rubbed his face, and his mouth had some of Dodomon's fur, which he quickly spat out.

"Please tell me it didn't lay eggs in my body!" Andy begged in worry.

Takuya gave Andy a deadpan look. "It's a baby. How can it lay eggs?"

"You've never seen the movie Alien have you?" Andy sighed.

Takuya sighed as well. "Okay, never mind…"

The little Digimon in Takuya's hands was squirming around a bit.

Takuya glanced down at the baby Digimon again. "Seems squirmy." He held it out to Andy. "Want to hold it?"

"Hold it? Why would I want to hold it? It just tried to eat my face!" Andy pointed out.

"It's just a baby~" Takuya teased. "It can't bite into your flesh… I think..." To prove his point, he began to nuzzle it. Of course, his Spirits slowly gave off a soothing heat that flowed throughout his body, so it wouldn't try to bite him.

Andy deadpanned at Takuya. "Dude, we don't even know what it is, and you're nuzzling it!"

Takuya paused his nuzzling. "Uh...oh...ehehe…" He gave a sheepish grin. "Um… Sorry…"

Dodomon looked over at Andy with its yellow and black eyes. Andy looked back at the little Digimon.

"So… uh… what do we do with it?" Andy asked as he looked at Dodomon.

"Hmmm…" Takuya looked at the baby Digimon in his hands again. "I think we could keep it in my room while I'm here."

"What if Mom and Dad walk in and see it? Or what if it gets out of your room? What does it even eat?" Andy questioned.

Takuya _really_ felt uncomfortable with Andy asking those questions, because it required his experience in the Digital World to answer. "Um...I mean, it could pose as a toy, and as for what it eats, I don't know…"

Andy sighed. "I guess… it could pass on for a plushy or something, but only if it holds still."

"Hey, why don't you try petting it?" Takuya suggested.

Andy looked at Takuya as his cousin held out Dodomon. "Come on, Andy, don't be shy. I think it just wants you to be friendly to it."

Andy hesitated, though he had always wanted a pet, his parents never let him or Danny keep a pet due to their line of work being too dangerous for the pets themselves. Andy decided that if this little creature could one day grow into that giant fox dragon, he might as well be on its good side. So Andy, slowly held out his hand to pet Dodomon.

As soon as Andy's hand touched its fur, however, Dodomon jumped out of Takuya's arms so fast that Takuya almost fell forward, and Dodomon was latched onto Andy's face once more.

"Okay...bad idea…" Takuya muttered before he grabbed Dodomon again and pried it off of Andy's face again.

Andy groaned as he rubbed his face again. "Does it have a problem with me or do I just look delicious to it?"

"Um...I would like to think that it was being friendly. I mean, the thing doesn't have arms or legs, so that may be the only way it can show it." Takuya replied as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Dodomon's stomach, if it had a stomach, growled suddenly, then it began to cry. "HUNGRY!"

Takuya jumped as he realized it had spoken. At once, he clamped a hand over Dodomon's mouth to keep it from shouting again. He had a nervous look on his face. "Okay, I think it's hungry…"

Andy stared at Dodomon and then at Takuya. "... It can… talk?"

"I...had no idea it could do that…" Takuya lied. Oh, he knew, he was just not saying that he did.

"Alright…" Andy sighed. "How about you stay here with it while I go get something? Hopefully it can eat human food."

Takuya nodded. "Sure."

Andy left Takuya's room to head into the kitchen. He opened the fridge to look around. "Let's see… maybe the ham? Dad hasn't eaten it in a few months, and it's going to spoil soon. That creature looked like a fox, and it definitely had teeth, so maybe it's a meat eater?"

Grabbing some food, the ham included, Andy then closed the fridge and made his way back up to Takuya's room. When Andy pushed open the door, however, he was surprised to see Takuya chasing the little head creature around his room. The little fox creature was bouncing around like a bouncy ball.

"Gotcha!" Takuya exclaimed as soon as he grabbed the baby Digimon. "And give me that!" He yanked his goggles from its mouth.

"Uh…" Andy spoke up. "Am I interrupting something?"

Dodomon looked at Andy and jumped straight towards him eagerly. "FOOOOOOOD!"

"Uh-oh… WAH!" Andy yelped as the Dodomon tackled him in the chest, causing him to fall on his back.

Dodomon was on Andy's stomach as it began to chow down on the ham Andy brought.

"Okay...I think that should keep it happy for a while," Takuya mused as he observed this with a bit of a grin. He had his goggles back around his neck.

"This is a hyper little thing," Andy commented as he managed to sit up, and the Dodomon was eating the rest of the ham on his lap. "I wonder if we should name it…"

"What would we name it?" Takuya questioned as he looked at Andy. He knew what the Digimon was called, but he wasn't going to say it because Andy would question how he knew that.

"Uh…" Andy hesitated. "I don't know… I never had to name a creature before."

"Hmmm…" Takuya trailed off. "Well, since it can talk, why don't we ask it what its name is?" He figured it would be better if that happened, because he didn't want to reveal his secret.

"But it was just born, how could it already have a name?" Andy questioned.

Dodomon smiled as it finished eating. "Dodomon! I Dodomon!"

"What…? Dodomon…?" Andy blinked, looking at the little creature.

Takuya smiled at hearing that. "Well, that answers that question~"

"What you name?" Dodomon asked in a baby voice.

"Oh… uh, I'm Andy," Andy introduced. "And that's my cousin Takuya."

"Hi Andymon and Takuyamon!" Dodomon greeted happily.

"Um...No, it's just Takuya." Takuya explained. "And that is just Andy."

But Dodomon didn't pay attention to that. "Andymon! Takuyamon!"

Andy rubbed the back of his head, he was still getting used to the fact that this creature was talking. "I guess… since you're here, we should take care of you for the time being. But you can't let anyone else see you. It would be dangerous… I mean bad, bad for you."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. You're in a new place, and those like us, well, me and Andy anyway, would react badly to you being here." He then pointed at the bed. "So, if you are to remain here, you have to pretend to be a lifeless toy...for...your safety."

Dodomon frowned. "How come…?"

"You're… unique… uh… special. And people who look kind of like us don't… usually take special things too well," Andy tried to explain.

"Just...trust us…" Takuya said vaguely, that feral look appearing slightly in his eyes. "It is best for now…"

"Okay, I trust Andymon and Takuyamon," Dodomon said.

Andy sighed in relief. "Never thought I had to hide a 'pet' from Mom and Dad."

"We'll come up with something eventually," Takuya assured Andy. "But for now, it is best to hide Dodomon so it can be kept safe. It's just a baby."

It was easy to keep Dodomon hidden for the day, it was small, and everyone else was busy doing their own thing. Jazz was preparing her parents for when the lady at Genius Magazine would come to interview them for the evening, while Danny, Tucker, and Sam were at the zoo, researching Sampson. Dodomon did end up pooping in Takuya's room, however, which the boys had to clean up.

"Remind me to get a waste basket for when Dodomon needs to use the bathroom…" Takuya grumbled as he finished cleaning up the mess. He wasn't too happy about the incident.

Andy chuckled sheepishly. "I didn't think it could poop since it doesn't even have a butt, but I guess I was wrong."

"Whatever…" Takuya sighed as he tossed the paper towels out into a trash bag he had with him.

Andy sighed as he started to feed Dodomon some bits of chocolate. He wasn't sure if it could eat chocolate, but it seemed to be able to consume just about anything without any ill side effects. Dodomon enjoyed the chocolate Andy fed it.

"You know… you are pretty cute," Andy complimented.

Takuya chuckled as he heard that. "So you think it's cute now?" He teased.

"When it's not trying to eat my face," Andy grumbled.

Dodomon let out a happy sound before its body started to glow, and fractal code began to surround it. Andy gasped in shock as he got up and backed away.

"Takuya… what's happening?" Andy asked in concern.

"I...don't...know…" Was all Takuya could say. He hadn't expected the baby to evolve so soon. "Let's...just see what happens next…" His hand was already on his D-Tector in case something went wrong.

The electronics around them started to go a little haywire. Takuya's D-Tector beeped, making Andy turn to him for a moment, before turning back to the cocoon wrapped data. Then, with a flash, the fractal code dispersed. In front of them was what looked like Dodomon, but now it had little stubby feet, and a little tail.

"Okay...That's a new form…" Takuya muttered to himself. _It has to be at the In-Training stage now._

**"Dorimon is a Lesser Digimon and a carrier of the X Antibody. It can run very quickly if it is going straight."** The voice in Takuya's head informed.

_Okay, that X-Antibody thing is mentioned again. Must be some kind of...defense against something, but what?_ Takuya mused before he looked at it.

"Takuya… did it just get bigger?" Andy cautiously asked.

"Hiya!" The In-Training Digimon greeted, speaking better. "I'm Dorimon, nice to meet you!"

Takuya then looked at Andy. "I think it has different stages to its life."

"So in other words… it's already growing up?" Andy blinked.

Takuya waved his hand a bit. "Eh...it might be around a toddler stage, so it's still quite young."

Dorimon started to run around the room restlessly. "Do you have a place bigger than this? I wanna run more!"

"Oh...Uh…" Takuya had to think of something to satisfy both parties.

"Actually, I might know a good place," Andy spoke up. "But if we leave here, you'll have to promise to not move or talk. We don't want the other people thinking you're alive, or they'll take you away."

Takuya smiled at Andy's words. _It seems Andy is taking this well so far._

"Okay! Okay, I promise!" Dorimon smiled.

"Great," Andy said before Dorimon jumped at him, and Andy yelped before seeing it landed in his arms instead of latching onto his face again.

Takuya chuckled at seeing that. "I think the food was what won it over." He joked.

Andy sighed in relief. "Come on, let's go while Jazz and my parents are still distracted for the upcoming interview."

* * *

Dorimon was in awe when they walked outside for the first time. There were many tall buildings, moving vehicles, and people that looked like Andy and Takuya around. Although Dorimon was very curious, he promised to hold still until they got to wherever it is they were going to.

"So Andy, where are we going?" Takuya whispered.

"I was thinking Amity Zoo, there's a free roaming place there that I think Dodo- I mean Dorimon would like to run around in," Andy answered back. "We could ask for a private one, so nobody would see Dorimon moving."

Takuya nodded. "Makes sense." He then looked at Andy. "Wait, you can ask for a private roaming area?"

"Sort of… normally you'd have to pay quite a bit of money for a private roaming area, but…" Andy chuckled sheepishly. "I was thinking we'd just… sneak in…?"

Takuya sighed. "That makes more sense," He admitted. "We'll just have to worry about getting caught."

As they were heading to Amity Zoo, a few people they passed by looked at the 'plushy' Andy was holding curiously, but most didn't pay it too much mind. However, a few girls were asking where Andy got the adorable 'toy' from. Andy and Takuya just said 'at the toy store'. One girl said she never saw any toy like that at the toy store, so Andy said 'internet' instead.

Takuya looked at Andy with a grin at that last lie. "From the 'Internet'? Classic."

Andy shrugged. "If it works, why change it, right?"

By the time they got close to Amity Zoo, it was starting to get late. The sun was beginning to set.

"Good, it's evening," Andy noted. "That means there won't be a lot of people here, so that'll make it easier to sneak into a private roaming room."

Takuya looked around for one of the private roaming rooms, hoping to see one that was open. He could see lions in one, and giraffes in another.

Dorimon was looking quite curious at these other animals.

"Let's see…" Andy looked around before seeing one of the doors to a roaming area opened, and an employee coming out of it. "Over there, Takuya. Looks like they just finished examining the place."

Takuya saw that and grinned. "Let's go, then." He waved Andy and Dorimon over to the open gate. He made sure he was out of sight from the man.

Andy hurried over, still holding Dorimon, and went into the door as quickly and quietly as he could. Takuya followed him inside. The inside of the room was huge, it was like a savannah.

Andy smiled before he put Dorimon down. "Okay, you can run around here to your heart's content, little one."

Dorimon let out a squeal of delight as it began to run around eagerly. Off to the side, Takuya chuckled at the antics of the little guy.

While Andy was watching Dorimon run around, Takuya's D-Tector started to beep his ringtone, meaning someone was trying to call him through his D-Tector.

Taking out his D-Tector, Takuya saw it was Koichi again. "Koichi?" He asked, trying to keep his voice low so Andy didn't hear him.

_"Sorry, is this a bad time?"_ Koichi asked, noticing Takuya was keeping his voice down.

"No, I'm just with my cousin. That Digi-Egg hatched. It is a Digimon called Dorimon." Takuya replied. "And it seems to have taken a liking to Andy."

_"Oh? Huh… You'll have to tell me more later. Koji and I have been doing some investigating, and it looks like something's been going on lately. The barrier between here, the Digital World, and another dimension has been weakening,"_ Koichi warned.

"What?!" Takuya almost shouted, but he stopped himself before Andy heard him. "It has?" Then he remembered the Celestials. "And what of the Celestials? Are they aware of this and are they okay?"

_"We don't know, we haven't heard from them,"_ Koichi answered._ "But so far it looks like there haven't been any Digimon aside from that one that crossed between the barriers. But that doesn't mean more won't try eventually. They seem to be flocking towards your area, because your area seems to have a portal between the Digital World and this one. Making it easier for the Digimon to go through the weakened barrier."_

Takuya frowned at that. _An unknown portal here? That's odd. Because the only one I know of is the Ghost Portal._ "Huh...We'll have to keep an eye out for it."

_"As for any Digimon you'll have to fight and purify, the Digi-Eggs can be stored in your D-Tector. You can probably store the next Digi-Egg with your D-Tector until we can send it back into the Digital World,"_ Koichi continued.

Takuya nodded, albeit unseen. "Okay. Thanks for the update. I will keep an eye out for any new Digimon. And if things get tough, you guys may be needed here. But that may be later."

_"Right… that might be a while, because America is on the other side of the world for us, but we'll see what we can do. Let us know if you need backup though. Oh, and what are you going to do with the Digimon that already hatched?"_ Koichi asked.

"Andy seems to like the little guy, and they seem to have formed a bond, so Andy can look after it for now." Takuya replied.

Koichi gave a thoughtful sound._ "I see… keep an eye on them then, see what develops. Perhaps that Digimon might be an ally for us in the future. Until then, we'll see you later."_

"Okay," Takuya replied before he cut the line and looked back to Andy and Dorimon. He smiled at seeing Andy smiling at Dorimon's antics.

"You know, I've always wondered what it would be like to have a dog," Andy spoke up. "I imagined it would be pretty close to something like this."

Takuya chuckled at that. "Is that so?" He gave Andy a teasing look. "Dorimon may not be a dog, but it sure acts feisty like one."

"Yeah," Andy agreed.

The two of them watched Dorimon enjoying itself a little bit before Andy spoke up. "Hey, um… Takuya… do you think maybe that other dragon… BurningGreymon might be the same kind of creature as Dorimon?"

Takuya almost gaped before he shook his head. "Um...well, it _is_ possible…" He began. "They do have some similar traits, but not exactly the same…"

"I have noticed both of their names end in 'mon'," Andy muttered. "And if I remember right, BurningGreymon appeared to be made of data for the most part. And when Dodomon became Dorimon, I noticed digital code was surrounding it, and some of the technology in the house was going a little haywire as well. So… what are they? Some kind of digital beings?"

Takuya frowned at that. "Yeah...I noticed that with the tech as well." He wasn't sure where Andy was going with this though. _Is he close to figuring it out?_

"I was just wondering if there's more of them out there, and if they're dangerous or if they're peaceful," Andy said. "BurningGreymon looked to be helping, but he could just be defending his territory. I can't say I know enough to be sure. And when this little guy was that giant fox dragon thing, it attacked us, but it was clear that it was in pain. Right now it seems to be alright and friendly enough, but… what if it's not? What if once it's grown past its toddler stage, it starts to go back to being that dangerous fox dragon again?"

Takuya was unsure of how to answer, but he figured it was best to try. "Well...I can't say for sure, but if it is made of data, then maybe BurningGreymon gave it a 'reset' almost. You know, restored it to its original state."

Andy looked over at Takuya, giving an analytic expression. "Hmm…"

Takuya frowned, he wondered what Andy was looking for.

Before Takuya could try to figure that out, however, he suddenly sensed something hot and cold. Dorimon suddenly ran back and looked to be shaking.

"Huh? What's wrong, Dorimon?" Andy asked in concern.

"D-danger… nearby…" Dorimon shivered.

Takuya gasped before he looked back. "I think...we need to get out of here…" He was not liking the feeling he was getting.

Andy looked worried too. He bent down and picked up Dorimon, who looked shaken, but ready to fight if he needed to. Both of them hurried out of the roaming room. They looked around, hoping to not get caught, and to see if there was any danger nearby.

Takuya glanced around before he suddenly tensed up as they ran past the gorilla exhibit. Then, he saw what looked like a ghost that was metal, with flaming green hair in a mohawk, and wearing clothes like a vest and pants with black boots. The ghost had glowing green eyes as well.

Andy must've noticed it too, because Takuya could feel him tensing up. They could see the robotic-like ghost was floating just outside the tiger's exhibit, and was looking at the zoo tower where people would go to watch animals from afar with binoculars. The ghost was using his own binoculars from his arm, trying to see what or who was up there.

"There you are, my prey~" The robot ghost smirked.

Takuya looked uneasy, and he wanted to take that ghost out, but with Andy and Dorimon there, he couldn't take that chance. Instead he gave look to Andy. "We have to get out of here before that ghost sees us."

Andy nodded in agreement, but he was also concerned about something. Dorimon didn't move, he stayed quiet and still in Andy's arms.

They both started to quickly move away, when Takuya and Andy saw something big and white rushing towards the ghost. All of a sudden, the robot ghost was pounced by a purple-back gorilla.

Takuya gaped before he shoved Andy and Dorimon to the ground. "GET DOWN!"

While on the ground, they couldn't see what was going on, but they heard a lot of gorilla growlings and metal clanging. Takuya began to crawl away, Andy followed. Dorimon was beside Andy since Andy dropped him when Takuya shoved them down, but Dorimon was, thankfully, smart enough to follow them.

Takuya kept an eye on the gorilla, trying to stay away from the raging Sampson. _How did the gorilla get out of his enclosure?_

They kept going until they felt they were far enough away that they could stand up and make a run for it to the entrance of the zoo. Andy picked up Dorimon as they started running.

When they finally left Amity Zoo, Andy and Takuya were panting.

"What… was… that…?" Andy panted.

"That, I think, was Sampson…" Takuya replied as he too panted, almost doubled over. "And I can't be too sure...but I think...that Sampson...attacked that ghost…"

"I gathered that much," Andy said. "But… that ghost… that was a ghost…? It looked… like a floating flaming robot… how could… a robot be a ghost?"

"No...no clue…" Takuya rasped before he stood up straight and raised his arms over his head. "Wow...That was _not_ how I expected this to go."

"We should get out of here. It's already getting late, and I would rather not have to tangle with another ghost," Andy stated, having caught his breath. "I'm pretty sure Danny and the others had gone home by now."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, good idea." He then gave Dorimon a glance. "And I think Dorimon is in need of some sleep as well."

Dorimon let out a big yawn, making its mouth almost as big as its body.

"Heh… yeah, I guess you're right," Andy chuckled as he put a hand on Dorimon's head. "Let's get back home and figure out some sleeping arrangements for this little guy."

Takuya chuckled. "Since Dorimon seems to like you, why not let him sleep with you? All you have to tell Danny is that Dorimon is a toy."

"Unless Dorimon snores or growls in his sleep," Andy pointed out. "Or what if he wakes up and starts crying that he's hungry? Or poops on my bed?"

Takuya smacked his face with his hand. "Okay...we'll think of something. But let's at least see how this night goes. Think of it as a trial run." He hoped that it would go well.

"Fine, but if Dorimon starts to do any of that, I may have to invest in a dog house," Andy sighed.

* * *

Andy and Takuya made it back to Fenton Works, though when they walked in, they could see Maddie, Jack, and Jazz were already in the living room, talking to a woman with big black poofy hair, and a purple-pink dress uniform. She had a professional air around her. The woman had a tape recorder with her, likely for the interview.

"Ugh… I forgot about the interview…" Andy sighed.

Takuya frowned. "Great… But how are we going to get Dorimon past them?"

"Shh… just pretend Dorimon is a toy, remember?" Andy winked.

"A few more questions, Maddie," The woman said. "Can you tell us what you're working on right now?"

Before Maddie could answer, Jack held out the Ghost Gabber. "Well, it's called the Ghost Gabber, and-"

"Dad, put that thing away!" Jazz exclaimed before she snatched the device and stuffed it under the pillow next to her. She then smiled at the interviewer. "Now, where were we?"

"Connie, my primary focus these days is ghost hunting," Maddie explained.

"Wah- forgive me, but did you say… ghost hunting?" The woman, apparently named Connie, asked in surprise.

Jazz groaned, realizing that this was turning into a train wreck.

Then the family spotted Andy and Takuya as they were heading upstairs.

"Uh… Hi?" Takuya waved. "Andy and I were heading upstairs. Don't mind us!"

"Wait… Andy, what is that in your arms?" Maddie asked.

"Oh this? It's just a plushy I bought at a store. Takuya and I were just looking around the mall, when we saw this cute little thing, and decided to buy it. I mean it seems pretty unique, right?" Andy answered, trying not to sound nervous.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. Andy wanted it so, I bought it for him."

"Andy, I thought you didn't like plushies anymore," Jazz said.

"Who said that?" Andy frowned. "A-anyways, we'll let you get back to your interview. We're just going into our rooms for the night."

Takuya then began to head upstairs and to his room. He made sure Andy and Dorimon were right behind him.

However, as he was passing Danny and Andy's room, he suddenly got that hot and cold feeling again. Dorimon suddenly looked alarmed.

"H-hey, what's wrong, Dorimon?" Andy asked, noticing how Dorimon was acting.

"D-danger…" Dorimon shivered.

Takuya was very tempted to grab Andy's arm and keep him from opening the door. "Andy… I don't think it would be a good idea to open the door…"

Andy frowned. "What should we do? If it's a ghost, we can't just leave it there."

Takuya frowned at that as well. _That is true…_ He thought. A thought crossed his mind, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. His hand was on his D-Tector, just in case he had no choice.

Before they could do anything, however, the door suddenly opened. And a big, grinning, flaming mohawk robot ghost was staring down at them.

"Hello, ghost child," The robot ghost greeted with a predatory smirk.

Then suddenly, the robot held out his arm and shot out a glowing blue net at Andy, trapping both him and Dorimon.

"Wah!?" Andy yelped before he and Dorimon were being pulled into the room.

Takuya cursed to himself as he dived for the net, grabbing onto it so he could keep Andy from being taken. _This is _so _not good!_

Unfortunately for Takuya, as a human, he was too weak to keep tugging for long, and he too was pulled into the room before the door shut behind him.

"The ghost child in its natural habitat," The robot ghost commented as he looked down at Andy, not seeming to notice Dorimon, or he didn't care about it. The robot ghost didn't seem to care about the other human child he brought in as well.

"What…?" Andy blinked, confused._ Why is this thing calling me 'ghost child'?_ "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I am Skulker, collector of things that are rare and unique. And you, ghost child, are that and more," The self proclaimed Skulker answered with a grin.

Takuya growled as he stood up. He stood in front of Andy protectively, that feral look in his eyes, unrestrained or even in control.

Skulker looked at Takuya. "I didn't want you, human child. Get out of my way."

"No." Takuya snapped, his voice seeming to gain some power to it. He could feel his Spirits calling out for him to evolve, but there was no way he could unless this ghost wanted to kill Andy.

"Takuya! You need to get out of here! Get out and get Mom and Dad!" Andy yelled out.

Takuya then gave a look back at Andy, unaware of the look in his eyes as he locked gazes with his cousin. "Andy… I can't do that."

Andy paused when he saw Takuya's eyes, they looked feral, and somehow familiar. Dorimon was no longer shaking, but was growling instead.

Andy then let out a gasp. "Look out!"

Takuya didn't react fast enough, he was suddenly slapped away by Skulker's metallic hand. With Takuya out of the way, Skulker looked down at Andy. "Pity though, I was hoping you would put up more of a fight."

Dorimon then opened his mouth and bit down on the net with his teeth, breaking it apart. Then he jumped at Skulker.

"Dorimon!" Andy called out in alarm.

_"Metal Drop!"_ Dorimon shouted as he spat out iron beads at Skulker while he jumped at the ghost.

Takuya looked up, seeing Skulker getting hit with the metal beads, but it didn't do much, as Skulker was made of metal and thus, the metal beads didn't do much damage. Instead, Skulker just slapped Dorimon aside, which sent the small Digimon rolling back towards Andy.

"Dorimon! Are you okay?" Andy asked in concern as he picked up the hurt Digimon.

Skulker towered over Andy, and glared venomously at Dorimon. "So… you have one of those little digital beasts with you. I'm surprised that you're even holding the accursed thing."

Then, Takuya stood up. He gripped his D-Tector in his right hand, clenching it tightly.

"Oh well, it won't be missed," Skulker grinned as he held up his arm and it turned into a cannon.

"No! Stop it!" Andy cried out in desperation.

"Leave my cousin _ALONE!"_ Takuya shouted before he did something Andy thought was impossible. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "_Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

Now evolved, the Warrior of Fire glared at Skulker, revealing his sharp fangs as he gritted his teeth together.

Skulker stared at Agunimon in shock, so was Andy.

"Takuya… you…?" Andy started to say, not sure what to say really.

"You! _You're _a Digimon!?" Skulker growled.

"In a sense," Agunimon replied, keeping it vague. _I don't need Skulker to know I am really a human who can evolve with Spirits._ "But what _you_ should be worried about is what _I_ will do to you if you harm even one hair on that human!"

"Human?" Skulker frowned, looking at Andy in confusion. "He's no mere human, he's-"

Skulker stopped as he looked at something on his arm. "What…? You're just… a human child? Impossible, you have to be the ghost boy! You looked exactly like him, and you were about to go into his room!"

Agunimon just gave Skulker a glare. "Are you going to risk it?" He hissed.

Skulker gave an angry look before he grabbed Agunimon suddenly, and Andy. Andy gasped as he and Agunimon became see-thru, and they sank under the floor. Agunimon and Andy yelped as they fell through the kitchen floor as well, and didn't stop falling until they hit the lab floor.

As soon as Skulker let them go, he floated above them.

"I can't let you two leave and risk warning the ghost boy," Skulker growled before he began to fire missiles at them.

Reacting quickly, Agunimon got one of his attacks ready _"Pyro Darts!"_ The small bursts of flame hit the missiles, causing minor explosions in the air.

"Blasted annoying Digital Monster!" Skulker hissed in anger.

Skulker fired an ecto blast at Agunimon. Andy quickly got up and moved away, still holding onto the injured Dorimon.

_I've got to do something…_ Andy frowned, seeing his cousin turned Digimon yelled out in pain from the ecto blast. _Takuya's going to get hurt, and Dorimon did get hurt._

Agunimon jumped, avoiding another ecto blast, before he suddenly got missiles in his face.

"Give it up, I've fought with your kind before, I know how you work," Skulker warned.

Agunimon fell to the ground with a grunt, smoke rising from his form. He managed to get to his feet as he glared at Skulker. _That would explain why he knows what I am._ He thought as he panted slightly. He had to finish the fight before Andy or himself got hurt, or worse, his aunt and uncle coming down into the lab.

Then, he had an idea. With a shout, Agunimon ran at Skulker and threw a punch, his right fist encased in fire. _"Pyro Punch!" _The fiery blow landed on Skulker's face, sending the ghost back towards the wall.

Andy looked around the counter in the lab, before he picked up what looked like a small rod. "What the heck does this thing do?"

Andy saw a button and pressed it, the little rod suddenly extended to a longer rod. "I hope this thing can hit ghosts."

Skulker wasn't out yet, he kicked Agunimon's torso, sending him back a few feet.

Grunting at the blow, Agunimon's hand flew to his stomach area, not sure if he was hurt badly or not. Looking back at Andy, he saw the boy had a rod of some kind, but what it was, he didn't know. _But Andy is right behind Skulker so maybe..._

While Skulker's attention was on Agunimon, he didn't realize Andy was coming up behind him until the boy slammed the rod into Skulker's head with a loud CLANG. Skulker yelped as he stumbled forward a little, rubbing his head before he looked back at Andy. "That stung."

Andy gave a nervous grin before Skulker began to fire ecto blasts at the boy. Andy yelped as he ran, trying to avoid the blasts. Dorimon opened his eyes, seeing that Andy was in trouble. Dorimon moved his head over Andy's body to look at Skulker.

_"A-Acid Bubbles!"_ Dorimon spat out what looked like pink bubbles at Skulker.

Seeing the bubbles, Agunimon realized that Dorimon was trying to protect Andy. Turning his gaze to Skulker, Agunimon gave the harshest glare he had ever given any being, digital or otherwise. "Time to end this…" He hissed before he ran at Skulker again and jumped up before he brought down his left foot in a drop kick onto Skulker's head, flames covering his foot as he did so.

While Agunimon was doing that, the pink bubbles slammed into Skulker's chest. The bubbles were starting to eat away at Skulker's metal chest, which made the ghost gasp.

"What the?" Skulker was so distracted that he didn't see the flaming foot coming at him.

Agunimon made contact with a shout, sending Skulker to the floor so hard, he left an imprint.

Skulker groaned before he turned intangible and floated up. He was looking at something on his arm. "I see… the real ghost boy will be getting back in the morning… which means I should have time to repair the damages before he gets here… and you three…"

Skulker looked at Agunimon, Andy, and Dorimon. All three were ready to fight if Skulker attacked again.

"Be sure to sleep with your eyes open tonight," Skulker threatened before he flew through the ceiling.

Agunimon glared as Skulker left, only to relax once the ghost was gone. Then, he gave a look to Andy, unsure of what his cousin would do.

With Skulker gone, Andy dropped the rod he was holding in favor of having two hands to hold Dorimon. He then walked over to Agunimon with a serious expression. "... So… this was your secret?"

Agunimon sighed. "Yes… it was…" He admitted as he gave a glance to Andy again. " I didn't want you to freak out…"

"... Honestly, the only reason why I haven't freaked out yet is because I almost just died back there," Andy responded a bit sarcastically. "And I also… suspected something was up with you."

"I suppose you'll want the whole story?" Agunimon asked. "How I got to have this ability?" He gestured to his own body.

"That would be nice, yes, very much so. But we should do this in your room. Mom and Dad might come here to check out what all the ruckus was once the interviewer leaves," Andy stated. "And we should also tend to this brave little guy."

Agunimon smiled a bit before coding surrounded him and he returned to his human form.

"Sure," Takuya said with a smile.

* * *

Andy and Takuya had to sneak by the family after they came out of the kitchen. They really didn't want to have to explain what they were doing in the lab, what the ruckus was in the lab, or how they got to the lab without being spotted before. Thankfully, they were too engrossed with Connie to notice them sneaking upstairs, especially since the Ghost Gabber was making loud noises, likely from Skulker earlier, that was distracting Jack, and stressing out Jazz.

Once in Takuya's room, the older boy made sure the door was closed before he sat down on the bed. "Okay, do you want me to start from the beginning?"

"Yes, it would make the most sense, and we've got all night," Andy answered as he sat down on the other side of the bed, and looked Dorimon over. "His injuries don't look too bad, and they appear to already be healing."

Takuya smiled. "That's what a Digimon does when they get hurt." He then sighed. "And yes, that is what Dorimon is. Back in Japan, four years ago, five of my friends and I were called to this place called the Digital World." He then paused. "Okay, if the Ghost Zone is the opposite of the human world in that it is the realm of the dead, then the Digital World is the opposite of the real world in that it is made up of data."

He then took out his D-Tector. "When my friends and I wound up in the Digital World, we found out we were supposed to help save it, using the power of ancient artifacts called Spirits, left behind by ten Ancient Warrior Digimon. My Spirits are fire, thus that is my element and title: Warrior of Fire." Takuya continued. "And well, my friends and I managed to save the Digital World. We have the ability to become Digimon, or beings made up of data, with these Spirits. Using coding called fractal coding, we can evolve, thus becoming stronger than our human forms."

Andy listened as Takuya went on about his adventures in the Digital World with his friends, and what they had to go through. It took a while until Takuya finally finished his story.

"... Well… dang… your life sounded like an anime," Andy finally said after a while.

"Ehehe…" Takuya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well… it wasn't exactly an anime, but close enough…"

"Still though… I can't believe there's another world out there, filled with these Digimon. I mean I've seen anime and manga that had something similar to that, but to have it apply in the real world seems beyond sane," Andy said. "But I have living proof right here."

Andy looked down at the sleeping Dorimon, then at Takuya. "And you. First ghosts, and how Digimon? Not to mention my cousin can turn into a Digimon!"

Then suddenly, Andy had that glint in his eyes, the glint of curiosity. "What is it like? Does it hurt to become a Digimon? How do you know how to do all those attacks? Did you have to train or were those instincts? Did you inherit the knowledge from your Spirits? Are there more of you? Are there going to be more Digimon coming into our world? What's their relationship with ghosts? The ghosts seem to really hate Digimon. Could you spirit evolve at any time or does it have a time limit? Do you-"

"Calm down!" Takuya exclaimed."Okay, first off, it's very...interesting when I am a Digimon. Second, no, it doesn't hurt. I just do it. Third, those attacks are instinct. Fourth, I didn't train. Fifth, yes I did inherit the knowledge from my Spirits. Sixth, there are more like me, as my friends can do it too. Seventh, no, I don't know, and I don't know the relationship with ghosts. Eighth, there is no time limit, and yes, I can evolve at any time." Takuya panted once he was done.

Andy gave Takuya a thoughtful look. "You know… I'm surprised you can still spirit evolve out here in the real world. From what you told me, the Digital World is filled with data, so it makes sense that you could spirit evolve there. But… what about out here? Where the world isn't made of data? How do you still have access to your Spirits?"

Takuya frowned at that. "I'm not sure myself. I just know that I do. Although...when that fog came out of nowhere, I could sense data in it. So maybe there is a Digital portal somewhere."

Andy thought about it. "A Digital portal, huh? Well… we have a Ghost Portal in our basement… maybe that might have some relation to this Digital portal?"

"I'm not sure…" Takuya trailed off. "But we'll see." He then gave a glance to Andy. "Andy, can I ask you to keep what I can do a secret? I don't want Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack to find out. Same with Jazz. I mean, Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie might think I am possessed and Jazz… well, you know skeptical she is, she might just think we're crazy or something."

Andy gave a thoughtful look. "I can understand that. Mom and Dad would definitely think it was the work of some ghost, especially since 'Spirit' is often another term for 'ghost'. Jazz… well, I think it might make her snap if she suddenly saw you Spirit Evolve. As for Danny… I don't even know what's going on with him. But considering the secrecy… it's possible he might share a similar secret like yours."

Takuya perked up at that. "You think so?" He had never considered that. _Is it possible? But if it is, then could it be like mine?_

"That accident… could've done something to him that we don't know about, and Danny is too scared to tell us. Tucker and Sam were there when it happened, so it makes sense why they would know about it," Andy theorized.

"It could be," Takuya agreed. "But I don't know if they will reveal it to us. You saw how they were reacting. Tucker and Sam are always making sure we're not able to figure it out."

"Yeah… Tucker and Sam are very loyal friends if nothing else. If Danny doesn't want to tell us, they'll make sure we don't find out," Andy sighed. "But… you know, if there is something like that going on, I'm kind of relieved. It explains the sudden disappearances, and why they're always ditching me."

"You mean us?" Takuya teased before his grin faded. "But I think if Danny _does_ have something going on like my ability to evolve, it would make sense too." He then looked at Dorimon again. "It's just difficult to get close to Danny to find out his secret."

"It's not just that either…" Andy frowned, looking at Dorimon himself. "Considering the fact that these ghosts, and possibly dangerous and hostile Digimon, are appearing in our town, there's a real danger that we'll have to face them again. I don't like how helpless I was, and how you had to get hurt just to protect me. I should've been able to do more than just hit that Skulker ghost with a stick and then run for it."

Takuya frowned at that response. "Andy, when I return to human form, my injuries are not as severe as they are in my Digimon forms." He then sighed. "But I do get what you are saying. Being helpless is never fun." _That happened more than once in the Digital World..._

"Unfortunately, I don't have some kind of Spirit to evolve myself, or whatever Danny might possibly be. I no longer have that dragon amulet either, so I'm just… stuck as an average human boy," Andy sighed.

"So… get… stronger…"

Andy and Takuya were surprised when they heard Dorimon say that, they thought the little Digimon was asleep.

Dorimon looked up at Andy. "Get stronger… I get stronger… I will Digivolve… get strong… like Takuyamon."

Takuya blinked. This was the first time he was hearing of such a thing. "But how can he? Andy doesn't have my abilities, nor his brother's secret, whatever that is."

"Train… Digimon become strong… with training," Dorimon said with determination shining in his eyes. "Spirit already strong, but other Digimon need to train to get stronger and Digivolve. Like humans, humans train to get stronger too."

Andy nodded. "Dorimon's right. Mom and Dad have been training to battle with ghosts, so maybe… there's no reason why I can't do the same. Just because I don't have a Spirit or a D-Tector to evolve, it doesn't mean I have to be helpless forever."

Takuya smiled at that. "Well, if that is what you want to do, I can help if you want. You can train against me when I am evolved, just so you can be able to handle a Digimon to an extent."

Andy couldn't help but smile and laugh. "Wow… looks like with you back in my life, it's truly become an anime now."

Takuya laughed as well. "I guess it has!"

"I train too, get stronger together!" Dorimon grinned.

Takuya patted the little guy on the head as he chuckled. "Sure you can! Don't want to leave you out either!"

"Then starting tomorrow after school, we'll meet up at the outskirts of town, near the woods," Andy suggested. "That should be a good spot to train without alerting anyone. Just… try not to get too close to the trees with your fire, we don't want to cause a forest fire after all."

Takuya laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I...made that mistake in the Digital World once so you can be sure I won't do it again." He then became serious. "I won't use my attacks anyway, since you need to get used to fighting first."

"That's true. And I will be needing some tools if I'm going to be fighting with ghosts and Digimon. A human's bare fists can only do so much to creatures like those," Andy stated.

"How about that rod?" Takuya questioned. "It seemed to do some damage to that Skulker ghost."

"Right… that must've been the Fenton Rod. Mom and Dad made it a while back, said that it's good for close combat with ghosts, though they tend to favor long range weapons like ecto blast guns and bazookas since ghosts usually prefer flying away from people then getting up close and personal. Still, we can't rule out that possibility, and having a close range weapon is better than having nothing," Andy remarked.

Takuya nodded. "Good call. I can't recall how many times a Digimon tried to attack from close range."

"I'll gather what I think I'll need for our training tomorrow. For now, we should probably get some sleep, it's been a tiring day for us," Andy suggested.

Takuya felt a yawn escape him at that remark. "True… And evolving can tire me out if done too many times in quick succession." He looked at the bed. "Bed looks inviting right now…"

"I'll leave you to it then, cuz," Andy chuckled as he stood up and headed for the door.

Dorimon jumped off of Takuya's bed and hopped onto Andy's head.

"... What are you doing?" Andy asked when he felt Dorimon's weight on his head.

"He wants to sleep with you." Takuya chuckled. "You did help him, after all."

"I didn't do much, he was the one protecting me," Andy pointed out.

"Yeah, but you did show concern for him," Takuya replied with a grin. "And you did feed him."

Andy sighed. "Fine, but no pooping on me or my bed."

"Or Danny and his bed." Takuya chuckled.

"Okay!" Dorimon replied happily.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT Convoy:** I am glad you think it is. :)

**GirlFish****: DarkFoxKit:** Twins? You do know that one of the main characters, Andy, is a twin himself, right? You have to be more specific on who you mean when you say 'twins'. I'm guessing you mean Koji and Koichi though?

**ZAFT Convoy:** I would assume that is the case, because they too are twins. But I agree.

**DarkFoxKit:** Paulina trying to date Takuya, huh? ***Gives an evil smirk*** I actually like that idea~

**ZAFT:** Uh oh… Girl fight~! XD

**DarkFoxKit:** I don't know what we'll do with the GIW yet, they come in later, much later. But it's very likely they would want to weaponize Takuya if they find out about his Spirits and his ability to transform into a Digimon.

**ZAFT:** We'll get to that down the road. For now, just enjoy the chapters. :)

**Andy: *Pouts*** I'm sure there's gotta be some kind of law against this…

**ZAFT:** And now, onto the chapter~


	6. Dash on a Long Road

**ZAFT Convoy: **Chapter 6 is here! Sorry about the delay. Writing can do that sometimes. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** Well… it was more like we forgot to update it yesterday.

**Andy:** Yes, yes you two did. Shame on you.

**ZAFT:** I couldn't help it. Yesterday's writing session was so intense and fun I didn't want to stop! ^^' Anyway, the chapter is going up today, so I hope that satisfies you, Andy.

**Andy:** Just don't be late again. Also… why did you put this bracelet on me?

**DarkFoxKit:** Why not? It looks cute on you~

**ZAFT: **What bracelet? *looks at Andy* Oh… That one.

**Andy:** It's stuck on me!

**ZAFT:** *looks at DFK* Should I remove it or leave it~

**Andy:** Remove it, of course!

**DarkFoxKit:** Nah, leave it on him so others know that he's already taken~

**ZAFT:** Okay~ It stays!

**Andy: *Grumbles to himself*** I'm going to find a way to get this off!

* * *

**Chapter 6: Dash On a Long Road**

When the morning sun started to rise in the sky of Amity Park, Andy woke up to growling. He blinked open his eyes, and groggily looked at the foot of his bed. Andy saw Dorimon there, growling at something near the door, his fur all bristled up like a hissing cat.

"Dorimon…? What's wrong?" Andy groggily asked.

"Danger!" Dorimon hissed as he glared at whatever was in the room with them.

Andy's eyes opened more, and he was wide awake. Andy couldn't see anything, but if there was a ghost here, and Dorimon could sense it, then that didn't mean it wasn't there. Ghosts could turn invisible after all. Andy quickly grabbed his blanket and pulled it off him. He was in his blue PJs.

"Who's there!?" Andy demanded.

There was no response, but Andy didn't doubt it was possibly that ghost Skulker. Andy's heart was beating fast, he knew he had to get Takuya before Skulker decided to attack. But seeing how Dorimon was glaring at the door, Andy knew trying to get out that way would just put him in danger. Andy looked over at his nightstand, where his cell phone was. Andy carefully reached an arm to his cell phone while keeping his attention on the door and Dorimon.

He gripped his phone as carefully as he could while pulling it to his chest slowly. _If I can contact Takuya, then I think we stand a chance of beating that ghost… but I have to be careful, if the ghost realizes what I'm doing, it may try to strike at me before I can call Takuya..._

Andy kept his eyes peeled for any sudden attack or movement. He then, slowly and carefully, started to dial a number on his phone. _So far, so good. Maybe the ghost doesn't know what I'm doing._

However, just before Andy could put in the last digit, the bedroom door suddenly opened up. This startled Andy enough to drop his cell phone and scream, Dorimon shot out metal beads at that scream, and the metal beads hit the 'air' with a CLANG. The person at the door looked to be alarmed and confused, before a familiar green flaming mohawk robot ghost appeared at the doorway, with its back turned to Andy and Dorimon, facing the boy who opened the door.

It was Danny who had opened the door. "Um…"

"Hello… ghost child." Skulker grinned.

_Ghost child…?_ Andy blinked. _What does that mean?_

Then Skulker shot out a glowing blue net at Danny, and yanked him in, much like how he did with Andy last night. Andy noticed Tucker and Sam were outside, looking just as shocked and startled at this.

Andy realized this would not be good for him or Takuya if Danny, Sam, and Tucker realized Dorimon was a living being. Dorimon, upon seeing the threesome, had gone still, but his instincts were screaming at him to defend Andy.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Were you trying to sneak up on my brother?" Danny demanded Skulker, not sounding as scared as Andy thought he would be.

"Why, he would have been perfect bait." Skulker purred out. "And I am the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, Skulker. As for why I am here, well, it is because of _you_, ghost child. You are too rare and unique to pass up as rare prey."

Danny looked shocked and worried at what Skulker said, though it could be for several reasons. Andy deduced that if Skulker seemed to know Danny, then it was very possible Danny did have a secret similar to Takuya's, otherwise why would this ghost be interested at all in him?

Andy didn't want this to be a repeat of what happened with him and Takuya. He quickly picked up Dorimon and moved a little closer to Skulker while Skulker was distracted with Danny. Andy remembered Dorimon's bubble attack, and how it seemed to be able to eat at Skulker's armor a little. _If I could distract him enough, and get out of here… that should give Danny enough time to transform or whatever and get out. If I'm wrong though, Tucker and Sam could at least get Danny out of here, and get Mom and Dad._

Andy looked down at Dorimon and whispered to the little guy. "Can you do that acid bubble attack again? It may help my brother."

Dorimon looked up at Andy and whispered. "I thought you said not to move with other humans around."

"They're not paying attention, and you need to do this before that big mean ghost attacks us again," Andy whispered. "Think you can do it?"

Dorimon frowned a little, but nodded.

Dorimon opened his mouth, and whispered. "_Acid Bubbles."_

Pink bubbles floated over to Skulker before popping on his back, and started to slowly eat away at the metal.

Skulker growled as he felt the pain of his suit being eaten away. "Again?!" He glared back at Andy and Dorimon, the latter of which had gone still again.

"What's the matter? Too distracted with your prize? What a lousy hunter you are!" Andy taunted.

Skulker growled, not wanting to focus on the human behind him because of his prey in front of him, but that human was _so_ annoying with that accursed Digimon in his grasp.

"That's it, I'll be finishing you and your little Digital Pet first!" Skulker snapped before he turned his hands into cannons.

"Time to go!" Andy yelped as he ran past Skulker and out the door.

"What the!?" Sam shouted when she suddenly saw Andy barreling out the door.

"Andy!?" Tucker said in shock.

"Outta the way!" Andy yelled as he all but ran them over in his haste to get away from Skulker.

Skulker was too focused on Andy to care about Tucker and Sam, he was angry, his title was insulted by a mere human, and he was _not_ going to let him get away with that.

Andy ran, hoping to lose Skulker somehow. Or at least hoped Takuya was awake and evolved by now to counter Skulker.

Skulker shot out ecto blasts that caused the walls to have big holes in them.

_Jeez, where are Mom and Dad? Aren't all these loud explosions waking them up? Oy… Dad was always a heavy sleeper, and Mom probably put her Fenton Earplugs in…_ Andy groaned to himself. _And here I am, running around the house from a military ghost lunatic, in my pajamas, holding a little Digimon in my arms. Either this is a very vivid dream, or this is just the norm these days!_

Andy ran past Takuya's room, only for said door to open in front of Skulker. With a CLANG, Skulker groaned as he fell to the ground from colliding with the door.

"What's going on?" Takuya groaned as he rubbed one of his eyes sleepily, not even seeing the ghost on the floor beside him.

"Takuya…!" Andy panted. "Boy… am… I glad… to see… you…"

"Why?" Takuya asked with a yawn, not even aware of what was going on.

Before Andy could answer, Skulker stood up and had the cannon right behind Takuya's head, which caused Andy and Dorimon to scream in alarm. Takuya raised an eyebrow at their sudden reaction before he turned around, only to see the cannon right in his face. Takuya screamed and jumped back, knocking down Andy in the process.

Just then, before Andy, Takuya, and Dorimon were blasted away, a black and white blur came in and turned all three intangible so the blast would go right through them.

Takuya blinked as he, Andy, and Dorimon returned to tangible form, only to see Skulker sneering at seeing the ghost boy, Phantom, in front of the three.

"Hey, you leave these kids alone! It's me you want!" Phantom snapped at Skulker, clearly not happy.

Skulker laughed. "Of course! That's all part of why I'm the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone!" He then aimed his arm at Phantom and fired off a glowing blue net at him, catching the ghost boy before turning intangible and flying down into the lab.

Andy, Dorimon, and Takuya all stared at the floor the two ghosts just went through, blinking for a moment. Tucker and Sam came rushing towards them.

"Hey! What happened!? Where are the ghosts!?" Sam asked as she and Tucker caught up with them.

"That hunter ghost took the ghost boy and went through the floor!" Takuya exclaimed as he looked at them with worry. "This was after the ghost boy saved me and Andy."

"Down the lab?" Sam frowned.

"You don't think…" Tucker looked worried.

"The Ghost Portal… he's going to take D- the ghost boy away!" Sam cried out in alarm. "Come on, Tucker!"

Sam grabbed onto Tucker's arm and all but dragged him with her into the kitchen, hurrying down to the lab.

Takuya looked at Andy. "Should we follow?" He really wanted to see what would happen if those two ghosts fought. _It could give me some ideas for our training..._

"What is going on down there!?" They heard Jazz yelling, and her door opening up.

"You go on ahead, Takuya. You'd be a better help than I would anyways since you can spirit evolve," Andy said. "I need to go check on Danny, and make sure Jazz doesn't come down to the lab."

Takuya frowned, but nodded. "Okay…" With that, he stood up and ran off, but only after he grabbed his D-Tector in case it would be needed.

* * *

Andy didn't see Takuya or Danny again until he got to school. He didn't see them in the lab or in their rooms, and he worried something had happened to them. Andy decided to go to Casper High to see if they decided to just book it to school after their fight with Skulker. Andy had Dorimon in his backpack, in case he needed the little guy.

When Andy got to school, Takuya was waiting by the doors. "Oh! Hey, Andy!" He gave a wave to his cousin.

Andy went over to Takuya before frowning and glared at his cousin. "'Hey Andy'? You left for school without me after I had to deal with a worried older sister, and all you can say is 'hey Andy'? I oughta slap you for that!"

"Hey, I didn't want to, but I saw Danny, Sam, and Tucker booking it quite quickly after the fight! I wanted to make sure they were alright." Takuya explained quickly.

"I was worried! I thought that Skulker took you and Danny away into that Ghost Portal or something!" Andy huffed. "You could've called me."

Takuya gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry… I just forgot." He then saw Andy's backpack move slightly, and out popped Dorimon's face. "You brought Dorimon with you?"

"Yeah, because I thought I was going to need him in case I ran into Skulker again or another ghost," Andy grumbled. "I mean what could I do? Rely on you while you were 'missing'?"

"True…" Takuya admitted. He then looked around. "That ghost left the fight in a hurry though."

Andy sighed as he calmed down. "Why don't you tell me what happened then? We still have some time before classes start."

Takuya sighed as he looked at Andy. "Okay. Basically, when I went down to the lab, I saw Skulker had Phantom caught and was about to take him to the Ghost Zone. But Sam then intervened and told Skulker off. And then Tucker tried to control Skulker with his PDA it looked like, but Skulker hit Tucker so he dropped his PDA, and then Skulker placed the PDA on his arm, getting a big power boost. Don't worry though, Tucker's alright, he only slapped Tucker away. Then, Skulker seemed to take off suddenly, and he didn't want to leave his prey, but it was like he had no choice." Takuya took a breath to get some air after explaining it. "Wow...that was a long explanation."

Andy blinked a little. "Skulker is using Tucker's PDA to get stronger? And… then he just left like he had no choice?"

"Yeah, it was kind of weird. At least that meant I didn't have to spirit evolve," Takuya answered. "After that, Phantom, Tucker, and Sam were just as confused as I was about it, then Phantom turned intangible before flying through the ceiling. Tucker and Sam then started leaving. I hid myself before following them, then Danny suddenly showed up out of nowhere, and said that they needed to get to school before they were late. It was weird, it was still early though, but Danny seemed worried about something. I didn't want them going alone in case they got attacked again, so I followed them."

Andy sighed as Takuya finished his explanation. "I really wish you called."

Takuya just gave that sheepish grin again. "Sorry, Andy. I just wanted to make sure Danny, Tucker, and Sam were alright."

"That's not the only reason you followed them, is it?" Andy said, looking at Takuya. "You wanted to know more, what they're hiding, what Danny's secret could be, and if it was possible if might be dangerous."

Takuya sighed. "Nothing can be hidden from you for long, can it?" He then looked at Andy. "Yes, I was trying to find out Danny's secret, but as you can probably guess, I got nowhere with that. All I got was that Danny looked a bit paranoid, like he was worried something or someone was hunting him."

Andy frowned. "... Well… Skulker did say he was hunting the ghost boy. Though I don't know how he could've mistaken me and Danny for the ghost boy. I mean sure we kind of look a bit similar to the ghost boy, but come on, the differences are staggering, we don't look like ghosts, we don't have white hair, or wear a hazmat suit, or glow, or have glowing eyes. It should be pretty obvious we're human."

Takuya frowned at that as well. "I remember last night Skulker seemed to call you 'ghost child', which is unusual. Maybe Danny's secret has something to do with that?"

"You… may be right… it's possible that Danny might have some kind of relation to that ghost boy. That accident might be key to figuring this out," Andy mumbled.

Then the warning bell rang, startling the two boys. Dorimon buried himself back into the bag.

"C'mon, don't want to be late!" Takuya called as he turned and ran into the building. "Class starts soon!"

"Just what we need in the morning after being attacked by a ghost, more school!" Andy grumbled as he ran along with Takuya.

* * *

During lunch, Takuya was standing in the serving line, waiting to get his food, when he noticed Andy was sneaking into the janitor's closet.

Confused, Takuya made his way over, figuring he could get some food later.

"Andy?" He poked his face in to see what was going on with his cousin.

"Takuya!" Andy hissed. "Shut that door!"

The older boy quickly came inside and did just that. "What?"

Takuya noticed that Dorimon was out of Andy's backpack, and was gorging himself on a tray of food.

"Yummy!" Dorimon smiled.

"Oh… Now I see." Takuya remembered. He smiled at seeing that. "I see you're taking good care of the little guy."

"Yeah, well… I couldn't let him starve, and I was getting worried he might start complaining in class," Andy chuckled lightly.

Takuya chuckled as well. "Maybe have some chocolate on you to keep him happy when in class."

Andy sighed. "Maybe, but this means we'll have to take him everywhere with us, otherwise our family will find him and then try to experiment on him. But if he gets bigger, that's going to be hard to do…"

Takuya frowned at that. "Well, when we get to that, we'll deal with it. For now, let's just worry about keeping him in your backpack and out of sight."

"Yeah… By the way, Danny has been acting squirrely today. He kept fidgeting around, like he was expecting to be attacked at any moment. He, Tucker, and Sam even went to eat outside today, even though nobody else is going outside to eat their lunch today," Andy said. "Something must be up, or he suspects Skulker is… stalking him."

That made Takuya gain a nervous look. "Really? That's odd. Why would Skulker hunt a human? Is it because Danny knows something about Phantom?"

"Maybe… Phantom doesn't seem like an easy ghost to find… then again, what ghost is? Perhaps Skulker wants to use Danny as bait," Andy theorized. "Maybe we should go out and check on them, just to be sure."

Takuya nodded. "Sure. This way we can see what Skulker is up to as well."

"Hey, Dorimon, you finished eating yet, buddy?" Andy asked the little In-Training.

Dorimon smiled as he was already eating the metal tray.

"Uh…" Andy looked at Takuya. "Is it normal for some Digimon to eat metal?"

"Um… I can't really say since I only evolve using Spirits, but I would have to guess since he has metal attacks, probably?" Takuya replied uncertainly. "I remember some Digimon were able to eat literal batteries."

"Oh jeez… I guess there's no limit to what Digimon can eat then," Andy chuckled.

Takuya chuckled as well before he looked at Andy. "Okay, get Dorimon in the backpack so we can go see if Danny is okay."

Andy nodded as Dorimon finished eating the tray. "Someone's not getting their tray back…"

* * *

When Takuya and Andy walked outside, they frowned.

"Danny, Tucker, and Sam aren't here…" Takuya stated.

"I can see that… they must've left already," Andy noted. "Maybe we should head ba- hey, is that Dash over there?"

Looking over, Takuya saw it was indeed Dash. "Yeah, it is." He then frowned. "But who is he with?"

Andy looked at the person Takuya was pointing at. It was a short looking man, he wore a suit, and appeared to have gray hair, and a gray mustache, his eyes were an eerie green though.

"Oh, that's Bertrand. He's our school therapist's assistant," Andy answered. "He doesn't usually say much though… I wonder why he's out here with Dash."

Without being aware of it, that feral look was back in Takuya's eyes. "I don't know… but I'm getting a bad feeling from that guy." He hadn't felt the flash of heat, but he wasn't liking this at all.

Andy frowned before he felt his backpack vibrating a little, Dorimon's head stuck out of it and was growling a little. "Not right… something's not right…"

"You… think Bertrand might be a ghost…?" Andy asked. "Or at least possessed by a ghost?"

"Hard to say… he doesn't feel ghosty… but still weird…" Dorimon answered.

Takuya frowned. "Yeah. It's odd. I can get a bad feeling, but it's not in a ghostly manner. Or it could be, I'm not too sure myself."

"I wonder what he's saying though… Dash looks nervous," Andy noted.

"I don't know, but it's not any of our business, let's just get out of here," Takuya said.

Andy frowned. "Hold on… I need to check this out."

Before Takuya could say anything, Andy started hurrying over to Dash and Bertrand, but he kept himself hidden from them.

Takuya sighed before he followed Andy. "Wait up!" He caught up, staying close to Andy's side.

Andy put a finger to his lips, indicating for Takuya to keep quiet, before turning his attention back to Dash and Bertrand. Now that they were closer, they could hear what was being said.

"-hurt Penelope's reputation by fumbling that last game, you know," Bertrand snapped. "She promised them that you were our star player, and you go and make a fumble like that? You should've known better than to make Penelope look back like that."

Dash frowned. "But I did the best I could!" He said nervously. "My aunt and uncle are putting immense pressure on me, and the stress got to me!"

"That's no excuse. If you can't handle the pressure, then you're not fit to be the football captain of Casper High!" Bertrand hissed.

"Please, just give me another chance!" Dash pleaded. "I will do better! I promise!"

"Why should I? So you could break under pressure again like a little baby?" Bertrand snapped. "Penelope wanted me to personally give you a message for making her look bad like that."

All of a sudden, Dash was on the ground, in pain, with Bertrand's shoe on his head. Andy and Takuya gasped at that.

Bertrand then socked Dash in the face as soon as the jock stood up, only to then kick him in the stomach. Dash groaned as he felt the pain of the punch knocking him to the ground, and then the wind was pushed from his lungs by the blow to his torso.

Andy was shocked at what he was seeing, he had heard about school brutality before, but he never saw one in front of his own eyes before. _Why? How could someone beat up a child like that? Even if it's Dash…_

Takuya was about to say something, but he was surprised when Andy suddenly ran forward as Bertrand was about to punch Dash again. Andy ran in front of Dash, which stopped Bertrand, who was shocked to suddenly see someone else here.

"Stop! Stop beating up on him!" Andy demanded.

Bertrand blinked, certain he was seeing the older of the twins for a moment. Then he realized this was the younger twin and sneered. "So, you want some revenge on him?" He pointed at Dash. "Hasn't he made your life miserable enough to want it?"

Dash was looking quite beaten up, but still conscious, he was looking at Andy, not sure what to expect.

"Why would I do that to him? Dash… Dash may not be my friend, but I can't just stand by and watch you beat him to a pulp just because he messed up!" Andy shouted with more bravado than he felt. _Oh crap, what am I doing? Why am I doing this for Dash of all people!?_

Takuya stared in surprise at what Andy was doing. _Is Andy _defending _Dash, his bully?!_

Bertrand didn't look too happy at the response he was getting. It showed on his face clearly. "Is that so?"

Bertrand walked closer to Andy, who stood his ground despite his fear and worry. "In that case, then I'll give you some of the same."

Andy let out a gasp when he was suddenly kicked in the stomach, then punched in the side. Dorimon jumped out of Andy's backpack, angry that this man would dare to hurt Andy.

"_Metal Drop!"_ Dorimon shot out little beads of iron at Bertrand's face, who was shocked and caught off guard, and he let out a yell as the iron beads slammed into his face.

Takuya saw that and slapped his face with his hand as he groaned. _Way to go, Dorimon…_ He thought before he ran out to join Andy. "Andy, you okay?"

"Ugh… got… the wind… knocked out… of me…" Andy groaned.

Takuya looked at Dorimon, not bothering to hide the feral look in his eyes. Dorimon knew the Warrior of Fire was disappointed in him, but didn't do anything else. Takuya then looked back at Bertrand. "I would leave these two alone. They've learned their lesson."

Bertrand was looking quite angry, however, his eyes almost glowed for a split second. "What is that… that THING doing here!?"

Bertrand glared at Dorimon like he just added insult to injury to him.

"It's Andy's pet, and very protective of him." Takuya replied. "It followed him to school."

Bertrand growled before he turned around. "You're not worth the trouble. I've got my message across. Dash Baxter, if you make Penelope look bad again, don't expect these two to keep you safe a second time."

As Bertrand left to report to Penelope, Takuya looked back at Dash and Andy. He held out a hand to Andy and helped his cousin to his feet before doing the same for Dash, holding out his hand at least. "You alright, Dash?"

"Ugh… why…? Why did you… try to help me?" Dash asked, mostly at Andy.

Andy had to lean on Takuya since he was hurt a little bit. "Why…? Well… you were getting hurt…"

"But I… hurt you… and many others… all the time… why try… to help me?" Dash asked again.

"Because… it was… the right thing to do," Andy answered, not really sure why he did it himself.

Takuya looked at Dash. "That's Andy for you. He's not one to sit back when others may get hurt." He shrugged. "And for the record, I wasn't going to let that happen either."

Dorimon bounced over to Andy, letting Dash get a good look at him. "What… is that…? Some kind of… dog?"

Takuya had an idea come to his mind. "Uh...yeah! It is. He's a puppy Andy found." _Dorimon _does _look like a puppy..._

"You know… we're not… supposed to bring… pets to school… right?" Dash remarked.

"I couldn't leave him at home… Mom and Dad don't exactly know about him," Andy admitted. "Are you… going to be okay, Dash?"

Dash nodded. "Yeah… I'll live…" He looked himself over. "I'll be fine."

"That's good… we should get out of here before lunch is over…" Andy said.

Takuya looked at Andy. "Good idea," He then helped Andy away, but before giving a look at Dash. "You coming too?"

Dash pushed himself up to his feet. Andy had to admit, those muscles must be good for something, since Dash took that beating and could still stand. "Yeah… um… thanks, by the way… for standing up for me."

"Heh… I'm sure you won't mention it," Andy chuckled lightly. "Let's just get back to the building, then we can pretend it never happened."

"Why?" Dash frowned. "This isn't something I could just sweep under the rug. You stood up for me. Kids at the bottom of the popular scale don't usually stand up for a jock."

"Aren't you worried this will make you seem soft to the others? Or that it could tarnish your reputation? That you were 'saved' by a loser kid?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Takuya blinked as he took in the whole thing between the two boys. "Dash… are you saying you want to start over? Become friends with Andy?" _If that's the case..._

Dash scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Uh… yeah, I guess that's what I was going for… I know I bullied you and your brother and friends for… a few years since middle school, but…"

Andy sighed a little, before he shook his head. "I understand. While I can't say I liked that you constantly stuff us in our lockers on a daily basis whenever you were in a bad mood or got a bad grade… I don't mind starting over if you don't. Just… as long as you don't change your mind later that is."

Takuya looked at Dash, who gave an awkward smile. "I guess that's a good way to start…" Dash admitted. "And I promise I won't go back on my behavior. I… just needed an outlet to release my stress, you could say. Not a very good one, I will admit too… my uncle was a very tough teacher… he always told me that the weak should always be stamped out for the strong… among other things. My aunt was no better, she wanted me to be a prodigy, and an athlete… but… I'm good at sports, but I'm not exactly a genius when it comes to booksmarts. In fact, the only reason why I'm even passing at all is because I had to get a nerd like Mikey to help me out."

Then Takuya had a thought. "Hey, if you want help with school, maybe Andy and I can help." He looked down at Andy. "Andy here is good at biology, and I can help with the math and history." He added as he looked up again.

"I'm also pretty good at literature," Andy added.

"R-really? You… would both help me with school stuff? Even… even after all the things I did to you?" Dash asked, surprised.

"Well, sure," Takuya shrugged. "I mean, it would be better than getting a nerd to help you out under pressure of being beat up."

"Besides, a nerd can't help you for actual tests, right?" Andy pointed out. "You would need to do those on your own after all."

"Right… I always dreaded tests, since I know I'll flunk…" Dash sighed. "That caused even more stress… and I ended up needing more outlets."

"Then we'll find a better way for you to release your stress without hurting others," Andy promised. "As long as you remain as our friend and cooperate with us."

Dash smiled. "I guess it wouldn't hurt…" He admitted.

"But… if you don't mind… could you do me a small favor?" Andy requested. "Don't… tell anyone that we're friends. I don't want the other popular kids to suddenly want me into their group, nor do I want my brother and friends to know that I just befriended someone who bullied us for years…"

Dash blinked, but felt it would be worth it. "I guess I could do that…" He then gave a look to Takuya and Andy. "As long as you don't go back on your word either."

"Well, I certainly don't plan on it," Takuya chuckled.

"I might need to go to the school nurse though… I think Bertrand cracked a rib…" Andy groaned.

Takuya looked down at Andy at that point, remembering when he had cracked his own ribs. "I think that would be a good idea."

* * *

Thankfully, Andy didn't have to stay in the nurse's office for long. His ribs weren't cracked, but he would be sore for a while. The nurse was used to this, however, having had to check on students who got bullied in this school.

Takuya looked at Andy with a relieved look. "Well, I'm glad your ribs were alright."

"Yeah, me too. But dang, that Bertrand can hit hard," Andy sighed.

Takuya nodded. "I saw that." He then frowned to himself. "But where were Danny, Sam, and Tucker?"

It was true. The threesome had not been seen at lunch outside and Takuya was worried about them. _Did that Skulker get to them?_ He thought with worry.

"You worried about them?" Dash asked as he walked over to them. "I didn't see Manson, but I did see Fenton and Foley running laps out in the track during P.E. while you were in the nurse's office, and Takuya was in his own class."

Dash then sighed, rubbing his head. "But then the weirdest thing happened while we were in the locker room. Fenton asked me to open his locker because he was feeling tired, and… well, I am trying to change for the better, so I went to go open it, and… the next thing I knew, I was blinded, and was unable to move. I heard a voice, saying that I was an average human, destined for an average life after high school. I didn't know if Fenton pulled a prank on me or what, but then suddenly it disappeared, and so did Fenton and Foley."

Takuya blinked before he frowned. "That… doesn't sound like a prank my cousin Danny could pull." He then had a thought cross his mind. _What if Skulker attacked?!_ He looked at Andy. "Andy, is it possible that… 'hunter' showed up again?"

Andy frowned, likely already getting the same idea as Takuya. "Hmm…"

"What's wrong? Do you two know what's up?" Dash asked.

"We… have a guess…" Andy hesitated. "Something's been hunting my brother today. That thing probably set it up in his locker, but it got you instead."

"What? Something is _hunting_ your brother? What is? And why?" Dash asked, feeling alarmed now.

"We're not sure yet, we only have theories right now, but the important part is that he is being hunted," Andy said in a serious tone. "I don't think Danny will ever be safe unless we can put an end to this hunter once and for all."

Takuya then looked at Dash. "There has been a ghost boy floating around and defeating other ghosts. We think Danny and his friends are somehow connected to that ghost boy, and thus, Danny might be the bait to lure out this ghost."

"Wait… ghosts? But ghosts don't exist… do they?" Dash frowned.

"Do you remember that giant meat monster that attacked the school? Or that ghost dragon that attacked the mall?" Andy asked. "Those were ghosts, and you saw firsthand that they're no joke. Danny is in danger if this ghost hunter is hunting him."

Dash started to shiver. "B-b-but… I'm… I… I'm seriously not… good with spooky stuff like ghosts…"

Takuya hadn't expected that from Dash, but he sighed, putting a hand on Dash's shoulder. "To be honest, I don't like ghosts either, but then again, who does?" He then looked at Dash again. "However, if you can't stand up to your fears and act even when you are scared, then you won't know just how brave you can be."

"It's okay," Andy spoke up, getting Dash and Takuya's attention. "We just became friends, Dash, and I know you don't really like my brother yet. You don't have to come with us. I'm sure we can handle it ourselves."

Takuya then looked back at Dash. "It's alright." He then grinned. "If you think being scared of ghosts is bad, try being scared of clowns."

Dash blinked at that, before shaking his head. "W-we're friends… so, I'll come with you. That's… that's what friends do… right?"

Takuya blinked before he smiled. "It sure is." He grinned. "And don't worry, Andy's parents know what they are doing when it comes to ghosts. They have all sorts of equipment to handle ghosts."

"I can go get what we need, but I'm only getting what I think we can use. Neither of us have any experience or training with any of Mom and Dad's weapons, so it'll be too dangerous to use the more powerful ones," Andy stated. "And we need to figure out where this ghost hunter is before we can do anything."

Takuya frowned at that. He put a hand to his chin in thought. "That's true…" He rubbed his chin a couple of times. "We would need to keep an eye on Danny to see if that hunter ghost shows up again."

"So… how about we use Fenton as the bait?" Dash asked.

Takuya and Andy looked at Dash.

"Uh… I guess that's… too mean?" Dash frowned.

"No… I think that's probably the best idea we have," Andy said. "That ghost is going to hunt Danny, so we might as well see where Danny goes, then wait until the ghost decides to attack him, then we make our move."

Takuya sighed. "I guess…" He didn't like it though. "But I don't know where Danny could have gone. None of us do."

"Actually…" Dash spoke up. "I remember hearing that voice, the one who called me an average human, saying something about the gorilla exhibit at Amity Zoo. If that helps any…"

Takuya looked at Andy. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That we're going to the Amity Zoo?" Andy asked.

"Yep." Takuya replied before he gave Dash a grin. "Thanks. That helps a bunch!"

Dash smiled. "So we're going to the zoo? Awesome! I… uh… like animals."

Andy chuckled a little, but he looked troubled. "We haven't been able to get any training in yet… I don't know how well we'll be able to handle Skulker this time."

"Skulker?" Dash asked.

"That's the name the ghost hunter gave himself," Andy informed.

Takuya then looked back at the two boys. "Well, even if we can't do so well this time, we at least have to try to help Danny."

"Yeah, I may not not like Fenton that much, but even I can't just let a kid get himself killed by a ghost," Dash said as he punched his fist into the palm of his other hand.

"Heh, glad to see you do have a heart under that tough guy exterior," Andy chuckled.

"You sure got fast with the teasing already!" Dash pouted.

"Heh… sorry, it's just… something new to me with you," Andy said with a small grin.

* * *

Andy met up with Takuya and Dash at the entrance to Amity Zoo. It was already getting late by the time they all got there.

"So I brought some extra Fenton Rods, a spare Fenton Thermos, and a couple of wrist rays for long range. They're small, but they can pack a punch, so be careful with them," Andy informed.

Dorimon stuck himself out of Andy's backpack.

"Why did you bring your puppy to a battle?" Dash asked.

"He… has some special powers that Skulker doesn't like," Andy said. "So he'll be useful."

Takuya then took a Fenton Rod. "This will be useful." He extended it and grinned. "Very cool."

"But there isn't enough wrist rays for the three of us," Dash pointed out.

"It's fine. Takuya is pretty good at close combat anyways, so you and I will wear the wrist ray," Andy stated. "But I could only find one spare Fenton Thermos, so we need to decide who will be handling it to catch Skulker in."

"I could," Takuya said as he held out a hand. "I am the close range person anyway, and I would need to be close to Skulker to get him so… Makes sense."

"Okay, but be careful. Mom and Dad hadn't quite refined the Fenton Thermos yet, so if you drop it after you caught Skulker, you'll end up releasing him," Andy warned before handing the thermos to Takuya.

"I'll be careful," Takuya assured his cousin as he took it from Andy.

Just then, he felt that flash of heat, meaning only one thing. _Skulker is here..._

Dorimon was growling, likely sensing Skulker as well. Andy looked at Dorimon before looked at the entrance of the zoo.

"Okay, looks like it's now or never," Andy said.

Dash gulped, looking very nervous.

However, when Takuya looked over, he saw the lights flickering and that was not a good sign. He had a feeling what was coming instead was not a ghost. _Or not..._

Dorimon looked up, sensing the same thing. "Digimon…?"

"Did your puppy just talk?" Dash blinked.

Andy frowned, but didn't have time to answer as a thick fog suddenly began to cover them up and the area around them.

"What is going on? Where did this fog come from?" Dash squeaked. "Is it the ghost!?"

"No, it's not a ghost…" Takuya growled, his eyes darting around now. He knew this fog had materialized Dorimon before, so it had to be one thing. _This fog is where Digimon come from here in the real world._

"I think this is a Digital Field," Andy said. "I remember seeing this fog was made of data last time."

"What?" Dash was completely lost.

"Think of this as a… artificial ghost zone." Takuya clarified.

"A… what now?" Dash blinked.

"No time to explain!" Andy yelled as two large figures suddenly popped out of the ground.

There was a giant snowman looking Digimon, and a tall humanoid creature that was literally on fire.

"**Meramon is a Flame Digimon. It is shrouded in crimson flames over its entire body. As a Digimon generated from the defensive "Firewall" which prevents illegal entries from the Internet and the like, it possesses a violent temperament like the flames that envelop its body, and tries to incinerate everything it touches."**

"**Frigimon is an Icy Digimon. An Icy Digimon whose body is covered in ice and snow crystals. Behind its cold appearance lies a warm-hearted, gentle personality. Frigimon dislikes fighting, and its sweet behavior warms the hearts of those who watch it in action."**

Takuya glared at the two Digimon, not sure why there in the real world, but it wasn't good. "Okay...this is _not_ what I expected when we came here…" He backed up a few steps as he said that. His hand was on his D-Tector now, not sure if he should risk evolving with Dash around. _And that Frigimon doesn't look very gentle or kind hearted to me right now._

"W-w-what are those things!? A snowman brought to life and some kind of fire man!?" Dash screamed.

"Back up, Dash! We can't handle these things!" Andy warned.

Takuya noticed Andy was getting Dash away from him, so the fog would cover his evolution up from Dash. Meramon and Frigimon were looking at Takuya. Then Frigimon began to look at the other two that were trying to walk away.

Taking the chance, Takuya knew what to do. He pulled out his D-Tector and the blue form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of it. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "_Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "_Agunimon!"_

"Warrior of Fire, I challenge you!" Meramon suddenly declared at Agunimon. "We will see who the true warrior of fire is!"

"Oh please, I will melt if you two hack it out right here. I'm going to go play with the others that won't look like they'll melt me in an instant," Frigimon huffed before running off to where Andy and Dash went.

Agunimon growled to himself, realizing he had to accept, or risk both Digimon going after Andy and Dash. _At least it will keep one of them occupied while Andy deals with the other one. I just hope they'll be able to… I better beat this guy fast._ "Fine! I accept!" He got into a fighting stance.

Agunimon hoped that Andy and Dash will be alright, but he had to focus on Meramon. Meramon held out his fiery hand.

"_Fireball!"_ Meramon threw a ball of fire at Agunimon.

Agunimon didn't waste any time calling on his own fire attack. "_Pyro Punch!"_ He let loose a fireball himself, causing the two to explode in mid-air. But he used that to his advantage to rush through the smoke towards Meramon in a tackle move. Being the Warrior of Fire, he had some defense against his own element.

"_Heat Knuckle!"_ Meramon shouted as his arms were blazing with digital fire and punched at Agunimon.

Agunimon matched it with his own Pyro Punch. So far, they were at a stand still.

Gritting his sharp teeth, Agunimon decided to mix things up a bit. When Meramon tried to do another Fireball attack, he instead round-kicked the fireball, detonating it and then using the momentum of his round kick to land another kick to Meramon's face.

Meanwhile, Andy and Dash were trying to find a way out of the fog. Dorimon was running beside Andy.

"Is there any way out of here!?" Dash yelled. "I was prepared to fight a ghost, not… a living snowman and a living man made of fire!"

"I don't know, it doesn't feel like we're getting any further away from the fog." Andy frowned.

Frigimon continued to stalk towards the two boys and in-training Digimon. He was looking forward to see how the humans could stand up to his power. "I hear you humans are quite weak. I want to see if that's true."

"_Snow Ball!"_ Frigimon suddenly called out.

Andy, Dorimon, and Dash suddenly found themselves being walled in by snow. Dash tried to punch through the snow, but the snow was so thick that all it did was freeze his hand.

"I don't think we can bust our way through this snow…" Dash frowned.

"We've got bigger problems," Andy hissed as he turned his direction to the snowman that was approaching them.

Dorimon looked like he wanted to attack, as he was growling at Frigimon's form. His fur was standing on end, making him look like a mini-porcupine.

"Don't run away, our battle has just begun. Come on, I don't even mind if all three of you attack me at once!" Frigimon declared.

Andy frowned at hearing that. _Does this thing really think we are that weak?_ _Well, given Takuya's ability, it makes sense… Dorimon is still a baby… Dash and I don't exactly scream super magical monster powerhouses..._

Dorimon looked at Andy. "We attack?" He wanted to defend Andy, but would Andy let him?

Andy grabbed onto his Fenton Rod and extended it. "Well… Dash, we either fight or fall. I'd rather fall fighting if it's okay with you."

Dash was shaking, but he took out his own Fenton Rod and did the extending of it Andy did. "Yeah… I guess I'd rather go down fighting than look like a coward."

"Dorimon, get ready to attack!" Andy declared.

"Now that's more like it!" Frigimon started to run towards them, pulling back a fist. "_Subzero Ice Punch!"_

"Block it!" Andy quickly said to Dash.

Without a moment to hesitate, both boys lifted up their Fenton Rods and held it horizontally, barely blocking the freezing ice punch. Dash was stronger than Andy, so he was doing most of the push back, while Andy struggled not to let the punch freeze both his arms.

Dorimon saw a prime chance to attack. "_Acid Bubbles!"_ He opened his mouth and the pink bubbles came out, floating towards Frigimon. They then made contact, popping in front of his face and sending acid all over, blinding the snowman-like Digimon.

"Gah! Now that's just dirty!" Frigimon shouted, rubbing both of his eyes.

"Attack now!" Andy shouted.

Andy and Dash ran at Frigimon and swung their Fenton Rods as hard as they could. Dorimon joined in as well, using his Metal Drop to add in the damage.

"Wah?" Andy's eyes widened when he saw that their Fenton Rods got stuck in Frigimon's body.

Dash looked at Andy. "Um...I don't think this was a good idea…"

"No… of course not. These rods were made to battle with ghosts, not Digimon…" Andy frowned.

"Digi-what now?" Dash questioned.

"_Subzero Ice Punch!"_

Andy and Dash yelped as they quickly scrambled away, barely avoiding the punch. The Subzero Ice Punch hit the ground, and instantly turned it to ice.

Andy looked worried now. _How will we be able to handle the snow-man like Digimon if the ground is frozen? It's not like we can skate on it…_

"This is way too easy," Frigimon sighed. "Oh well, might as well finish you two off."

"No!" Dash squealed.

Frigimon took a deep breath. "_Icy Breath!"_ Frigimon blew out a freezing cold breath at the two.

"Andymon! I'll protect you!" Dorimon shouted as he jumped right between the two boys and the Icy Breath.

"No!" Andy screamed out when Dorimon got hit by the attack. "Dorimon!"

Andy ran over to Dorimon's limp and cold form and knelt down. "Dorimon… Please… wake up…"

"What an idiot. Didn't expect a little in-training to just jump in front of the attack like that," Frigimon grumbled.

"I-is he… okay?" Dash asked in concern, not sure what else to do.

"No…" Andy shook his head, tears starting to fall from his eyes. _This is just like when I found Danny lying lifeless on the lab's floor after the portal turned on… he was so… cold… so lifeless… why can't I save anyone?_

Andy had only felt this helpless once, when Danny was lying still and cold in his arms just after the accident. _I couldn't save Danny, and now Dorimon… _He felt himself feeling sick of being helpless, but he was just a human.

Suddenly there was a bright glow in Andy's pocket, and it was giving off a high pitched noise. Dash and Frigimon backed off, surprised and shocked. Andy raised his head, before he reached into his glowing pocket and took out his cell phone. "What…?"

There was something appeared on the screen of his phone. It looked like a sketch of an eye, with four lines around it. It almost looked like a targeting scope. Then a female voice spoke up. "**It is time."**

"What… time for… what?" Andy softly asked, confused as to what was going on.

Then, his phone glowed and changed shape. It became bulkier up top, while becoming more pear-shaped, but upside down. There was a screen that was circled in dark navy blue with a matching strap from the top, while the bottom half had matching buttons. The whole device was silver in color save for the strap, screen edge, and the buttons.

As soon as the device had transformed, the screen on it glowed a green light. It was soft, unlike the harsh lime green that the Lunch Lady's skin had, or the fiery mohawk Skulker had. As if knowing what to do, Andy pointed the device at Dorimon. The green light shot out to Dorimon.

"**Digivolution."** The device suddenly said.

Dorimon's body glowed, and purple light began to surround it. Fractal code began to surround it as well.

"Dorimon digivolve to…" With a bright flash of light, the fractal code dispersed, and the purple light faded. "Dorumon!"

Andy looked on in shock as Dorimon - no, Dorumon - stood before him. He stood on two legs, and was covered in purple fur over the majority of his body. He had a fox-like tail, and small black bat-like wings on his back, and a red gem in the center of his forehead. His feet and clawed paws had white fur on them, just as his tail tip did. His mouth still had the white fur around it, but he now also had white fur on his stomach area too. His eyes were still the same yellow and black Andy had come to know as well. His ears now had darker stripes on them, and looked like a fox's or cat's ears almost too.

Dorumon looked a lot better as well, he was no longer injured. He stood in front of Andy. "Andy… are you hurt?"

"No… I'm alright, thanks to you," Andy said softly, still surprised and a little shaken up by the experience. _Hey, he didn't add 'mon' to my name._

"I'm glad you're alright then. Don't worry, I promise I'll protect you," Dorumon said, glaring at Frigimon.

Dash and Frigimon were still in shock at what had just happened.

"Did… what just happened?!" Dash questioned now. "Did your dog just turn into some kind of… talking, fox, cat thing!?"

"Guess I have a lot of explaining to do after this…" Andy sighed.

* * *

With Agunimon and Meramon, they suddenly stopped in their fight, having sensed something happening. Looking back, Agunimon could only wonder if Dorimon was alright.

"What is that energy?" Meramon questioned. "It feels like… a digivolution…?"

Hearing that, Agunimon had a thought cross his mind. _Did Dorimon… digivolve?_

However, before he could ponder it further, he found himself sent sprawling by another punch from Meramon. "Some Warrior of Fire, getting distracted by something like that."

Agunimon growled as he got back to his feet and charged at Meramon, the strange energy now forgotten.

* * *

"How can this be? How did you digivolve? Why? To protect this human?" Frigimon questioned, looking at Dorumon.

"Yes," Dorumon answered back. "I won't let you hurt him!"

Dorumon took a deep breath. "_Metal Cannon!"_

Dorumon shot out much bigger iron spheres from his mouth, these iron spheres had a lot more effect on Frigimon than the little iron beads that he fired out as Dorimon before. Frigimon stumbled back from being hit by the metal balls.

For once, Andy felt a bit of hope coming out of seeing that. "Way to go, Dorumon!"

Dorumon fired out more Metal Cannon attack, but Frigimon slammed them away with his Ice Punch.

"You may have gotten stronger upon digivolving, but our levels are still vastly different. I'm a Champion, while you're only a Rookie," Frigimon informed.

"Well, a Rookie can beat a Champion if they have help," Dorumon snapped back. "And I have Andy on my side, as well as Andy's friend!"

Andy realized that he couldn't just rely purely on Dorumon to fight against Frigimon. From what he could gather, Frigimon was at least a level higher than Dorumon was. Andy looked back at Dash. "Dash, listen to me. I know that things are really confusing right now, but we have to help Dorumon. He got bigger now, but I don't think he can take on this snowman alone."

Dash frowned, but nodded. "Okay, but you owe me an explanation when this is over." Looking at the Fenton Rods in the snowman's body, Dash realized close range was not going to work. His fist felt the metal of the wrist ray, and then he had an idea. "Hey, we can use the wrist rays, right?"

"Yes, it should still pack quite a punch even if this snowman isn't a ghost. Dash, you run to the left side of the snowman, I'll take the right. When I give the signal, fire the wrist ray," Andy instructed.

Dash nodded before he turned and ran to the left as Andy had told him to. He was hoping this plan would work.

As soon as Andy was at the right, Frigimon noticed that the two humans were doing something, but since they were weak, he didn't pay them much attention. He wanted to attack the annoying Rookie Digimon that dared to digivolve. Frigimon began to charge at Dorumon, while Dorumon stood his ground.

"_Subzero Ice Punch!"_

"Now!" Andy shouted as he fired his wrist ray, with Dash firing his a split second later.

The green lasers hit Frigimon's head, which caused Frigimon to lose his balance as he let out a sharp yell of pain.

Andy smiled as he saw the Digimon fall down. "Yes!"

Dorumon saw his chance to attack as well. "_Metal Cannon!"_

The iron spheres slammed into Frigimon's forehead, causing the snowman Digimon to scream out before a ring of data appeared around it.

"Hey, what's that?" Dash asked.

"Data, I think…" Andy said, just as confused.

Andy heard the device that his phone became beeping like crazy. He frowned as he looked at the unknown device. _What does it want?_

Andy looked up at the ring of code, and back at the device. _I guess it wants me to swipe it around the data?_

Andy wasn't sure if he was doing this right, but he decided to try it anyways. There appeared to be a slot for something, so Andy guessed that might be what he had to scan the data with. Andy began to swipe the device on the code, and it surprised Andy that he felt a physical force on the code itself. The device's screen glowed as he scanned the code. The fractal code soon disappeared into the device, and the Frigimon had turned into an egg.

Andy stared as he saw the egg on the ground. "Okay… that was weird…"

Then suddenly, the slot in his device created a card. Andy blinked in surprise at this, he took the card out and saw it had a picture of Frigimon on it.

Just then, an explosion of fire made Andy look back as he saw Agunimon having trouble with Meramon. The Warrior of Fire looked like his armor was getting singed here and there, but Meramon wasn't doing so well either. They appeared to be evenly matched.

"Guess we don't have time for explanations just yet," Andy noted, seeing that Takuya was in trouble.

"I can help Takuya," Dorumon said as he walked up to Andy.

"You can? How?" Andy asked as he looked down at his partner.

"That card you got from scanning Frigimon's fractal code, you can probably use it on that device you have. I can probably use some of Frigimon's ice powers, that should weaken Meramon enough for Takuya to take it out," Dorumon suggested.

"Oh? Really? How do you know it will do that?" Andy asked.

"I… I'm not sure… I just do," Dorumon said with a shrug.

"Hold on… Takuya?" Dash asked, having heard Dorumon calling Agunimon Takuya. "I don't see Takuya, I just see two weird fire monsters duking it out with each other!"

Andy sighed. "I'll explain later. Right now, Dorumon's right." He then looked at his partner. "Let's go!"

Andy and Dorumon started running towards Agunimon and Meramon's battle. Dash sighed.

"Why am I doing this? This is nuts… well, I can't let the little guy go off on his own and get hurt," Dash chuckled a little before he hurried after Andy and Dorumon.

Agunimon managed to throw Meramon back, but Meramon was still coming at him just as strong as ever. The battle felt like it would never end, and Agunimon was getting more worried about Andy, Dorimon, and Dash the longer the battle went on.

Andy reached the battle's edge and looked at Dorumon. "Ready?"

Dorumon nodded. "Yes."

Andy then held up the device and his card. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. "_Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. "_Frigimon's Icy Breath activate!"_

Dorumon opened his mouth. "_Icy Breath!"_

A blast of cold ice and wind shot across the battlefield and slammed into Meramon's side. Meramon let out a scream of pain.

"AAAHHHH! COLD! S-SO C-C-C-COLD!" Meramon wrapped his arms around his torso, shrinking a little.

Seeing his chance, Agunimon ran towards Meramon and leapt up. He spread his arms wide, fire coming from his form as he did so. "_Pyro Tornado!"_ He began to spin around, becoming enveloped in a vortex of fire. The fiery tornado came up on Meramon, only for Agunimon to come out of the fiery twister and kick Meramon in the chest hard enough to draw out his Fractal Coding. Agunimon landed as Meramon went dark in color, becoming just a silhouette of blackness. "Meramon, it's time for the flames to claim you."

He held up the D-Tector, pressing the button on the side as the symbol of Fire appeared on the screen. Then, Agunimon dragged the D-Tector across the coding. "_Fractal Code, Digitize!"_ The coding collected, all that was left of Meramon now was an egg.

"Whooooaaaa! That was so cool! And so weird!" Dash yelled out.

The battle won, Agunimon finally collapsed to his hands and knees, panting as he felt the exhaustion coming up on him.

"Agunimon! Are you alright?" Andy and Dorumon rushed up to the fallen Legendary Warrior of Flame.

Agunimon gave a glance back over his shoulder, seeing Andy and Dorumon running towards him. He couldn't believe Andy was there, and alright. Against his better judgement, the Legendary Warrior hugged Andy. "Yes… I am now, knowing you're alright…"

When Agunimon looked at Dorumon, it was the first time he had seen this Digimon. "**Dorumon is an Animal Digimon and carrier of the X-Antibody. Because it has an old-style interface on its brow, it is presumed to be an experimental "Prototype Digimon" from before Digimon were discovered." **

He looked at Andy, confused. "What happened? Where's Dorimon?"

"This _is_ Dorimon, or he was, he… uh… digivolved into Dorumon to save us from Frigimon," Andy informed.

"Hey, looks like you've seen better days," Dorumon chuckled lightly.

Agunimon just rolled his blue eyes at the jab, but there was a smile on his face nonetheless. "Yes, it does, doesn't it?"

"So…" Agunimon's eyes widened as he heard Dash's voice, he had forgotten they had another person with them. "Want to explain to me what's going on?"

Andy and Agunimon looked at one another before the Warrior of Flame sighed as coding surrounded him and he turned back into Takuya.

"HOLY SWEATSOCKS! Takuya? _You_ were that fire armor guy!?" Dash shouted in shock.

"Yeah… I was…" Takuya confirmed. "But it's a _long_ story."

The fog around them dissipated, showing the zoo around them again. The two eggs of Frigimon and Meramon laid there.

"We… should do something about those eggs first," Andy stated. "But I don't think our house can take another digital baby right now."

"Hey, I wasn't that bad, was I?" Dorumon pouted.

Takuya walked up to Meramon's egg and looked at his D-Tector before he held it out and the egg was sucked inside. It showed up on the screen before fading. "I think we can store the eggs in my D-Tector."

"Whoa, that is so cool!" Dash squealed.

"Heh… congratulations, Dash, your life is now an anime," Andy laughed.

Takuya had just finished storing Frigimon's egg in his D-Tector as well, coming over. "Sorry. Had to collect Frigimon's egg too."

Andy looked at Takuya's D-Tector, and remembered his own device that his phone turned into. But it didn't look anything like Takuya's D-Tector. _Maybe I'll ask Takuya about it later. We still have to explain things to Dash, we should deal with one new problem at a time._

* * *

Andy wasn't sure how much time had passed since Takuya begun his explanation to Dash, but it certainly felt like hours. Dash was constantly stopping Takuya in the middle of his story to ask more questions. The sun had long since gone down. Andy was surprised that the zoo was still open at this time. Dorumon was content with just sitting there, likely to recover his own strength.

"So, you think you got it now?" Takuya asked after finishing his explanation.

"Sort of… I'm still in shock at the fact there are real monsters, digital or not, and that you can turn into one! And that Andy's 'dog' was one of them!" Dash exclaimed.

"Well, get used to it, because our lives have just gotten crazier." Takuya chuckled. "Whether you like it or not."

"Isn't it just my luck I ended up befriending someone who can turn into a fiery dragon!" Dash shouted, still in shock.

"Better befriending then become their enemy," Andy pointed out.

Dash sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry, I'm just trying to get used to this still."

"Aren't we all?" Andy chuckled. "I didn't expect this little guy to digivolve in the middle of battle."

"I'm just glad I was able to, otherwise we'd probably be ice cubes by now," Dorumon stated.

Takuya laughed. "And I would have been a fried human." He then sighed. "But I think we should head home now. That took a lot out of me."

"Yeah, totally. I've had enough excitement to last me a whole year," Dash agreed.

"... Wait a second, didn't we come here for another reason?" Andy asked before Dash and Takuya could leave the zoo.

The four of them stood in silence for a moment, before they remembered exactly why they came here. All four of them let out a scream.

Takuya looked back at the zoo's entrance. "We have to get in there!" He was cursing the fact he had forgotten all about Danny and Skulker. _Stupid Digimon!_

"We might already be too late!" Andy shouted as they began to knock on the closed doors. _Darn, they're not open this late at night after all!_

"Stand back!" Dorumon shouted before taking a deep breath. "_Metal Cannon!"_

Dorumon shot out a lot of iron balls at the door, creating several holes before the door finally got knocked down.

Looking at the doors on the ground, Takuya blinked. "Okay… I don't think the staff would be too happy about that, but if it works, we'll just go with it…"

"Come on, let's go, Danny could be in danger!" Andy frantically shouted before he began running in, Dorumon quickly followed.

"H-hey, wait up!" Dash called before running after Andy himself. "Did you even pick up the Fenton Rods!?"

Takuya sighed before he grabbed the rods and ran after them himself. "Wait up!"

By the time the four of them got to the gorilla exhibit, they were all out of breath. Their battle against the two Digimon had wiped them out. But what they saw was also surprising. Danny, Tucker, and Sam were all inside the gorilla's exhibit, with the gorilla standing right behind Danny. Though Sampson didn't seem to be bothered by their presence. Danny was picking up the Fenton Thermos.

"I… hate… how… out… of shape… I am…" Andy panted, leaning against a wall.

"It… does… kind of… suck…" Dorumon agreed, panting beside Andy.

Takuya didn't see any sign of Skulker. "Huh… I don't sense… or see Skulker anywhere." He then looked at Andy as he too panted, which was expected given how he had been the one to fight Meramon. "Do you think Phantom… defeated him?"

"Who… is… Phantom?" Dash asked, who was mostly tired due to all the stress and fright he had to go through.

"The ghost boy we were mentioning…" Takuya explained as best as he could.

"It… was either… Phantom… or Danny… somehow… caught Skulker… with that… thermos…" Andy said, still trying to catch his breath.

"So… what… we came here… for nothing…?" Dorumon groaned as he and Andy sank down to the floor.

Takuya looked back at Danny, Sam, and Tucker as he panted still. "I...don't think so…" He looked thoughtful. "But… those Digimon… held us up…"

"You know… I'm glad we… came… despite the terror…" Dash spoke up. "If we hadn't… those Digimon might… have come and… torn apart the zoo… you know?"

Takuya looked back at Dash before he smiled. "Yeah… Good point…"

Danny suddenly shouted something. "Oh my gosh! Sampson is a 'she'!"

Takuya jumped at the sudden shout as he looked back at the gorilla exhibit. "Okay… not what I expected to hear…"

"How… are they… standing… that close to the… gorilla without… getting mauled?" Andy groaned before facepalming. "Oh… I'm sure… the zookeepers would… be happy to hear about… that… maybe they have… a chance to repopulate… the purple-back… gorilla."

Takuya looked back at Andy, Dorumon, and Dash. "I think… we should get… home now…" He looked back at the exhibit again. "I think Danny… Sam and Tucker… will be fine…"

"Yeah… they managed… to take care… of themselves… without us…" Andy agreed. "And… don't want… them to see… Dorumon…"

Takuya and Dash nodded in agreement. Then, Takuya had a thought. "Wait… how will we hide Dorumon now…?"

Andy and Dorumon looked at each other before they both groaned.

* * *

**Titanic X:** **ZAFT:** Glad you are excited!

**DarkFoxKit:** I think you're mistaken, Dodomon didn't poop in Andy's room, he pooped in Takuya's room.

**ZAFT:** She didn't read it that clearly it seems, but it happens.

**DarkFoxKit:** Well then read it more carefully. XP

**GirlFish:**** ZAFT: **It will be interesting indeed.

**DarkFoxKit:** It's going to be a while before we get to Frostbite. So it's hard to say what his knowledge will be on Digimon.

**ZAFT:** As for Lilithmon, we will see. It all depends on how the story goes. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** I'm not sure what will happen if or when Zoey comes to Amity Park herself. We haven't thought that far ahead yet. But you did give us some interesting ideas.

**ZAFT: **As for the GIW, well… It will be hard to say since they have yet to appear. But again, an interesting idea was given to us, so thanks!

**DarkFoxKit:** The Box Ghost is… kind of a strange one. Season 3 Box Ghost was more silly than he really should've been. He can actually be a threat to humans, seeing how he was able to defeat Danny that one time when he was still trying to control his powers at the beginning of Splitting Images.

**ZAFT:** But we will see. It all depends. That would be interesting though.

** Irusha the Kitsune****: DarkFoxKit:** Glad to know that you like it, and that this story is starting to gain more fans. :3

**ZAFT:** Yep~ I hope you will like this chapter as well~


	7. A Party Invitation

**ZAFT: *Looks at reviews*** Eh, stupid bug. Not my problem. Only boosts review count~

**DarkFoxKit:** But it's stupid because it gets your hopes up for nothing.

**ZAFT:** Yes, but one way to disarm such a person is to look at it in a positive light, even if it is just a false hope for others.

**DarkFoxKit:** And for us since I look forward to reviews. But anyways, I hope everyone is surviving this rough time with the whole virus thing going on.

**ZAFT:** Stay safe, and listen to the health experts, not the news media who propogate the idea of a supervirus that is incurable. Human Vaccine trials start today.

**Andy:** Why must people always treat every unknown virus like it's some kind of zombie virus about to end the world? Jeez, couldn't even get food today.

**ZAFT: **Don't worry, Andy. That will die off soon.

**Andy:** Yes, I do hope people's paranoia will indeed die off soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to wash my hands.

**ZAFT:** Well, chapter is up now, so enjoy~!

* * *

**Chapter 7: A Party Invitation**

After Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya said goodbye to Dash and split off, they were more than happy to rest on a park bench.

"So… we have an issue… we can't come home unless we can hide Dorumon. I doubt my sister would believe he's just a plushy anymore, and Mom wouldn't fall for that either. Dad… uh… maybe… but not good enough," Andy grumbled.

"Yeah…" Takuya agreed. "I don't have any ideas really. And we can't have him remain outside either because others would find him."

Andy looked at Dorumon's little bat-like wings. "Hey Dorumon, can you actually fly with those wings or are they just for look?"

Dorumon looked back at his wings for a moment before he began to flap them. His wings moved as fast as a hummingbird's and he lifted up off the ground. "I can fly, yeah, but not for long periods of time, nor can I fly very high either."

That gave Takuya an idea. "Hey, maybe we could sneak him into my room through the window and he could stay there. I can keep my door locked, so if someone wanted to come in, they'll have to knock first."

"It seems like a good idea," Andy agreed.

"Aww… so does that mean I can't sleep with you anymore?" Dorumon frowned as he looked at Andy.

"Well, I share the same room as my brother. He's bound to get suspicious if he suddenly sees a big fox creature in our room," Andy informed.

"It's for your safety," Takuya said. "Andy's parents are a bit… _excitable_ when to comes to new creatures." He then corrected himself. "Mainly ghosts."

"But I'm not a ghost, I'm not even a ghost type Digimon," Dorumon pointed out.

"It doesn't matter, to them you're a strange new creature, and it's likely you could be a ghost, so…" Andy cringed at the thought of what would happen if his parents got their gloved hands on his partner. "It's best if you remain hidden from them."

"But Andy can come and visit you before bed," Takuya suggested. "This way you know he is safe."

Dorumon sighed. "Fine… if that's the way it has to be…"

Takuya put a hand on the little guy's head. "I wish it wasn't that way either, but until then, this has to be done this way."

"Then come on, let's get home before our family worries," Andy said, standing up from the bench.

Takuya and Dorumon followed Andy back to the house, where Takuya looked up at the window to his room. "Okay, that window there is my room. Once I get inside, I can open the window and let you in."

"Okay," Dorumon acknowledged. "Don't take too long, or I'll think something's wrong."

"We won't take long," Andy promised.

Takuya and Andy went into the house, using Andy's spare key. Andy looked around the living room to make sure they were alone while Takuya went straight to his room and made sure to open the window. "Okay, you can get in!"

Dorumon took a minute to fly up to the window, and squeezed himself inside. He managed to land, but made a bit of a _thunk_ on the floor.

Takuya gave a slight cringe at the sound, but there was no one coming up at the sound, well, except for one.

There was a knock on Takuya's door. "Takuya? Open up, it's me Andy."

Takuya opened the door. "Good." There was relief on his face.

Andy was glad to see Dorumon got in safely, despite the rough landing.

"Okay, looks like this will have to work out until we can find a better way to hide Dorumon… when he gets bigger. I'm sure he'll get at least as big as when he was that big dragon Digimon," Andy sighed.

Takuya looked at Andy. "Well, when I evolve, I can switch between my Human Spirit and Beast Spirit. And when I have won a fight or something like that, I revert back to my human form. I think it would be similar with Dorumon." He then corrected himself. "Um… turning back to his Rookie form I mean. My human form is like the Rookie form of my other forms."

"What about his earlier forms?" Andy asked.

Dorumon gave a look of concentration, then he shut his eyes, looking like he was trying to use the bathroom for a moment, before he shook his head. "I… can't seem to revert back to my earlier forms…"

Takuya groaned. "Great… forget I said anything…"

"Maybe it works differently with real Digimon?" Andy questioned.

"Maybe…" Takuya sighed. "But for now, let's not worry about it. We can figure this out later."

Takuya took out his D-Tector, studying it for a bit at Meramon and Frigimon's egg, when a thought occurred to him._ Wait… how _did_ Frigimon turn back into an egg if I never scanned his fractal code?_

When Andy saw Takuya's D-Tector, he was reminded of the strange device his phone had turned into. Andy dug into his pocket to see if his phone turned back to normal, but no, it was still the strange device it turned into.

"Hey, Takuya…" Andy spoke up, though his cousin's attention remained on his D-Tector. "Uh… something happened during our battle with Frigimon. Before Dorumon digivolved, my phone suddenly turned into this weird device that kinda reminds me of your D-Tector, but it looks really different. It caused Dorumon to digivolve, and I was even able to scan Frigimon's code thing with it."

_That_ made Takuya look back in shock. "What?" This was new to him. _A _human_ can scan fractal code?!_

He then saw the device. "Okay… that's new."

"What is it?" Andy asked. "Is it some kind of new model of your D-Tector?"

Takuya looked at the device and compared the two. "I wouldn't say it's a new model… Although I can see where the scanner is for scanning fractal code." Sure enough, it was located on the top of the device, opposite the card slot.

"Oh, and another thing that happened," Andy spoke up. "After I scanned the… code, this came into existence."

Andy pulled out the Frigimon card and showed it to Takuya. "When I swiped this Frigimon card into this device's card slot, it gave Dorumon the ability to use Frigimon's Icy Breath attack, and that was how we were able to weaken Meramon for you to finish it off."

Takuya frowned at that. "I've never heard of that happening before." _Unless this is something new that is happening…_ "Did you hear a female voice or anything when this happened?"

"Yeah… a voice that said 'it is time' before my phone turned into this thing," Andy replied.

Takuya paused as he heard that. He had a look of recognition on his face. "Andy…" He trailed off before he looked at his cousin. "I think that you heard one of the Celestial Digimon, Ophanimon."

"Oh… I remember you telling me about her, and Seraphimon, and Che… Cherrymon?" Andy frowned a little.

"_Cherubi_mon." Takuya corrected. "The last of the Celestial Angels."

"... Are these Japanese names?" Andy deadpanned.

"Um… no." Takuya replied with a sweatdrop on his head. "They are based on the Archangel tiers."

"Right… but why would Ophanimon be interested in me?" Andy asked. "I wasn't a part of your big, grand Digital adventure. And why turn my phone into a… a different D-Tector? I doubt there are any Digimon Spirits out here."

Takuya frowned at that. "I don't know… but if Ophanimon found an interest in you, it is likely for a good reason." He then looked at the device again. "And the fact your 'D-Tector' had an effect on Dorumon, it's likely that he's supposed to be your Digimon partner or something… maybe she wants to have you help in a different manner. And I think Dorumon is key to that."

Andy blinked before he looked at Dorumon for a second. "Did she send Dorumon to us?"

Dorumon shrugged. "I don't remember a lot of my past incarnation's life, but I do remember seeing an angel-like Digimon, before I was suddenly overcome with pain and agony, and I ended up in this world somehow."

Takuya frowned at that. "I see…" He put a hand to his chin in thought. "If that is the case, then someone probably attacked the Village of Beginnings and claimed you before she could send you here."

"I don't think I was in the Village of Beginnings," Dorumon said. "I… don't remember where I was, but… I remember there was a town… and a lot of wind… that's about it."

Takuya sighed. "Well, regardless, you're safe and fine now, so we can just make the most of the situation." Then he looked at Andy. "I think we need some sleep. I can't stay awake much longer…" With that, a yawn escaped him.

"Right, okay… I guess we'll try to figure this out tomorrow," Andy said before he walked to the door. "Goodnight, Takuya, goodnight, Dorumon."

Takuya gave a hug to Andy. "Goodnight." He then pulled away and went to his bed, not even bothering to change into his pajamas, he was so tired.

Andy chuckled a little before he closed the door.

Andy sighed as he walked into his own room. He saw Danny already there, at his desk, writing something down.

"Hey, bro, haven't seen you much today," Andy stated.

"Ah… sorry, Andy," Danny apologized. "Was doing a lot of research on… Sampson. I managed to get close enough to him, to realize 'he' was a 'she'. Mr. Lancer has to give me a better grade for this!"

Andy blinked at hearing that. "Really? Didn't anyone bother to check the gender?"

Danny shrugged. "Either the zookeepers were too lazy, or just wanted to respect her privacy, I guess. When I told Mom and Dad about it, Mom kind of freaked out a little, Dad was proud of me, and Jazz… she ended up calling Genius Magazine back, even though I'm not a girl, or a woman."

Andy chuckled at Jazz's reaction. "Of course Jazz would do that."

"I just think she's determined to get our family onto the front cover of Genius Magazine, one way or another," Danny chuckled.

"Heh, yeah. Well, don't stay up too late, bro, don't want to be too tired for school tomorrow," Andy said.

"I promise I won't," Danny answered back.

* * *

Andy didn't know what he expected, but Mr. Lancer, despite Danny making the front cover of Genius Magazine with his discovery of Sampson's gender, all Danny got was a 'C'. While it was a passing grade, Danny had been expecting an 'A', or at the very least, a 'B+'.

Andy and Takuya decided to leave Danny to sulk about it with Tucker and Sam when class let them out for the day.

Takuya gave a look to Andy. "Well, Danny certainly wasn't too happy about his grade."

"Nope. And it was best we got out when we did, otherwise Danny would be complaining all day," Andy chuckled.

"Got me there," Takuya chuckled as well. "And when Danny complains, he _complains_."

"I also wanted to get home as soon as possible to check on Dorumon. I'm sure he got pretty lonely waiting for us in your room all day," Andy said.

Takuya nodded. "True. And that's a good thing you're worried about him." He then gave a grin. "It means you care about him."

Andy felt a blush rising to his cheeks. "Well… h-he's my partner!"

Then suddenly, boxes came flying by them. Andy and Takuya yelped when they were buried in cardboard boxes.

"HAHA! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT THE BOX GHOST!" They heard someone shouting in an echoey voice.

Takuya felt that rush of heat as he clawed his way out of the boxes and looked around, trying to find the self-proclaimed 'Box Ghost'.

"Ugh…" Andy groaned, climbing his way out of the boxes.

Both of them saw what looked like a short, chubby man with blue skin, he wore overalls, and gloves, he almost looked like a worker of some kind.

This man was also glowing and floating like a ghost was. "I AM THE BOX GHOST! FEAR ME!"

"The heck…?" Andy blinked in confusion.

"I CAN CONTROL ALL THAT IS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE!" The Box Ghost declared.

"Ah, shut up!" Another voice shouted in annoyance, before the Box Ghost was punched into the wall.

Takuya realized that Phantom was in the area, and most likely had this under control. "Nice one, Phantom!"

Andy looked up at the ghost boy, surprised to see him here, at their school.

"Ah… yeah, thanks," Phantom greeted sheepishly.

"What the!?" The Box Ghost managed to recover quickly from the punch, and was staring at Andy, and then at Phantom in confusion. "Impossible! Two ghost kids? Unless… yes! I will not fall for your duplication tricks, ghost kid! You cannot hope to distract me, the BOX GHOST!"

"You are annoying! And what are you talking about? 'Duplication'?" Phantom questioned, but was still very annoyed.

Takuya blinked as he heard that. _Andy is mistaken for the ghost boy..._again_?! What is going on with that?_

The Box Ghost didn't answer Phantom's question, and opted to raise the boxes that had Takuya and Andy buried. They yelped as the boxes started to float, and fell to the floor. The Box Ghost threw the boxes at Phantom, who simply went intangible, and the boxes went right through him.

Takuya and Andy had to dive to the ground as the boxes flew over their heads. Takuya cursed not being able to evolve, but figured it was best he saved that for the stronger ghosts and the Digimon.

Phantom pulled out a Fenton Thermos from his belt. "Alright, that's enough."

Phantom held the Fenton Thermos out at the Box Ghost, which shot out a blue beam of light that quickly ensnared the Box Ghost. Box Ghost yelled as he was pulled into the Thermos. Phantom sighed as he put the lid back on the Fenton Thermos.

The two boys dared to peek up, only to see the Box Ghost was gone. Takuya was a bit surprised to see Phantom with a Fenton Thermos, but he didn't press the issue. _But where did Phantom get that?_

"Sorry if that annoying Box Ghost caused you two any trouble," Phantom said to Takuya and Andy. "I'll make sure to take him back to where he belongs."

"Um… yeah, sure," Andy said, feeling a little awkward. _Why does it feel like Phantom is familiar to me?_

As Phantom flew off, turning intangible before flying through the ceiling, Takuya pulled Andy to his feet. "C'mon, we don't want to worry Dorumon anymore than he probably is."

"Yeah…" Andy agreed, though his thoughts were on other things._ I wonder..._

* * *

_At Fenton Works_

"I just love chocolate, it's now the best food in the world!" Dorumon smiled as he cheerfully ate the chocolate bar Andy brought him, as well as some other foods that Andy brought to Dorumon to eat.

But Andy's mind was on other things. He wasn't too concerned about what Dorumon was eating right now because he was wondering about the ghost boy.

Takuya noticed Andy's distraction. "Penny for your thoughts? Heh, been awhile since I used that one since Japan uses yen, not pennies."

Andy blinked before he looked at Takuya for a moment, and sighed. "Well… it's just… that ghost boy… Phantom. I didn't notice it before, because of the whole dragon issues, and the meat monster attacking, and Skulker… but I can't help but feel like I might know Phantom somehow. Then there's the fact these ghosts kept mistaking me for him for some reason."

Takuya blinked before he frowned. "Yeah, I noticed that too." He ran a hand through his hair. "But I can't figure out how that is possible, especially since he is a ghost and you are not. And then you throw in Danny's secret, and this whole thing becomes one big mystery."

"Yeah… that's what worries me," Andy said.

Takuya tilted his head. "What does?"

"Danny's secret… and the fact these ghosts were mistaking me for Phantom," Andy replied. "What if… the two things are connected? There has to be a reason why these ghosts kept mistaking me for Phantom, right? What if… what if Danny is involved with Phantom somehow?"

"That is what I was thinking, but if Danny _is_ involved with Phantom, then how come those ghosts keep calling you and Danny 'ghost child'?" Takuya frowned here. "It's not like Danny has any sort of ghostly abilities, right?"

Andy frowned as he thought back on those times Danny would suddenly gasped in alarm and shove him or someone else away, slamming his bedroom door in his family's faces. Then those times Tucker and Sam would stand in front of Danny as if to hide him before pushing Andy away. And those times one of them distracted him and Takuya whenever Danny suddenly yelped again. Then there were the facts that Danny never seemed to be around whenever Phantom was, and vice versa. Tucker and Sam seemed too calm and too trusting towards Phantom as well.

"... What if there's something going on between Danny and Phantom?" Andy wondered, catching Takuya and Dorumon's attention. "Phantom does appear to have a very similar appearance to Danny at the very least, the same hairstyle, the same body height, weight, and face structure. It can't just be coincidence. Even their voices sound similar, minus the echo in Phantom's voice. What if… that accident… caused this Phantom to form around Danny's body? Mom and Dad did say that Danny was likely blasted by ectoplasm as well as electricity in the portal accident."

Takuya blinked. "So you think Phantom is connected to Danny, like a parasite almost?"

"I'm saying it's entirely possible. Perhaps Phantom is living inside Danny's body, needing a human host to keep him… existing on this plane. But Danny has trouble controlling the ghostly powers that comes with it, so he would phase into the ground, or suddenly turn invisible without much control. And when a ghost attacks, perhaps Phantom takes over Danny's body to fight back," Andy theorized.

"Makes sense in a way." Takuya agreed. "Like my Spirits need me to tap into their power. But the thing is, with my situation, it's different. Phantom could need Danny to stay safe and hidden, while Danny is given the power to fight ghosts."

"But it sounds creepy. I mean having another being living inside you? That's just… uuuugh…" Dorumon shivered at the thought.

Takuya winced a bit. "Yeah… it _does_ sound creepy…"

Andy frowned, he couldn't help but agree. "And… we don't know what Phantom is doing inside my brother, for all we know, ghostly abilities aren't the only side effects he's giving Danny either."

Takuya noticed Andy's frown. "What do you mean?"

"Mom and Dad had always pounded it into our heads that ghosts are evil and all that, but they're also dangerous. Ectoplasm is deadly to humans. The fact that Danny lived through that accident was nothing short of a miracle. But if Phantom is living inside Danny, there's a chance he's also spreading ectoplasm in Danny's system. This… could make Danny really sick, and even kill him for real one day. If not that, then Phantom might be slowly eating away Danny's soul or psyche. Ghosts can also consume emotions from what Mom and Dad told me… so it's very possible… and that's what scares me…" Andy explained.

Takuya had to admit, that thought _was_ scary. _That could be what is going on, but we can't be too sure yet. But if it is, then we have to be careful…_

"So… what do you think we should do?" Dorumon asked. "Call an exorcist?"

"... I'm surprised you even know what that is," Andy remarked. "But… I might be jumping the gun. I don't know for sure if that is what's happening, and Phantom _has_ been helping us. Though he could just be doing it because of the fact that my brother is his host, it might be important to keep his host happy. But whatever the case may be, this raises another problem."

"Yeah? What would that be?" Takuya asked.

"If the ghosts thinks Danny and Phantom are the same person, then it's no wonder why they keep mistaking me for Phantom," Andy pointed out. "Which means… I'm very likely to get targeted by more ghosts, thinking I'm Phantom."

"I'll protect you from those ghosts, Andy," Dorumon promised.

"That's brave of you, Dorumon, but I would like to be able to defend myself as well, not just rely on you," Andy said. "We're partners after all, we should be able to rely on each other. I think it's about time we finally start training ourselves, to face both Digimon and ghosts."

Takuya gave a nod at that suggestion. "Then we should do that as soon as possible." He then gave a glance to Andy. "When do you want to start?"

"Perhaps after Dorumon finishes eating. I already did my homework during study hall in school," Andy replied. "And… do you think we should call Dash and see if he wants to train with us? He is involved now after all."

Takuya frowned a bit, but he had to admit, his cousin had a point. "As much as I don't want Dash to get hurt, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea." He then ran a hand through his hair. "We could use any help we can get."

"Yeah… considering your fellow Digimon friends are on the other side of the world, you'll have to rely on me, Dorumon, and Dash to back you up," Andy chuckled. "We're not exactly Legendary Warriors, but hopefully we'll be good enough."

Takuya gave a weak grin. "Heh… you're right." He then grabbed Andy and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "And that is what this training is for."

"I'll work hard to be as strong as a Legendary Warrior one day myself!" Dorumon promised as he bit into a large bread loaf.

Takuya chuckled at hearing that. "Well, that will take lots of training, little buddy!"

* * *

After calling up Dash, the group of four were walking into the outskirts of Amity Park. Andy was wearing his own white and navy blue hazmat suit, while Dash was wearing a red tracksuit with white stripes.

"Considering we don't have any training attire, these would have to do. I'd rather not come back home with my normal clothes all torn up." Was Andy's reasoning for why he was wearing his hazmat suit.

Takuya had to agree with that reasoning, since it made sense. He was wearing his normal clothes, though that would change once he evolved.

Once they reached a far enough point, where they can't see the town, but not too far that they would have trouble getting back, Takuya decided this big open place was perfect for their training session.

"Okay, I think this is perfect," Takuya said as he came to a stop. "This is far enough we are out of sight, but close enough so we can get back if we need to in a hurry."

"A-alright…" Dash still looked pretty nervous. "So… how do we go about training? I've only practiced for sports, but not anything like martial arts or wrestling."

"You might be good at wrestling with those abs," Andy chuckled.

Takuya chuckled as well. "If you need some help with the martial arts, my Digimon form you saw last night is skilled at it. I can help with that."

"For now, I think the best way to do this is by sparing and experience," Andy suggested. "Working on techniques, and how to fight better will have to come after we've learned how to fight a little more."

Takuya nodded. "Okay, Andy. We'll do it your way."

"I'm ready to start when you are." Dorumon smiled.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that Digimon talking," Dash replied.

Takuya took out his D-Tector as the blue form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen as fractal coding appeared around his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

Now evolved, Agunimon waited to see what Andy and Dash would do.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that either!" Dash stated.

"Well, better get used to it, cause we'll likely be seeing it a lot," Andy said.

Agunimon just rolled his eyes at the comment. "Yes, I know it's odd, but it's normal for me."

"Yeah, for _you_." Dash pointed out. "The rest of us, not so much."

"Come on, let's just fight!" Dorumon said, getting impatient to begin.

Andy took out his Fenton Rod and extended it. There were only a few Fenton weapons he could use at his current skill level, so he only brought the rod and the wrist ray. He also wanted to work on how to move quick so he could dodge an enemy's attack.

Dorumon rushed at Agunimon. _"Metal Cannon!"_

Dorumon shot out iron balls at Agunimon.

Taking the initiative, Agunimon was quick to react. He jumped to the side and landed before he then turned and kicked another iron ball back at Dorumon. _I can't risk using my fire attacks in this place. Therefore, physical will have to do for now._

Dorumon yelped before one of his own iron balls hit him in the chest, sending him back a few feet.

"Dorumon! Hey… don't try to run headfirst into the battle, we need to work together since we are supposed to be partners, that includes on the battlefield," Andy suggested to Dorumon.

Agunimon nodded. "Andy's right. Just rushing in will get you in trouble." He then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I… uh… had to learn that the hard way…"

Dash took this opportunity to run to Agunimon's side, then fired his wrist ray at the human-turned-Digimon.

Agunimon didn't even notice so it wound up hitting his side, knocking him down. "Ugh…" He got to his feet, thankful for his armor that protected his side, at least, to an extent.

"Takuya, you should let us know if these ghost weapons hurt you, alright?" Andy spoke up. "I don't know what kind of effects they have on Digimon, but it did seem to hurt Frigimon quite a bit."

Agunimon nodded. "Right… I will do that…" He looked down at his side, relieved to see the wrist ray hadn't done any damage. It just singed his body suit it seemed.

Andy then started to run in, Dorumon followed him. Andy was intending to do a close range combat with Agunimon. Likely not to find a way to win, but to see how well he would do in close combat. Andy swung his Fenton Rod at Takuya.

Seeing that, Agunimon brought up his right arm and blocked the blow with his forearm armor. He winced a bit at the impact, but he didn't show it to Andy. Then, the Digimon did a low sweep kick towards Andy's legs, intent on knocking him down.

_"__Beast Attack!"_ Dorumon shouted as he clawed at Takuya's legs, he was shorter than Andy, so he saw the legs coming in to knock Andy down.

Agunimon saw that and actually wound up having to roll to the side, although the way he landed was somewhat awkward. "Ow…" He had never had to contort his body like that before, so it was sure to hurt. "Okay… Not bad…"

"Looks like working together is making you sweat, Takuya," Andy teased a little.

Agunimon just sighed at the teasing before he got to his feet and rushed at Andy again. He had a hand drawn back in a punch, not wanting to risk hurting Andy with his attacks. Andy did try to block it with his Fenton Rod, but Agunimon was able to push him away. Dorumon tried to attack, but Agunimon was able to kick the little Rookie back as well. Dash started to come in with his own Fenton Rod, and he hit a heck of a lot harder than Andy did.

Agunimon felt that hit on his shoulder, but again, his armor protected him. He smirked. "Heh… not bad." He then spun around and kicked Dash's Fenton Rod away. "But you'll have to do better~"

* * *

The training went on for a while, and the afternoon sun started to move, shifting into late noon. By this point, Dash, Andy, and Dorumon were exhausted, and covered in bits of bruises and dirt. Andy's hair was all messy as well.

As for Agunimon, he too was covered in bruises and dirt, but not as bad as Andy, Dash, and Dorumon. Although that could be attributed to his higher level and his experience. He sighed and let his evolution go, returning to human form. Takuya winced as he touched a bruise on his arm. "This will be sore in the morning…"

"Any… thoughts?" Andy asked, panting a bit.

"I'm… strong… but slow… I can't dodge… a lot of attacks…" Dash answered, panting as well.

"Then it seems we will… have to work on… Dash's dodging…" Takuya mused as he too panted a bit. "And Andy is more… about dodging and agility… it seems…"

"I… I'm going… to need to do more… than just dodging… I'll have to… see if I can… get Mom and Dad… to work on more… Fenton weapons… that I can use…" Andy suggested.

"Makes sense…" Takuya agreed. "I just meant… you can use smaller and… lighter weapons more easily…"

"This was… a good training… session. It was fun… working with… and backing Andy up," Dorumon added.

Takuya grinned. "Well… we should do it… again soon…"

"But… then when…?" Dash asked.

"Perhaps… once a week until… our bodies get used to… this kind of training," Andy suggested. "Until then… we can work on our… own way of… training. Like getting… into better shape…"

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… That would be a good idea…" His stomach then growled. "Uh… And I think we need to get something to eat too…"

"Want to go… to the Nasty Burger then?" Andy suggested.

Takuya nodded. "Sure. I just hope that I can eat enough, considering my evolutions leave me starved when I return to human form."

"Not for me. I need to get back home. I haven't done my homework yet, and pops will yell at me," Dash sighed.

"That's fine," Takuya said.

"Wait… what about me?" Dorumon asked.

"Hmm…" Andy gave it some thought.

* * *

"I still can't believe that idea worked," Takuya muttered as he and Andy were walking out of the Nasty Burger with Dorumon.

"Yup, a guy in a costume works every time~" Andy smirked.

Takuya shook his head. "I sometimes wonder if people just don't pay attention to the unusual things."

"They usually don't. Ignorance is bliss after all, if something out of the norm happens, it's usually something mundane just trying to show off, that's how people choose to see it," Andy remarked.

Takuya sighed. "I guess…" He then looked at Dorumon. "This little guy ate way more than I did, and that is saying something."

"I'm guessing Digimon have naturally bigger appetites," Andy said. "Between him and Dad, I hope they don't eat us out of house and home."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Dorumon pouted.

Takuya laughed. "Yeah, I know. But Uncle Jack can really pack down the food."

"Speaking of Dad, we should head back home. I need to change out of this hazmat suit before I get more eyes staring at me, it's already strange enough that I'm walking with someone wearing a 'costume'," Andy chuckled.

"True. And I don't want to get scolded again if I can help it." Takuya added with his own chuckle.

* * *

_Fenton Works_

Although Takuya was nice and relaxed when they got back home, he noticed that Dorumon wasn't with him. It was already evening by the time they got back, he wondered where Dorumon went.

Jack and Maddie were out of the house this evening. Jazz was in the kitchen, reading a book. Takuya didn't know where Danny was, as usual, he was likely outside hanging with Tucker and Sam. _Or fighting a ghost if our theory is true._

Concerned about Dorumon, Takuya got up from his room and made his way down the stairs before heading into the kitchen and down to the lab. There, to his relief, he saw Dorumon with Andy. "There you are."

Dorumon and Andy looked over to see the older boy there on the stairs leading into the lab.

"What are you two doing down here?" Takuya asked before noticing something. "And… why are you still wearing your hazmat suit, Andy?"

"I wanted to test a few things out while Mom and Dad are out of the house," Andy answered.

"What kind of things?" Takuya asked as he titled his head to the side.

"I wanted to study Dorumon and his metal spheres," Andy replied. "The metal spheres are made of metal, but they are also made of data and code. Which fascinates me to no end. I'm starting to wonder if we could use some of that data, and maybe have a programmer like Tucker to change it, and make it become something else entirely."

"Um…" Takuya trailed off. "I don't think messing with digital code of a Digimon is a good idea…" He had bad memories of when Cherubimon was corrupted, along with Koichi's own brainwashing under the corrupted Celestial's control.

"I'm not planning to mess with Dorumon's data, but I'm talking about the digital data from his attacks," Andy clarified. "Like say, what if I added something to this metal ball and change it into a bomb for example?"

"Oh, you mean find a way to integrate the attack's data into something, or even use that data for something else." Takuya reasoned.

"Yup. It also goes with my theory on how the attacks Digimon use goes, from how fractal codes work and my own D-Tector," Andy said.

"Why don't you show him, Andy?" Dorumon suggested.

"Right. Takuya hasn't really seen it in action yet," Andy realized.

"Show me what?" Takuya asked, confused now.

"You know how Dorumon can only use metal or physical attacks right now?" Andy asked.

"Yeah?" Takuya nodded.

"Remember that Frigimon card I got from scanning Frigimon's code?" Andy reminded. "I did tell you about the Icy Breath attack, but I haven't shown you how we did it. I think I should, so you at least have an idea on what I was talking about."

"Sure." Takuya shrugged. "Can't be too bad, right?"

"Let's see… ah… Dorumon, aim for the Ghost Portal, that way you won't damage anything," Andy instructed.

Dorumon nodded before facing the open Ghost Portal. Andy took out his 'D-Tector' as well as the Frigimon card.

Andy then held up the device and his card. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the car slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. "_Frigimon's Icy Breath activate!"_

Takuya was a bit surprised at how Andy's 'D-Tector' reacted to the card, he could sense the data being transferred to Dorumon.

_"__Icy Breath!"_ Dorumon shot out the icy and snow breath attack that went straight into the Ghost Portal.

Takuya was surprised. "Wow…" He couldn't believe it, and he was seeing it himself. "Now I get what you were talking about." He gave a look at Andy. "That card modified Dorumon's data to use an ice attack."

"Yeah. I'm guessing if I scanned more fractal codes from other Digimon, some of their abilities can be used on Dorumon as well. But my main interest is being able to manipulate the object data and turn it into something else, like possibly another weapon I could use in the middle of battle, or maybe for something practical, like firewood in the middle of an open field," Andy explained.

Takuya blinked. "But how can you do that if it is data?" He scratched his head here. "It's not like you are a programmer yourself, you know."

"That's… true… if only I knew how to mold data, or make it easy to mold, I might be able to change it a little," Andy sighed.

Then, Takuya felt a flash of heat rushing through him, and Dorumon suddenly growled as he and Dorumon glanced at the Ghost Portal. Out of the portal came a ghost that had green skin, wore a white lab coat and had white hair.

The ghost didn't look too happy, and there were bits of snow and ice on his green skin. "WHO DARES TO ATTACK ME, TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL TECHNOLOGY, DIGITAL AND ANALOG?"

Andy, Takuya, and Dorumon all stared at the ghost, unable to say anything due to the shock. The ghost looked at them for a moment, before looking at Dorumon.

"Digital Creature! Are _YOU_ the one who attacked me?!" Technus boomed as he began to hover over to Dorumon.

"Hey! Stay away from him!" Andy snapped, extending his Fenton Rod already.

Takuya got out his Fenton Rod as well. "You had better do as he says."

"Wha? CHILDREN! Why do you dare to attack me? TECHNUS! MASTER OF ALL ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY!?" The ghost who called himself Technus shouted.

Hearing that this ghost could manipulate technology made it clear to Takuya that he would be better off fighting as a human this time around. _Okay, I think it's safe to say evolving would only make me more vulnerable against this ghost._

Technus held out a hand at Dorumon. Dorumon let out a cry of pain as electricity started to course through his body. This caused an imbalance in his digital structure, so his body was starting to blur.

"STOP IT!" Andy demanded before he slammed his Fenton Rod into Technus's side, forcing him away from Dorumon.

Takuya lunged forwards as well, his eyes holding that feral look again. "And don't you dare to come back!" He swung his own Fenton Rod towards Technus, aiming to smack him into the Ghost Portal like a fast ball.

Technus turned intangible just before Takuya could hit him with the Fenton Rod, and the rod went through the ghost, hitting the floor instead.

Andy was looking Dorumon over while Takuya was keeping Technus busy. Dorumon opened his eyes. "I-I'm… okay, Andy."

"Can you stand up, Dorumon?" Andy asked in concern.

"Y-yeah… that ghost just took me by surprise is all," Dorumon answered as he got back up on his feet. "Come on, let's fight him together."

Andy nodded before he and Dorumon rushed towards Technus. Takuya managed to get a good hit in with his Fenton Rod, enough to distract Technus from another attack.

_"__Beast Attack!"_ Dorumon slashed at Technus with his claws, causing some ectoplasm to drip.

"Take this!" Andy slammed his Fenton Rod into Technus's head.

Technus hissed as he shot electricity at the two boys, shocking them. Dorumon managed to escape the electrical attack, however, and opened his mouth. _"Metal Cannon!"_

The iron ball slammed into Technus's chest, which pushed him back into the wall, releasing the two boys from the electrical attack.

"A-are… you… okay, Andy?" Takuya asked in concern, he had more experience with getting hit by electric attacks than Andy did.

"Y-yeah… that hurt… but… compared to what Danny had to go through, this… is nothing," Andy said, determination filling his eyes as he pushed himself up.

"You are all so much more trouble than you're worth!" Technus growled as he floated above them. "I shall gather all the technology in this lab and use them to take over the world!"

"Oh no you don't!" Takuya shouted as he jumped at Technus, Fenton Rod in hand.

"You'll have to get through us first!" Andy snapped as he jumped at Technus with his Fenton Rod as well.

"We'll stop you before you even get the chance!" Dorumon agreed as he joined in on the jumping. _"Dash Met-"_

"What's going on down here?" A voice asked from the stairs.

This caused everyone to lose their concentration, Andy and Takuya swung way too hard and early, and Dorumon's metal attack crashed right into Technus. The next thing they knew, they, as well as the lab, was covered in glowing green goop.

"What the? What happened in here!?"

Takuya, Andy, and Dorumon jumped at hearing Jazz's voice. They looked over, and there was Jazz at the top of the stairs. Luckily, Takuya was in front of Dorumon, so he was unseen by her.

"What did you two do in here!?" Jazz demanded. "Everything is covered in… in… I don't know, goo! And so are you two!"

Takuya looked nervous. "Uh… well… we uh…" He was not sure how to explain things without sounding like he was nuts.

"We were messing around and somehow made the lab covered in goo?" Andy lied, although the lie came out like a question instead of a statement._ What am I doing? I should know better than to lie with a question! It has to sound like a statement!_

Jazz frowned. "I would say you need to clean this place up before Mom and Dad come home, but it might be too dangerous since there are a lot of weapons here. You two better go get yourselves cleaned up."

"Yes! We'll go do that!" Andy quickly said.

Takuya made sure to stay in front of Dorumon as he and Andy made their way up the stairs to the main level. "It won't take us long!"

Jazz sighed as she crossed her arms. "Now those two are definitely hiding something. First Danny, now Andy and Takuya?"

* * *

Takuya was sighing as he and Andy had to bathe Dorumon like a dog in the bathroom. But Dorumon was acting a little weird since their battle with Technus. Dorumon looked more tired than usual, and seemed to be coughing a bit.

By the time Andy and Takuya got Dorumon back in Takuya's room, Andy was looking at Dorumon in concern. "It's like he's got a cold. Can Digimon get sick?"

"I'm not sure," Takuya admitted. "But I think they can if what we're seeing is right."

"I don't like ectoplasm… it's gross, it makes me feel all funny…" Dorumon whined.

"What about when Technus shocked you earlier? Your data was looking… off balance back there," Andy questioned.

"I'm not… really sure. It felt like that Technus ghost was trying to hack into my fractal code or something… but I couldn't tell what he was trying to do," Dorumon answered.

Takuya frowned at that. "That doesn't sound good." He put a hand to his chin in thought. "But… if he is able to manipulate technology, it makes sense that Technus would be able to mess with Dorumon's data."

"So there are ghosts that can manipulate technology, and by extension, Digimon as well…" Andy observed. "I'm going to take some samples of that ghost's ectoplasm to study with Dorumon's metal ball data and see how that reacts. If a ghost has the ability to be able to manipulate data, then maybe I can use that to make the iron ball more… malleable."

"Interesting theory," Takuya noted. "I never thought of it like that before."

"But… Dorumon, will you be alright? I hope that Technus didn't do something that messed you up," Andy asked the Rookie in concern.

Dorumon just sneezed twice. "Ugh… I think… I'm okay…."

"Your sneezes says otherwise," Andy sweatdropped.

"Let's let him sleep for the night and see if that helps," Takuya suggested.

Andy could only nod in agreement. _I hope Dorumon will be alright..._

While Takuya took care of Dorumon, Andy went back down to the lab to get some samples of Technus's ectoplasm, he put them into empty vials he found in the lab. He still had Dorumon's metal ball, though it was in the lab when Technus exploded, so it was covered in ectoplasm. When Andy looked at it, he noticed something interesting. The metal body was flickering between its metallic appearance, and data code.

Andy reached out and touched it, only to note it felt sort of...gooey almost. Like ectoplasm did when it was touched by a human. But it was not like a liquid either. No, it felt more like putty almost. _Huh… That's interesting._

_If this thing works like a code, and it's as malleable as clay right now…_ Andy began thinking for a moment._ I'm no expert on computers like Tucker is, but from what I know, code can be re-written, but that's too advanced for me. But… I can add something._

Andy quickly started to look around the goo-covered lab for something to write with. He opened a drawer and was glad to find a silver pen, and a sticky note. _Okay, time to test my theory._

Andy wrote something on the sticky note before he put it on the metal ball that was flickering. As soon as he did, Andy watched for a moment before the ball suddenly transformed into a metal box.

Andy was pleased with what he saw. It meant that he could mold the metal ball into something else if the need arose. _Not a bad first test run._

However, the sticky note wasn't sticky enough, and it fell off of the metal box. As soon as it did, the metal box reverted back to its original metal ball form state.

_Unfortunately, it needs to have the written data stay on for it to be effective. I may have to work something else out for a more permanent transformation, but for something temporary… I could work with it._ Andy smiled.

* * *

Takuya yawned as he rolled over out of his bed in the morning. Dorumon was looking much better now.

"Takuyaaaaaa… when is breakfast? I'm hungry," Dorumon whined.

Takuya groaned at that. "Hang on… I'll get you something once I am awake…" Another yawn escaped him.

"But I wanna eat now!" Dorumon whined some more.

"I said later, Dorumon," Takuya grumbled.

"Hmm… this alarm clock looks tasty, maybe I'll eat that," Dorumon remarked.

"Okay! I'll get you something!" Takuya protested. "Just don't eat the alarm clock! I need that to get up for school."

Dorumon gave an innocent smile as Takuya got out of bed and grumbled as he walked out of the room. "Hee, hee, hee, works every time~"

Takuya went down the stairs into the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for anything that Dorumon would like.

"Takuya?" Takuya nearly bumped his head when he heard Dash's voice.

Looking back, Takuya saw Dash was in the kitchen. "Dash? What are you doing here?"

"I came here because Jazz wanted to tutor me before school started today," Dash answered. "That's why I brought all these books."

Dash was indeed carrying some text books under his arms. He put them all down on the table.

"Okay, that explains it then," Takuya noted before he went back to looking for something for Dorumon. "Gotta find Dorumon something to eat before he eats my alarm clock."

"The little guy can eat your clock?" Dash asked, surprised.

"He ate a food tray at school once." Takuya's voice replied, almost like it was a normal thing.

"Wow… he must have some pretty strong teeth," Dash shivered before he looked at Takuya curiously. "... Can you eat metal trays too?"

Takuya looked at Dash. "Dash, I might be able to become a Digimon, but my Spirits are different. I don't need to eat unusual things like that because my Spirits take energy from my human form."

"But wouldn't it be pretty awesome if you could eat metal? You'd be all intimidating with the next ghost or Digimon we face." Dash grinned.

Takuya rolled his eyes, but he had to admit, it _would_ be cool if he could do that. "I'll give you that, but sadly, I can't."

"Aww, too bad…" Dash sighed before he perked up. "Oh, hey, while you're here, I might as well give you this."

Dash walked over to Takuya before taking an envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Takuya.

"What is it?" Takuya asked as he opened it up. Dash's grin said it all.

It was an invitation to a party at Dash's house. It was called the Big Dash Bash party.

"'Dash Bash'?" Takuya raised an eyebrow at the name.

"Yeah, well, you know how when you have an advertisement, it's good to have a slogan like that. It catches people's attention," Dash shrugged. "It's been a while since I last threw a party at my house though, my parents finally gave me permission since I've been doing better with my tests lately, thanks to you and Andy, though I do still need help with other subjects neither of you are great with, that's why Jazz offered to help me with those."

"And you're inviting me and Andy?" Takuya was surprised. "Wow, that's… a bit of a nice surprise to wake up to."

"Well, yeah, why wouldn't I? You two are my friends, and we're like the three Digimon warriors or whatever… we need a name for our group, something cool and awesome!" Dash smiled.

Takuya chuckled at that. "That's true, we _do_ need a name." He then looked at Dash. "I'll see what Andy and Dorumon think, _after_ I get some food to Dorumon."

"You go do that. It'll be great if Dorumon could come as well, he'd be like the party's mascot," Dash chuckled.

"Well… He needs to remain secret. You know how people would get if they saw something like him. Panic and all that." Takuya said with a shrug.

"Couldn't we just say he was a guy in a costume?" Dash shrugged as well.

Takuya remembered what Andy had said about that and chuckled. "Well, Andy pulled that once when we went to the Nasty Burger, and they bought it. So sure, we could try it."

"Sweet!" Dash smiled.

Jazz started walking into the kitchen. "Oh, hey, you're up early today, Takuya. Finally decided to become a morning bird?"

"No. I just… got hungry." Takuya lied. "I'm going to go up and get ready, once I get some food first." He went back to raiding the fridge for anything that he could grab, namely meat and even a bag of apples. "I'm _really_ hungry today…"

"Takuya, that's a lot of food…" Jazz sweatdropped.

"Ah, Jazz, hey, can we get started? The sooner the better, right?" Dash quickly spoke up, distracting Jazz from Takuya's food raid.

Takuya gave Dash a nod of thanks before heading back upstairs to his room. Once inside, he shut the door and turned around. "I got the food, Dorumon."

"Took you long enough, were you eating some yourself or something?" Dorumon asked as he walked over to Takuya, drooling as he looked at the meat.

"No, but Dash helped to distract my older cousin Jazz so I could get this to you." Takuya replied as he set down the food. He took a step back as the Rookie pounced on the food pile.

"Dash is here?" Dorumon asked as he began eating.

"For some help on his school work." Takuya replied. "Jazz is helping him right now."

"Ahh." Was all Dorumon needed to say before he began to gorge himself on the food.

Takuya sweatdropped, he knew Digimon liked to eat, but he certainly didn't remember Bokomon and Neemon eating nearly this much.

"Okay… I'll… just let you eat up while I get dressed and ready for school…" Takuya said before he grabbed a fresh change of clothes and his D-Tector. He left the room and made sure to shut the door before locking it and going straight to the bathroom.

* * *

By the time Takuya got dressed, he headed into the kitchen for some real breakfast, and saw Andy there, sitting beside Dash while Jazz was tutoring him in geometry. Andy was looking rather sleepy, like he didn't get much sleep last night. He was munching on some cereal.

Takuya took a seat and poured himself some cereal too, not that Jazz would see it since she was too busy helping Dash with his geometry. Takuya then glanced at Andy. "Did you have a rough night last night?"

Andy yawned a little. "Well, more like I stayed up late experimenting… um, in a video game."

Takuya realized Jazz was there and that was why Andy had added that part about the video game. "Oh… I see. Did you find out anything interesting when doing this video game experiment?"

"Hehe… I found out how I could weaponize an iron sphere after it's been used, and turn it into a bomb. The explosion can be big or small depending on how I write out the code, it would certainly take the enemies by surprise, in the game." Andy grinned.

Takuya blinked at that. "Interesting discovery."

_I never thought Andy would make such progress on this._ Takuya thought to himself. He had to admit, Andy never failed to impress him.

"Of course, there's only so much I can do. I only know the very basics of how coding works," Andy sighed. "But it'll be good for a trial period, to see how well I can work with what I've got."

Takuya nodded in agreement. "Makes sense."

He then remembered the invite Dash had given him. "Oh! Dash gave me this." Takuya took out the invite. "We're invited to his big party."

"Hmm?" Andy looked at the invitation with curiosity. "Oh wow, a popular kid party, huh? Guess that means you're popular kid material already, cuz."

Takuya looked at Andy with a bit of disbelief. "Um… I said _we_ were invited, Andy. Not just me."

Andy yawned a bit. "Huh?"

"I think his mind is still sleeping," Dash chuckled.

"Hey Jazz- wah, Dash!?" A surprised voice said suddenly.

Everyone turned to see Danny had walked into the kitchen.

Takuya looked around between Dash and Danny. This wasn't what he had expected to see this morning. _Okay… I hope things don't get out of hand here..._

"H-hey, Dash…" Danny greeted nervously as he leaned against the table. "What… are you doing here?"

Dash frowned a little. "What does it look like? Your sister is tutoring me."

Danny looked at Andy, blinking.

"... Ah! I shouldn't be sitting this close to him, cause he's… uh… Dash, yeah," Andy quickly said, scooting out of his chair so fast that he almost fell.

Takuya sighed as he saw Andy almost fall. _Why do I bother…?_

Dash was confused as he scratched at his head at Andy's reaction.

Suddenly, Danny's arm became transparent, and he yelped as his arm went through the table, which caused the papers to go flying all over the place.

Takuya frowned. He had seen that, which was unusual. _Or is it because of Phantom living within Danny right now?_

Andy stared at Danny's arm, he had likely just seen it too, the worry grew on his face as it was starting to look like his theory of Phantom living inside Danny was right.

"Watch it, Fenton, you're on thin ice right now." Dash glared in irritation since some of the papers got on his face.

"Uh… right. I'll… just be leaving now…" Danny said as he got up and backed away.

Danny quickly ran into the lab. "... WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE LAB!?"

"Isn't it great, son? Look at all these ghost samples!" They heard Jack shouting in excitement. "Here, help me carry some of these boxes!"

Takuya groaned as he realized the explosion from that Technus ghost had still left ectoplasmic goop all over the lab. _Great… I forgot all about that Technus ghost we fought last night..._

Andy sighed as he sat back down on his seat. "Well, at least Dad will keep him busy for a while."

"I don't see why you're trying to hide the fact you and Dash are getting along from him," Jazz stated.

"How did you know I was getting along with Dash?" Andy asked.

"You're sitting right next to him," Jazz pointed out.

"Ugh… stupid sleepy brain…" Andy grumbled.

Dash then grinned. "I know what will wake you up~" He handed out two invites to Jazz and Andy. "An invite to the Dash Bash!"

Andy felt the last holds of sleep vanish from his brain at seeing the invite. "What?!"

"You see, cuz? I told you we were invited," Takuya laughed at seeing Andy's reaction.

"I thought I was halfway in dreamland when you said that," Andy admitted, staring at the invitation like it was going to disappear at any moment.

"Well, you aren't~" Takuya teased as he elbowed Andy in the side jokingly.

"Ah, this is really nice, Dash, but I don't know… I don't usually like getting together with the popular kids," Andy said after getting over the initial shock of being invited.

Dash frowned. "But… you're one of my friends. Why _wouldn't_ I invite you?"

"Hmm…" Jazz was looking at her own invitation, she had no interest in parties herself, but she did want the twins to have fun together with how separated they were lately. "Are you planning on inviting Danny too, Dash?"

Takuya looked at Jazz, a bit surprised at hearing that. He had completely forgotten about Danny for a moment.

"No way, why would I want to invite him?" Dash asked. "He may be Andy's brother, but he's not a friend of mine."

"Um… I think it would make Andy happy if you did." Takuya pointed out. "I mean, he _has_ been separated from his twin for a while now. And it might give him the incentive he needs to go to your party."

Dash gave a thoughtful look at that.

"Hey, why are you speaking for me? I'm right here," Andy grumbled.

"Alright, I'll invite Fenton if it'll make you happy, Andy," Dash decided.

Andy blinked, not expecting Dash to actually take the compromise, they have only been friends for about a week now.

Takuya gave Andy a grin. "It would be good for you to spend time with Danny at the party anyway. You two have been split for quite some time, so it's about time you two had some quality bonding time."

"Right… I guess I haven't been paying attention due to everything that's been going on lately," Andy admitted._ Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather be distracted from the pain than wallow in it._

Takuya looked at Andy. "So, we'll go to the party and see if we can have some fun."

"And be sure to bring Do-" Dash stopped when he remembered Jazz was here. "Uh… the mascot for the party."

Takuya looked at Andy, who had a confused look. He mouthed _'Dorumon'_ to Andy, making sure the younger boy could get the message.

"Ah, right. I'll bring the 'costume'," Andy chuckled. "I'm sure the mascot would enjoy it."_ And not be stuck in Takuya's room all day and night._

Takuya grinned as he saw Andy got the message. _It will be good for the little guy to get out and about._

* * *

_The Nasty Burger_

"I think you've become addicted to this place, Takuya, this is the third time this week we've eaten here," Andy chuckled as they were standing in line at the Nasty Burger.

"I can't help it if the food is good here!" Takuya almost whined. Looking around for an empty booth, his eyes landed on Danny, Sam, and Tucker in the restaurant. "And I see Danny, Tucker, and Sam are here too."

"And… Paulina, Dash, Kwan, Star… I think most of Casper High are here today. Must be because Dash is handing out the invitation to his party today. Dash is the captain of the football team, so when he hosts a party, it's one of the 'hottest parties of the year' as most students call it," Andy informed. "It's just… odd, it's the first time that I'm seeing the invitations being handed out… by a _friend _of mine."

Takuya had to agree. "I guess I can agree with that." He noted how happy everyone was looking at the invitations they were receiving.

"I mean I was used to always seeing it from the other perspective. A popular jock or girl hands out the invitation to the popular kids, they all cheer, while the rest of us just watched on, in jealousy," Andy admitted. "So this… is quite a new experience for me."

"Well, you're not alone in that," Takuya admitted. "I didn't really have any popular parties I went to when in school while in Japan, so this is new for me too."

"May I take your order?" Takuya snapped his attention to the cashier, seeing that he was now at the front of the line.

After Andy and Takuya got their orders, they walked to an empty booth that was behind the booth Danny, Tucker, and Sam were sitting in.

As soon as they took their seats, the two boys could hear what the three were talking about.

"Great, it's the hottest party of the year, and Paulina is going, and I'm not, again," Danny sighed.

"I thought you didn't like Paulina after she dumped you at the school dance," Sam remarked.

"Well… her personality needs some work, but she's still pretty hot," Danny chuckled.

Takuya couldn't help but roll his eyes at Danny's comment. _Understatement of the century…_

Then Takuya looked over at Andy, who was eating his fries. "Hey, why aren't _you _smitten with Paulina's hotness like your brother? I mean Danny just saw how nasty Paulina could be, yet he still likes her because she looks pretty."

"Because Danny didn't grow up with Paulina being nasty to him, like I did. It's pretty hard to like someone for how they look when you grow up with their nasty attitude," Andy answered. "Whenever Paulina and I see each other, we would always give each other our best death glares."

Takuya frowned at that, but he had to admit, Andy had a good point. _Reminds me of when I would argue with Koji. We would give each other death glares too, but we could also count on each other in battle. Paulina is just shallow, unlike my friend._

They saw Paulina getting a 'Mighty Mini Meaty Cheesy Melt', whatever that was.

"You're right, she's a goddess," Sam sarcastically grumbled.

"Why_ don't_ we get invited to the really cool parties? We've got charm, good looks, charisma, at least I do," Tucker muttered.

"You know how it is," Sam sighed. "We're just as… well, you know what I mean…" She then gave a smile, "But at least we'll have each other in ten years."

"Uh-huh…" Andy rolled his eyes sarcastically, feeling a little bitter from that comment, likely because they had pushed him out of their group and didn't seem to realize it.

Takuya gave a worried frown to Andy. _Was sitting here a good idea?_ _Because it seems to remind Andy of his friends and what they have done._

Suddenly, Dash walked over to their booth. He did give Andy and Takuya a friendly wave, before he put on his annoyed face when he came to Danny's booth. "Here."

Dash slapped an invitation in Danny's face. "Your sister made me invite you. And just you, not your two geeky friends. All you have to do is show up, shut it, and nobody gets hurt."

Takuya wasn't sure how he felt about Danny going, but he reminded himself it was for Andy's sake. _Dash is doing this for Andy. Just get through the party, and things will be fine. Andy and Danny will have fun. What could go wrong?_

Suddenly, Takuya got an ominous chill when he thought that.

"I've actually been invited, to a popular party!?" Danny said excitedly and in shock, much like Andy did earlier.

Takuya looked on as suddenly the popular kids started to talk to Danny, like he had just been noticed for the first time in his life. _So much for this being low-key..._

"See you Saturday, Danny~" Paulina waved with her fingers at Danny, who gave a large grin.

Andy glared heatedly at Paulina. Paulina, as if sensing Andy's challenge, looked over at Andy, before glaring back at him. Takuya could_ feel_ the hostile electricity from between their glares.

"Oh boy…" He muttered.

"Swell… send us a postcard from Popularityville…" Sam grumbled sarcastically.

"I will!" Danny smiled as he got up from the booth and started rushing out of the Nasty Burger, likely not noticing Sam's sarcasm or Paulina's heated glaring competition with his brother.

Takuya groaned as he sunk down in his seat._ This… is going to be a long week..._

* * *

**Titanic X:** **ZAFT: **You will see when it comes to Dash~

**DarkFoxKit:** Indeed. I always wanted to see a crossover between Tamers and Frontier.

**ZAFT:** Same here!

**Kilikani****: DarkFoxKit:** Watch Digimon Frontier, that's where Takuya came from, and that explains why and how he can turn into a Digimon.

**ZAFT:** You will understand more then.

**DarkFoxKit:** Now if you're asking how can Takuya STILL change into a Digimon, you would need to be more specific, because we don't know if that's what you're asking, and if you don't know Digimon Frontier, if we answer that question, we'd be diving into heavy spoiler territory for the show.

**ZAFT:** If you are asking HOW he can still turn into a Digimon, that is spoilers for the story, so we can't delve too deep into that either. Sorry… ^^'


	8. Power of Popularity

**DarkFoxKit: **Seems we're a little late on the update.

**ZAFT: **Yeah, that was my fault. I forgot. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit: **We both forgot, so it wasn't just you. Andy, why didn't you remind us?

**Andy: *Is playing on his Switch* **Hmm? Did you say something?

**DarkFoxKit: **Hey! That's my Switch!

**ZAFT: *Stares* **Uh… Okay… We'll just get to the chapter I guess… While DarkFoxKit get her Switch back

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Power of Popularity**

"So we get to go to a party this weekend?" Dorumon asked, looking excited. "Including me?"

"Yeah, apparently," Takuya replied with a shrug. "You just have to pretend to be a person in a costume, like you did at the Nasty Burger that one time."

"That's great! Because I've been getting soooooo bored waiting in here," Dorumon whined. "Can't I go out once in a while if I'm really, really careful not to get seen by anyone?"

Takuya looked at Andy. "What do you think? Should we let him if he is careful?"

"It would still be too risky. Dorumon is still too new in Amity Park, there's a good chance someone will see him, or a dog sniffs him out or something," Andy said. "But maybe we could find a better hiding place for him, or have him learn how to… uh… 'de-digivolve'."

Dorumon seemed to pout at that as Takuya frowned. "I guess you do have a point…" He looked down at the floor, trying to come up with some kind of a plan. _Dorumon doesn't need to remain here all the time, and yet Andy has a point. Where _could_ Dorumon stay if he had to find a better hiding place than my room?_

"I think I might know a good place to hide Dorumon," Andy said. "But I'm not sure if Dorumon would like it."

"Where is it?" Dorumon asked.

* * *

Andy led Takuya and Dorumon on the outskirts of town. There was a small, abandoned cabin in the woods. "Remember when we came out here to train? I couldn't help but notice this abandoned cabin here. Do you think it might be a good place for you to stay while we're out, Dorumon?"

Takuya had to admit, it was a good idea. "I think it's a good idea, but, again, Dorumon makes the choice."

"Well, there's a lot more room to run around out here," Dorumon noted. "But it's kind of lonely."

"Well, that is kind of the point, not a lot of people come out here," Andy said. "That way you don't have to worry about other people seeing you as much. You can stay here until we can figure out how to keep you in the house without you getting into trouble by my parents."

"How would you explain Dorumon to your parents?" Takuya asked.

"That… he's a… brand new species?" Andy shrugged.

Takuya groaned at that. "Of course…" _But it would make sense…_ He thought to himself. _Maybe we could come up with a story later on, as long as Dorumon doesn't talk when around the rest of the family._

Dorumon was looking around the cabin, sniffing at the area, before he poked his head inside. "WAH!"

Dorumon's sudden scream caused Andy and Takuya to jump.

The two boys ran over to check on Dorumon. "Are you okay?!" Takuya asked in concern.

"What is that?" Dorumon asked, pointing at something that was glowing green.

Andy and Takuya looked at what Dorumon was pointing at, and saw a glowing blue flower growing out of the cabin's floor.

"I… don't know…" Takuya murmured, not sure of what to make of it. This was new to him.

"It's glowing," Andy noted, eyeing the flower. "... Do you think it might be some kind of ghost flower?"

Takuya looked at it, but he didn't get any bad feelings. He just thought it was strange to see a glowing blue flower. "Odd…" He wanted to reach out to touch it, but he wasn't sure what would happen if he did.

Dorumon touched the flower with his forehead, the gem on his forehead glowed a little before data surrounded Dorumon. Andy and Takuya gasped a little, before the data got smaller, and Dorumon was suddenly Dorimon again.

"What just happened?" Andy asked.

"I don't know," Takuya replied. "It's just… one second he's Dorumon, and now he's back to his in-training form!"

"Whoa… that was weird," Dorimon said in a bit of a daze.

"Are you alright, Dorimon?" Andy asked his partner in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine… I just suddenly felt weaker when I touched that flower, so much so I must've reverted back to Dorimon," Dorimon answered.

"It must have siphoned off energy," Takuya mused as he eyed the flower.

"Hey! Then maybe Andy could pick this flower and use it on me whenever I need to de-digivolve, at least until I can learn to do it on my own," Dorimon suggested. "At least this way I can stay with Andy."

"I don't think I should be picking this ghost flower," Andy said. "But you do make a good point about it being useful so you don't have to stay in Takuya's room all the time."

Then Andy's 'D-Tector' started to beep and flash. "Hmm?"

Andy took out the little device. "Takuya, what does this mean?"

"I'm not sure," Takuya frowned a little before he saw it flashing near the flower. "Hold on… Try holding the scanner to the flower."

"Huh? Okay…" Andy held the device closer to the glowing flower, the screen suddenly let out a scanner on the flower.

Andy, Dorimon, and Takuya were watching in curiosity until the device finished scanning the flower. Then a card appeared on the card slot.

"What…?" Andy took the card out, seeing a picture of the glowing flower on it, and the words on the bottom. "'Degeneration'."

"I think your device copied what that flower did." Takuya noted, seeing the words on the bottom of the card.

"Oooh, so now you can just swipe that card in your D-Tector to make me small whenever you want." Dorimon smiled. "It's a win-win!"

Dorimon then jumped onto Andy's head. "Which is good, because I'd rather stay with you than out here in the lonely forest, where wolves could eat me."

Takuya chuckled at that. "And you get to ride on Andy's head, too."

"That's a bonus~" Dorimon smiled.

"Great, glad you two can enjoy this so much," Andy groaned. _Still, I wonder what this flower is and what it's doing here… I hope it doesn't become something dangerous later on._

* * *

_At Casper High_

"I thought lunch would never come, it feels like the classes are getting longer," Takuya grumbled.

"You're only saying that because you had to stay in Mr. Lancer's class for extra tutoring on your literature today," Andy chuckled as they were walking outside of the building, where, surprisingly, a lot of the popular kids were right now.

Dorimon popped his head out of Andy's backpack and sniffed the air. "Smells like a lot of food."

"Don't worry, Dorimon, we'll find a place to sit and eat soon," Andy chuckled quietly. "But don't move around so much, we're in a public area."

Dorimon just pulled his head back into Andy's backpack while Takuya chuckled. "He knows when to keep quiet, huh, Andy?"

"Yeah, at least we know we trained him well in the art of stealth." Andy grinned.

"KWAN! LOOKING GOOD!" A familiar voice suddenly shouted that caught Andy and Takuya's attention.

Takuya looked over, only to see Danny getting it on with the popular kids. He sighed. "And it seems Danny has been getting chummy with the popular kids lately too…"

"Fentonmister! Whoo-hoo!" Kwan acknowledged back.

"Wow, how easy it is to sway the popular kids when you 'become one of them', it's kind of sad really," Andy sighed. "People should just see you as people, not what 'rank' you are."

Takuya sighed. "I guess…" _I can't help but agree with Andy on that. It _does_ seem somewhat lame that people are judged on their social status or their likes and dislikes._

Andy noticed Tucker and Sam were beside Danny, and looked to be trying to talk to him. Though they were a bit too far away to hear what they were saying to Danny. Danny didn't seem to be paying attention to them however, he was too busy waving and acknowledging the other popular kids that were walking by.

Takuya blinked. "Huh… it looks like Sam and Tucker aren't being noticed by Danny." Then he had a thought. _I wonder if this experience will make them realize what they are doing to Andy..._

Takuya couldn't tell what Andy was thinking, Andy was just looking at them with a hard to read expression. Andy didn't look happy, but he didn't look angry or sad either.

"Um… Andy?" Takuya asked as he poked Andy's shoulder. "You okay?"

"... Yes, I'm okay, Takuya," Andy answered, but looked at the trio for a little bit longer before he turned to his cousin. "Maybe we should go look for a place to-"

"Yo! Andy, Takuya!" Dash greeted happily as he approached them.

"Dash, we're in public, are you sure you want to be calling us by our first names?" Andy hissed.

Takuya had a bit of a frown on his face at Andy's words, but he didn't say anything. He just looked at Dash and gave a wave of his own.

"Right, right… well, then… Ahem, Fenton and Kanbara," Dash corrected himself, but only half heartedly, before he held out a magazine to them, it showed a hip looking guy wearing a white jacket, white pants, and a white hat. There was also a cool looking necklace. "I'm planning on this being the dress code for the party. What do you think? Looking very hip and Dash?"

Takuya noticed the price right away. "And very expensive." He wasn't sure if he would be able to afford that outfit.

"I'm not even sure if I would look good in that. Takuya might be able to pull it off, but not me," Andy chuckled sheepishly.

"Really?" Dash frowned a little. "Hmm… well, I suppose we don't _have_ to use this."

"Are you sure? Wouldn't it ruin your big jock party if you don't have something hip and cool for the popular kids to wear?" Andy asked.

Dash chuckled. "Nope. I can have them wear anything and they would still think it's cool, like I could have them all wear ugly rags and they'd think it was cool because we're making it work for us. Or they would just find ways to enjoy it because it makes fun of those who do wear them."

Takuya gave a frown at that, but he didn't say anything. _It seems like the popular kids just get kicks out of making fun of the less popular kids. I can see why Andy has no interest in being a popular kid._

"Maybe to keep things easier for you two, you can just come to the part wearing what you're already wearing. It might be interesting to try on clothes that aren't considered hip or cool," Dash stated, looking at the clothes Andy and Takuya were wearing.

Andy looked down at his black T-shirt with the blue triangle on his chest, and his red baggy pants. "I don't know, I consider these clothes to be timeless."

Dash looked at Andy. "Well, it would mean you don't have to spend a lot on those sweats." He pointed at the image to make his point.

Then Dorimon popped his head out, Dash blinked as he saw Dorimon.

"Hey! I wanted to thank you for inviting me too!" Dorimon smiled.

Dash chuckled here. "It's no problem." He then realized something. "Hey… you're back to your small form again!"

"Yup! We found some weird flower that helped me out with that, so now I can stick with Andy and not be stuck in Takuya's room all day." Dorimon grinned.

"I'll tell you more about it later," Andy said. "This isn't a place for this type of conversation."

Dash nodded, remembering what Andy and Takuya had told him about keeping Dorimon a secret.

"By the way, I couldn't help but notice that your brother has been getting along with the other A-List kids," Dash noted.

"A-List kids?" Takuya asked.

"It's basically what the popular kids call themselves, they have their own list and benefits in school, like having a pass that the hall monitor stamps and they get a free pudding or something," Andy explained.

Takuya frowned at that. He didn't like hearing that, but he figured it was the school culture here, so he had to accept it for now. "Okay… I get it… I think…"

Dash looked at where Danny was talking with Kwan. "Well, if your brother's going to be part of the A-List, he might need a little 'help', if you get my meaning." He gave a slight wink at that.

"Is he?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sure he going to the party you're hosting, but would that make him an A-List material?"

"That depends on how he does at the party," Dash explained. "And even though I had to invite him, that doesn't mean I'm going to be all buddy-buddy with him. Now watch this… Hey, Fenton, come over here!"

Danny snapped to attention and quickly hurried over to Dash.

Andy started to back away before he grabbed Takuya's shirt by the back and pulled him with him.

"Yes, Dash?" Danny asked as he reached his bully's side. Andy and Takuya were now hiding behind a tree to see what would happen next. Dorimon poked his head out of Andy's backpack, curious as to what was going on.

"You know, I've never really gotten a good look at your twin, Andy," Dorimon whispered. "He really does look a lot like you."

"Well, we _are_ twins," Andy whispered back. "And twins do look alike, depending on if they are identical or fraternal. The latter meaning that we don't look alike even though we're twins."

"Oooh," Dorimon acknowledged.

"If you're going to come to my party, you'll have to look the part," Dash said to Danny, showing him the magazine. "This is what we'll be wearing. It's very high end, very hip, very Dash. You do have one, don't you?"

"Uh… yeah. I have two… uh, one for me and my twin." Danny lied.

"Well, wear _one_. I might have had to invite you, but if you embarrass me..." Dash said as he held up a fist to Danny's face. "Your sister will be doing a thesis on your bruises!"

"R-right! I'll be sure to keep that in mind!" Danny quickly said before Dash walked away.

Andy, Takuya, and Dorimon saw Tucker and Sam walking up to Danny after Dash left.

"Wow, I didn't know how mean Dash could act, he always seemed so friendly whenever I see him," Dorimon noted.

"Well, he has to keep up the act because Andy doesn't want our friendship to be revealed yet." Takuya pointed out.

"Why not?" Dorimon asked curiously.

"I don't want people to start treating me like a popular kid just because I'm friends with the football captain, I rather want them to like me for me, you know?" Andy explained. "Besides, I've seen what people would do just to get in close with the football captain. They try to suck up to you, then leave you to rot once they get what they want."

Takuya sighed. "And that is why I don't like this popularity chain here…"

"Aw man… this stuff must cost a fortune!" They heard Danny groan since they were still nearby. "How am I going to get the money by Saturday?"

"Oh… my gosh…" Andy paled suddenly.

Takuya looked at Andy. "What? Something wrong?" He was hoping it was not a ghost or a Digimon. "Is it a ghost? Or is it a Digimon?"

"I don't sense either nearby," Dorimon said, looking concerned.

"No, it's not that," Andy said before looking at Takuya. "What if our theory is right and Phantom is inside my brother? How would the ghost react to Danny's desires? What if the ghost takes over Danny's body and make him steal from a bank or something so he'd get the money he needed for those sweats?"

Takuya paled at that thought while Dorimon looked a bit confused, but also worried. "Oh… I see what you mean…"

"But why would that Phantom boy make Danny do that? Isn't Phantom a good ghost?" Dorimon asked. "I mean he has been helping us, hasn't he?"

"From the few times that we saw him, yeah, but he could've just been doing that because Danny desired to him to keep us safe," Andy pointed out. "I remember my parents telling me that ghosts have obsessions, and they tend to react to certain emotions, like greed and desire. So what if Phantom might react on Danny's desire to get the money he needs on Saturday? I mean he's a ghost, we don't know how he thinks!"

Dorimon was still confused, but since this worried his partner, he decided to try to reassure Andy. "Phantom has helped us. He can't be all that bad." He then grinned. "Think of it in a positive manner! Anyone who helps out can't be all that bad, right?"

Andy tilted his head back a little to look at Dorimon. "... Right… I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions yet."_ Mom and Dad were always telling us ghosts were evil, all of them… but… maybe, hopefully, they were wrong about that._

Takuya then looked back out from behind the tree. He was observing Danny, wondering if Andy's theory would be correct. _I don't want to have to fight Phantom, but if he _does_ react to Danny's desires in that way, we'll have to take action._

Whatever conversation Danny was having with Tucker and Sam was interrupted by Paulina, she was sitting on a picnic blanket, holding up a CD with a CD player beside her. "Hey Danny! Want to listen to my new CD? It's really kronk!"

That made Danny dash over to her side eagerly, as though he wanted to be accepted by her. Which in a sense, he did.

Takuya looked over at Andy, and could swear, if Andy could set things on fire with his mind, the entire tree would be burning right now with how intense his glare was at the moment.

_Okay, this makes me glad Andy _doesn't_ have my ability to Spirit Evolve. Otherwise… that tree would be a burning mess…_ Takuya thought as he sweatdropped. "H-hey, calm down, cuz. I think I found us a great place to have our lunch and cool off for a bit!"

"One of these days…" Andy hissed.

Dorimon sweatdropped, but he already knew why Andy didn't like that girl, because his partner told him a lot about her. Dorimon already didn't like Paulina, she had not only been rude and nasty to Andy, and his brother, but he could already tell how fake she was with her false, sweet smile, only wanting Danny because he was considered 'popular' for now.

Takuya pulled Andy away from the tree. "C-C'mon, Andy. We don't want to miss our spot by the school."

* * *

_That night, at Fenton Works_

Jazz and Andy were watching their parents trying to cook hot dogs in their new invention.

"Are you sure about this, Mom? I think the microwave is a better… safer way of cooking hot dogs than this… contraption," Andy said in an uncertain tone, holding Dorimon close to his chest.

Takuya was also in the kitchen, standing more against the wall and watching what was going on. He had a feeling something was about to go down, and he didn't want to be caught off-guard.

"Of course we're sure!" Jack smiled. "We've invented a way to cook them ten times faster than a microwave, no more needing to wait for endless minutes just to eat!"

"Not to worry, this is perfectly safe," Maddie promised before the contraption went DING. "Oh, they're ready!"

As soon as she opened the top, the hot dogs came out biting and nipping, which caused Jazz to flinch back, Andy to yelp and jump away while tightening his hold on Dorimon, and Takuya gasped. Maddie quickly shut the lid with a surprised and disturbed look on her face.

"Great, you managed to put the Frank back in Frankenstein," Jazz grumbled.

"What did you use to cook the hot dogs with?" Andy asked, backing away from the contraption and the table.

"We did use some ectoplasm to have the Fenton Cooker heat up faster, but I guess some of it leaked out into the food, and brought them to life… well, not to life exactly, but gave them enough ghostly properties to…" Maddie stopped before sheepishly grinning. "I guess it's a good thing they did 'come to life' though, so we know they're not safe for human consumption."

Takuya groaned as he smacked his head with his open hand. "Way to go, Aunt Maddie…" He grumbled under his breath.

"Weird… I thought it was brilliant…" Jack pouted. "Hey, maybe I can train those mad hot dogs as a defense mechanism!"

"How, by making them attack ghosts when they are ghosts themselves?" Takuya asked in a sarcastic manner.

Jack looked at Takuya for a moment, before grinning. "I was just going to have them wrap around us like actual meat shield, but that is a great idea, Takuya! You can help me train them to attack ghosts!"

Takuya groaned out loud as he slammed his head against the wall. "That was something called _sarcasm!"_

Andy walked over to Takuya. "You really shouldn't use sarcasm around Dad…"

Jazz sighed. "I'm going to my room, obviously I need to order take out tonight."

"Don't we all…" Takuya muttered to himself. He was _so_ not hungry after _that_ little display from the hot dogs.

Then Danny walked into the kitchen, studying the magazine Dash gave him, and didn't seem to even notice Takuya or his twin brother. Andy frowned a little at this.

"Hey Dad, could you give me some extra cash? I really need to buy these clothes by Saturday," Danny asked when he walked up to Jack.

Jack looked at Danny. "Now, Danny, you know, your mother and I have plenty of money since we are inventors."

_What? I've never seen them sell any of their inventions._ Andy raised an eyebrow at that comment.

"But we wouldn't be very good parents if we just give you the money, Danny," Maddie spoke up. "If you want money, you gotta earn it."

"Like… get a job?" Danny frowned.

Jack nodded. "Either that or sell something. Like your old comic books, or Andy's old manga collections-"

"No! Do you know how hard it is to gather the entire volume of a manga series? I'm not selling that," Andy quickly spoke up.

"But do you even read those anymore?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're a collector's set," Andy grumbled.

Takuya looked back at the lab. "What about some of the old junk in the lab, uncle Jack?" He looked back at his uncle. "Some of that looks like it needs to be sold."

"What? No! Maddie and I had worked hard on each and every device we've made in that lab," Jack quickly said.

"Honey, do you even remember what most of the stuff did?" Maddie asked with a frown. "Not to mention they're also covered in ectoplasm."

Takuya mentally winced as he remembered the fight with Technus. _Yeah… that was not a good time…_

Jack furrowed his eyebrows for a moment. "I… don't remember, but I know each of them are important, so it'll be off to the shed. Boys!"

Jack suddenly turned his attention to Danny, Andy, and Takuya. "Help me gather up the boxes."

"What? Do we have to?" Danny frowned.

Takuya wasn't sure what to say other than one word. "What?!" He hadn't expected this at all.

"It's off to the shed with this stuff!" Jack declared as he dropped the boxes into Andy's, Danny's, and Takuya's arms.

Andy was forced to put Dorimon down on the table before he was given a box, just so he didn't hurt the small little guy. "Uh, Dad? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course, Andy!" Jack exclaimed. "Now, off to the shed!"

Andy looked at Dorimon with a look of 'stay there and don't move' before he hauled the box full of junk outside with Takuya, Danny, and Jack.

Jazz looked at Dorimon curiously, and so did Maddie.

"I wonder what this creature is supposed to be… it looks like a fluffy cat, or maybe a furry purple pig?" Maddie wondered as she studied Dorimon, who was trying not to move or appear nervous.

Jazz also studied Dorimon. "It could be a little stuffed dog as well." _I wonder where Andy got it._

"Perhaps you should take it to your brother's room then, Jazz. We don't want him to leave it on the table where it could get messy," Maddie suggested.

Jazz picked up Dorimon and brought him upstairs to Andy and Danny's room, setting him on Andy's bed before leaving and shutting the door. "That should keep it safe from ectoplasm and food."

Dorimon couldn't help but look at Jazz.

"You know… you feel a bit… too real. I could've sworn I felt you breathing while I was bringing you up here, and it almost looks like you're looking right at me," Jazz muttered.

Dorimon was trying not to sweat.

Jazz just shook her head. "Maybe I'm beginning to make myself think this thing is alive. I'll have to remind myself it's just a toy."

With that said, Jazz left the room. Dorimon let out a sigh of relief and he could finally relax. "That was a close one… the big sister is way more observant than I thought she'd be."

Meanwhile, Jack opened the tool shed, allowing the boys to walk inside to place down the boxes. Jack looked around, seeing how cramped the tool shed was before he dropped down his own boxes.

"You know, maybe I should get rid of this junk," He muttered before he smiled and brushed his hands together. "Well, that's a job for another day." With that, he left the shed, leaving the three cousins together inside.

Danny had a thoughtful look on his face at that last remark from his dad. "Saturday is another day…" He mused as he looked around at the junk again.

"Bro…" Andy spoke up. "You're not thinking of selling this stuff on Saturday, are you?"

"I need the money for those sweats, Andy." Danny pointed out. "Besides, it's not like Dad is really going to miss this stuff, right?"

"But if you sell them without permission, you're going to get in trouble," Andy pointed out.

"Danny, I think you should listen to Andy on this one," Takuya added, but Danny just brushed him off.

"It's fine, cuz." Danny assured him.

Andy hesitated for a moment, before he spoke up. "Danny… maybe you shouldn't try getting those sweats. You really… don't need them for the party."

Danny looked at Andy. "I don't?"

"No… listen… Dash is going to change the dress code, so you would look like a complete idiot when you show up at the party," Andy explained.

"How… did you know that?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Takuya and I overheard Dash saying that," Andy answered, sort of lying.

"Wow… I guess I owe you one, bro." Danny said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You saved me from looking like a total moron."

"Heh… well, I am still your brother, so it's still my job to look after you," Andy chuckled. "But… we should probably still do something with all this stuff in here. Mom is right about one thing, the shed is getting cramped with all of Dad's inventions that he and Mom never use."

Takuya looked back at the twins. "Yeah. I can't really see any other place where stuff can be placed."

Danny gave a look to his cousin. "Still want to have that sale on Saturday?"

"We'll get in trouble," Andy said.

"But maybe Uncle Jack will be grateful once he realizes how much more space we'll have here," Takuya pointed out. "And we could always use the extra cash, right?"

Andy sighed. "I guess…" He wasn't liking the idea, but he knew when he was outvoted.

"Great, we'll have a big garage sale on Saturday afternoon, when Mom and Dad go out on their patrol," Danny decided. "I can call Tucker and Sam to help out as well."

"Heh, were you feeling a little guilty for pushing them away, bro?" Andy asked.

Danny blinked. "Have I been doing that?"

"Ever since you got that invitation, yeah." Takuya replied as Andy folded his arms and nodded.

"Oh yeah, big time." Andy agreed.

Danny frowned. "Right… I guess I have… I better apologize. But this party… it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me."

"For you to what exactly, bro? Be a part of the popular kids?" Andy asked.

"Well… you can't deny the popular kids do have certain power in school," Danny pointed out. "It's hard to not want that."

Takuya frowned. "Yeah, but is it worth the way they treat the other kids?"

Andy gave a look to Takuya before he glanced back at Danny. "Danny, bro, I don't think it's worth the pizazz they have. I will admit, they do have a lure, considering the benefits they get at school, but I've seen how they treat others, even each other. They wait for you to mess up, and when you do, they'll pounce you, and make sure you never forget it, before pushing you back down to the 'lower ranks'."

"They… really do that?" Danny asked.

"They try to hide it. The only reason I know about this is because they never notice when one person, sitting far away, is watching them," Andy explained. "After watching them for about a month, it's easy to see how they would cannibalise each other. They aren't real friends, not like Tucker and Sam."

Takuya looked at Andy, surprised he had picked up on something like that so quickly. _Well, more like after a month, but still…_

Danny looked down, suddenly feeling guilty about how he had been treating them. "Oh…"

"Hey, cheer up, bro," Andy said gently. "It's not too late to apologize. Tucker and Sam do want you to have a good time at the party, that's why they haven't said anything to you about you ditching them."

Danny gave a weak grin. "What did I do to deserve friends like them and a brother like you?" He then hugged Andy, who gave a chuckle as he hugged his brother back.

Takuya grinned as he joined in on the hug. "Don't forget your cousin~" He couldn't help but laugh as he hugged both of his cousins.

Andy was surprised when Danny suddenly hugged him, he didn't expect Danny to do that, but he couldn't help but enjoy the hug. It felt like it had been a lifetime since he was able to hug Danny without Danny suddenly going stiff, or going through him somehow.

_I didn't realize how much I missed hugging my brother…_ Andy thought to himself as he savored the group family hug.

Takuya then looked around at the junk. "So… are we going to sell this or what?" He had forgotten about the idea when the group hug had occurred.

"Right… well, I think it might be good to sell this stuff. The extra money would be nice for future investment," Andy finally relented, though he was reluctant to release the hug. "Just… don't tell Dad when he realizes the tool shed is empty."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Danny smiled.

* * *

When the boys came back into the house, they were relieved to see Jazz had ordered them take out for dinner tonight due to Maddie needing to keep the living hot dogs from attacking the family.

Andy noticed that Dorimon was gone, however. "Jazz… uh… didn't I leave a plushy on this table?"

Jazz looked at Andy. "Oh, yes, you did. I brought it upstairs so it wouldn't get messy from food or ectoplasm."

"Oh, so the plushy is on my bed?" Andy asked for clarification.

"Yup," Jazz answered. "How much did it cost? It seems so… lifelike."

"Ah… it um… wasn't too expensive… I guess I just got lucky," Andy chuckled a little nervously.

"Well, it felt like the plushy was staring at me. I know it's just a toy, but it was still weird." Jazz noted as she looked down in thought. "Maybe our parents' obsession with ghosts is starting to get to me too if I am beginning to think an inanimate object is staring at me."

"Maybe I should take a look at it to make sure a ghost isn't possessing the toy," Maddie suggested.

"NO! N-no, no, it's fine, there's nothing ghostly about Dor- my stuffed animal," Andy quickly insisted. "It's just really, really well made."

Takuya had felt relief flood his body when Andy came up with that lie. He was worried about Dorimon for a moment. _Nice cover, Andy._ He thought. "Yeah… uh, it's a… replica of a… famous movie monster from Japan!"

"Oh, is it now?" Maddie said with a bit of interest.

"Yeah. And it was the last one on shelves, so they probably don't have anymore," Andy added.

"Where did you get it from?" Jazz asked curiously.

"At… one of the toy stores at the mall… I can't remember which one exactly, we were just looking around when I saw it," Andy shrugged.

Maddie frowned a bit, but didn't question it. Toy stores sold all kinds of toys all the time, so it made sense that Andy wouldn't know which one it came from. "Well, take better care of it and don't leave it around the house like that next time."

"R-right… sorry… Dad just kinda sprung the box on me," Andy apologized.

"What toy?" Danny asked curiously.

"Oh… just a plushy I bought from the mall. I figured it was better than a demonic teddy bear," Andy shrugged.

Danny blinked. "You're _still_ afraid of Bearbert?"

"Do _not_ bring up that demonic bear!" Andy hissed. He shivered at the thought of what that bear could do to him.

Jazz frowned, looking guilty. Takuya didn't know what the story was, he just knew Andy always had this weird fear of teddy bears, especially Bearbert, Jazz's personal teddy bear.

Takuya then sighed. "I don't think I want to know about that…" _Although I am curious…_

"You've gotta show me this plushy then, bro," Danny said. "I'm curious to see what it is."

"... Uh… sure… yeah, there… shouldn't be any reason why I can't show you…" Andy gave a nervous grin._ Oh… this might be bad. If ghosts can sense Digimon, what if Phantom senses Dorimon while inside Danny?_

Takuya also had a nervous look. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea. _Aw man… I hope Phantom doesn't sense Dorimon is a Digimon…_

Danny, however, noticed their nervous looks, it was the same look he got whenever he was trying to keep his secret from them. "Is… everything okay?"

"Everything is perfectly fine, bro!" Andy laughed._ Maybe it's not as bad as we think. I mean we still don't have a confirmation that Phantom is indeed inside my brother, it's only speculation after all..._

"Yeah, it's all fine." Takuya replied with a nervous grin.

After eating dinner, Takuya followed Andy and Danny into their room. He wanted to be there in case things went south. Andy opened the door to their room, wanting to block Danny from seeing the inside right away in case Dorimon was moving around.

"Hey! There's my _STUFFED ANIMAL_," Andy said, emphasising on 'stuffed animal', because he saw Dorimon pacing on the floor.

Dorimon quickly fell to the ground to look as lifeless as possible before Andy walked inside to let Danny see the room.

Takuya watched with apprehension, keeping an eye on things as Danny saw the 'toy' on the floor.

"Wow, that _does_ look life-like." Danny noted as he walked over to 'it'. "Wonder why Jazz left it on the floor though."

"She probably left it on the edge of the bed, and it fell down," Andy shrugged, watching carefully as Danny bent down to pick up Dorimon.

There was no sign of Phantom reacting to Dorimon's presence, which was a relief to Takuya and Andy. It seemed the ghost, if it _was_ inside Danny, wasn't picking up on him.

"Wow, I like how they made the fur, it really feels real," Danny complimented as he stroked Dorimon's head and back, feeling the fur.

"Uh… yeah, that's how well made it is," Andy lied. He could see Dorimon was trying hard not to let out a small purr of pleasure. "Um… I'll take my toy back now."

"Heh, feeling a little protective of it, bro?" Danny chuckled as he handed Dorimon back to Andy. "You know, maybe I'll try to buy one myself."

Takuya looked a bit surprised. "Um, well… it was the last one, and it was a limited offer too. We can't be sure they are any more left."

Danny pouted at that. "Fine, then you'll have to share this one, bro. Cause I wanna be able to cuddle with it too."

Andy sweatdropped, he knew Danny liked to cuddle with his own stuffed animals at night, but he didn't think he would want to do it with Dorimon, especially if they were right and Phantom is inside Danny. "Uh… well…"

Dorimon gave a look of 'I don't mind' to Andy, likely because he was enjoying Danny's petting.

Andy noticed the look before he sighed. "Okay… just… don't try to hog it." He handed Dorimon back to Danny.

"Don't worry, bro, I wouldn't do that. And I promise to take real good care of it." Danny smiled.

Takuya couldn't help but chuckle at how this situation turned out. _I think this turned out better than we could have hoped_. He noted.

* * *

_On Saturday, outside of Fenton Works_

Danny, Tucker, Sam, Andy, and Takuya had made a big garage sale after cleaning up the ectoplasm from their parents' junk. Sam was a pretty good salesperson, and Takuya had a few experiences with handling customers, so they were in charge of bringing in the customers. Tucker and Andy worked with the products more, figuring out what each of them were, what they did, and put them in different categories on different tables, so the buyers would know what to look for. Danny did a mix of both inventory and customer service.

"This is a perfectly good vacuum motor, Mr. Lancer." Danny said as he handed the motor to his teacher. "Ten bucks."

"It looks to be in fine shape," Mr. Lancer noted before he smiled. "This should replace my Hair Hornet very nicely." He handed Danny a ten dollar bill.

"Hair Hornet? As in those crazy hair cutting machines you see on TV? Don't you need hair for that?" Tucker asked when he heard what Mr. Lancer said, pointing at the bald head.

"Very funny, Mr. Foley," Mr. Lancer grumbled. "I'll remember that on Monday, when I'm grading tests."

Takuya gave a look to Tucker. "I don't think he meant his head, Tucker. Hair can grow in other places than the head."

Tucker shivered. "Eew, I don't need to know that."

Takuya chuckled at that. "Shows what you know~"

Sam then came up with another five dollar bill. "Just sold a toaster." She then looked at the pile. "You know, I'm surprised your dad's letting you sell all this stuff." She gave a bit of a smirk. "He's such a packrat."

"Yeah, well, he's been meaning to get rid of this stuff for a while, he won't even miss it! … I hope," Danny said.

"He probably will overreact at first, but once he calms down, I think he'll be fine," Andy shrugged. "Considering how much he and Mom make on a daily basis, that shed will be filled back up with junk in no time at all."

Takuya chuckled. "Ain't that the truth?" He gave a silly grin before he opened up a folded mirror to have the sun reflect off his face.

"Where did you get that?" Andy asked.

"Hey, that's mine!" Tucker pouted when Takuya stole the mirror.

"You snooze, you lose~" Takuya teased.

Andy rolled his eyes at his cousin's antics, before he turned around and was surprised to see Dash was here. Andy looked back at Danny and Sam, they were talking to each other. Takuya was keeping Tucker distracted with his mirror, so Andy decided to go see what Dash was doing.

"Hey Dash, are you looking for something?" Andy asked his former bully.

"Your sister has given me so much extra schoolwork, my computer is overloaded." Dash replied. "I need something to make it work."

"Hmm… what kind of software are you running?" Andy asked.

"I think my Dad called it Portal XL," Dash answered.

"Ah… well…" Andy looked around for a moment, he remembered he had something that Dash could use, then he found it.

Andy held up a box and a jewel case that had a disc inside it. "You can install this latest edition to Portal XL, it should help your computer to run much faster and easier, as well as give it extra room on your harddrive. It comes with a new motherboard. But I should warn you, you might want to find a different software for your computer eventually, there's always a gigantic hole in the latest edition to Portal XL's security system, the last thing you would want is for someone to hack into your computer. I'll also throw in the upgrade disc if your computer is still moving too slow for you."

"Okay, that all sounds pretty good, but how much do they cost altogether?" Dash asked.

"Tell you what, I'll give you a discount. Twenty bucks will be enough to cover it all," Andy answered.

Dash nodded at the deal. "Okay, I guess I'll take it then." He then handed Andy a twenty dollar bill. "I'll see you-err… your brother tonight."

"That's okay, there's not much point in hiding the fact that I'll be there since I'll have to tell my brother that me and Takuya will be there as well tonight," Andy admitted.

Dash gave a sheepish grin. "Right, sorry about that. But I'm looking forward to seeing you and your cousin there."

"Good luck with your homework," Andy chuckled.

When Dash left, Andy walked over to Danny before giving him the 20 dollar bill he got from Dash. "I just sold the Portal XL to Dash."

Danny turned to Andy, taking the 20 dollar bill. "Oh nice, 20 dollars."

"We should probably pack it up soon. Mom and Dad will be home in an hour," Andy suggested. "We may not have sold everything, but we sold enough to make a lot of room for the shed."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. That we did." He looked around; lots of stuff was gone now save for a few boxes that still had junk in them.

Dorimon was off sleeping in another box, hidden from view. It was a nice, cool yet warm day, and Dorimon enjoyed listening to the background noise of people, it made him feel like everything was right in the world, no ghost or Digimon attacks, just people going on about their day.

"So, are you still planning on going to that party tonight, Danny?" Sam asked as they started to clean up. "You know, you're welcome to come to my place tonight. I was planning on a movie marathon since it's the weekend and all."

Andy looked at Sam in surprise. "Wait, really? I don't think we've ever been invited to your place, have we?" Then Andy paused for a moment. "Or is that offer just for Danny and Tucker?"

Sam then paused as she looked down. Guilt crept onto her face as soon as she heard Andy ask that. "Sorry about that, Andy…" She then looked up at him. "But you and Takuya can come too… err… if you want."

"Well… I did still want to go to the party, if nothing else, just to see what it's like. If you want, I could probably bring a camera with me so I could show you two later what it's like," Danny offered, wanting to make up for not hanging out with his friends tonight.

Sam frowned. "Okay, if you're sure." She then looked at Andy and Takuya. "What about you two? Are you interested or not?"

"Be sure to get a lot of pictures of the ladies while you're there, Danny," Tucker winked.

"We actually do have plans tonight," Andy answered. "But thanks for the offer, Sam, it was… thoughtful."

There wasn't much Andy could say that wouldn't make Sam feel more guilty. If he had said 'generous' or 'nice', it would imply that it was nice of his supposed friend for including him on the invite to hang out with her. Takuya realized this when Andy had to pause before he settled on saying 'thoughtful'.

Takuya looked at Andy, wondering if he was feeling bitter towards Sam and Tucker for pushing him away still. _I hope you don't feel bitter towards them still, Andy… maybe I should talk to him about it later._

"So, it looks like it'll just be you and me at your place tonight," Tucker chuckled at Sam.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Sam smiled.

* * *

Later, that evening, after everyone finished cleaning up, and packed up the rest of the stuff that they didn't sale back to the tool shed, Tucker and Sam headed home, while Danny, Andy, and Takuya went back into the house.

"What do you think I should wear for the party if not those sweats?" Danny asked Andy as they were in their room, and Danny was checking their closet.

Andy was sitting on his bed, with Dorimon on his lap. "Why not just wear what you always wear? Besides…"

Andy saw that Danny's closet was full of the same white t-shirt with the red oval, and blue baggy pants. "It's not like you have much of a choice. We really should try buying different clothes."

Danny sheepishly chuckled. "Yeah… we probably should." He then looked at Andy's own closet. "Your closet is not much better than mine." Sure enough, Andy's closet was filled with the same black t-shirt with the blue triangle and the dark red baggy pants.

"Mom and Dad aren't much for clothes shopping, so they've just been buying the same clothes for us because it works, I guess," Andy shrugged. "What are we, living inside a cartoon TV show where the characters rarely, if at all, change their outfit?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and think that, bro. Maybe I could ask Jazz if she has anything..."

"I still think you should just wear what you usually wear," Andy shrugged.

"But it's my first party with the popular kids, I at least want to look good." Danny frowned.

"You look fine in what you usually wear, bro, and if anyone has a problem with it, well then, it wasn't worth sucking up to them, now was it?" Andy remarked.

Danny sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Oh, there's one more, little thing that I should tell you," Andy spoke up.

"Hmm? What is it?" Danny asked curiously.

"Takuya and I were also invited to Dash's party," Andy revealed.

Danny blinked before it hit him what Andy had just said. "WHAT?!"

"Did I forget to tell you that?" Andy smiled innocently.

"Yes, yes you did!" Danny revealed. "How could you forget to tell me something like _that_?"

"I didn't forget, you goober, I just didn't want everyone to know I was going until I got there," Andy answered. "You already know my opinion on popular kids and how they suck up to you."

Danny sighed. "Yes, I do. Which is why I'm surprised that you got invited. Did Jazz convince Dash to invite you and Takuya as well?"

"You… _could_ say that," Andy hesitated.

Danny blinked, but accepted the explanation. "Are you going to go though? This party doesn't really seem like your… kind of thing."

"I'm going," Andy confirmed. "Since you're going. I was hoping to go there to spend some time with you."

Danny was surprised, but a bit touched as well. "That's touching."

Danny then looked at the 'toy' on Andy's lap. "Are you leaving that home?"

"No, I'm bringing him," Andy answered.

"Oh? You assigned a gender to it already?" Danny noted.

"... Yes," Andy replied. "I also gave him a name; Dorimon."

Danny blinked. "That's an odd name."

Andy shrugged. "Hey, it works for me, so I'm sticking with it."

"Alright, whatever floats your boat, bro," Danny chuckled. "But don't blame me if the other popular kids make fun of you for bringing a stuffed animal."

"If anything, I think most of the girls would go ga-ga over him~" Andy smirked.

Danny pouted at that. "That's unfair."

Andy just laughed at that. "I was just teasing, bro."

Danny blinked before giving a small smile at that. "It… felt like it's been too long since we just teased each other."

"Maybe…" Andy sighed. "Hey, let's get you into one of your nicest clothes, even if it looks no different from your other clothes."

Danny chuckled again. "Sure, bro."

* * *

Now that Danny and Andy were dressed, even though they wore the same exact thing, they headed into the kitchen. Andy had Dorimon in his backpack again, since it was a comfortable spot for Dorimon, and Andy didn't want to have to carry Dorimon in his arms everywhere.

Jazz groaned as she slammed the refrigerator door shut. "Guess we're getting more takeout…"

Takuya had come down as well, wearing his usual outfit. "What, those hot dogs still rabid?"

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure they just contaminated the rest of our food," Jazz grumbled. "Or ate them. Better get the grocery shopping list…"

Takuya then looked at Danny and Andy. "You ready, Danny?" He was trying to keep the fact he was invited a secret, not knowing Andy had already told Danny about them going as well.

"Aren't you coming, Takuya?" Danny asked.

Takuya blinked before looking at Andy in confusion.

"I told him. Might as well let him know before we leave," Andy shrugged.

Takuya sighed. "Well, I guess I am coming then." He then glanced at Andy. "I wasn't expecting Danny to know, but I can't complain."

"What were we going to tell him then? That we were just following him to Dash's party?" Andy chuckled.

"That would be creepy." Danny grinned playfully.

Takuya gave a playful shove to Danny. "You are the son of ghost hunters. What is creepy to you?"

"Hey, ghosts may be creepy in one way, but humans can be creepy in their own, different way," Danny replied.

"Danny is right, just because you can't be creeped out by one thing doesn't mean another type wouldn't creep you out," Jazz added. "Not that there are any ghosts in real life."

_Seriously? How blind do you have to be to not have seen those ghosts in the past 2 weeks? Then again the media have been trying their hardest to cover it up._ Andy inwardly sighed.

Takuya frowned at Jazz's comment, but he didn't call her out on it. _It's not her fault she doesn't know about ghosts yet. But it's only a matter of time… not even Jazz will be able to stay in the realm of denial forever if ghosts keep popping up._

"So are you going to change soon, Jazz?" Danny asked.

"Nah, I'm not going," Jazz answered. "I have a lot of homework tonight, and also gotta get the grocery shopping list done for tomorrow. After I convince our parents to remove those rabid hot dogs out of our fridge."

Takuya just sighed. "Okay, we'll just let you get to that then." He grabbed Andy and Danny's arms and pulled them out of the kitchen. "We'll just be on our way now."

"Be sure to come home before it gets too late," Jazz said.

"WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!" They all heard Jack screaming out.

"And you three better get going before Dad gets here. I think he actually trained those hot dogs," Jazz quickly said as she walked out of the kitchen quickly.

Takuya paled at hearing that. "I… think we will." He then proceeded to get behind the twins and push them out of the house.

Danny and Andy didn't struggle as Takuya quickly pushed them out before Jack came barrelling into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and shouted, "COVER ME BOYS!"

They heard growling and barking before they closed the door behind them.

"Good thinking there, cuz." Danny said once they were away from the house.

"I don't want to know how Uncle Jack was able to train the rabid hot dogs, let alone be in the same room as those things." Takuya shivered. "Thinking about it makes me shiver with the chills."

"It's Dad, he could train anything," Danny chuckled sheepishly. "I once saw him train a fish to jump and tail whip a ball."

Takuya blinked. "Okay, that sounds like something he would do."

Andy chuckled as well. "And the fish hit the ball onto a target too."

"You know, it would be pretty scary if Dad actually trained a ghost instead of trying to hunt them. Can you imagine what it would be like if Dad had an army of trained ghosts?" Danny asked.

"... Yeah, I'd rather not picture that, thank you," Andy quickly said.

Takuya nodded in agreement. "That would be creepy."

The three of them walked down the street, heading to Dash's house, they were just chatting away, excited to see what the party will be like, even Andy was starting to get excited. Then suddenly, a light blue mist came out of Danny's mouth, Andy could feel Dorimon shivering in his backpack, and Takuya felt a sudden heat inside him.

Looking around, Andy suddenly heard what sounded like a buzzing noise. When he looked up, he saw what looked like a glowing green shaver coming at them. "Um, guys? Hit the deck!"

Takuya heard Andy's exclamation and dove to the ground as Andy shoved his brother down with him.

However, as the flying shaver came down at them, its cord wrapped around Andy's waist and pulled him up into the air. Andy yelped as he was pulled up. Then the shaver pointed its claws at him, intending to slice through Andy. Andy hissed as his reflex saved him, he sandwiched the cord between his feet, stopping the shaver short from reaching his face, but it did struggle to pull itself from Andy's feet.

"ANDY!" Both Takuya and Danny screamed as the shaver was trying to get at Andy's face.

* * *

**Titanic X:****DarkFoxKit:** I'm glad you liked it.

**ZAFT:** Same here!

**Luna Lillyth:****DarkFoxKit: **I'm surprised you got into this fanfic without knowing anything about Digimon since the story is written in a way that kind of assumes that you know something about Digimon. ^^'

**ZAFT**: Hey, if it got them into it, then we can consider that a good thing! ^^


	9. Party Crashers

**ZAFT: **Here is the next chapter~! ***Looks at Andy*** And Andy had better left that Switch alone.

**Andy:** I can't get to it right now. Fox is busy with it.

**DarkFoxKit:** Come on, gimme that shiny Ampharos! DX

**ZAFT:** I caught a shiny Greedent after 40 encounters with one. XD Anyway, off to the chapter! Unless Fox wants to add anything else.

**DarkFoxKit:** This isn't a normal Pokemon game, it's Mystery Dungeon DX. I tell you, I ran into 3 shinies in this game, before I got the Friend Bow. I don't know if it's true, but I've heard it's impossible to recruit shinies without it. Now that I have the Friend Bow I can't find a shiny anywhere! ***pouts***

**Andy:** And even if you did, you still have a chance of failing it.

**DarkFoxKit:** … Andy, would you like to become part of the game?~

**Andy:** And that's my cue to leave.

**ZAFT:** Well, that would explain it then~

* * *

**Chapter 9: Party Crashers**

Andy's eyes widened in horror with the shaver suddenly transformed itself into a large butcher knife, likely intending to cut off Andy's head. Andy could hear Takuya and Danny screaming out his name.

Takuya and Danny were both having their own inner dilemma, they wanted to help Andy, but that would mean exposing themselves to the other. But if they didn't do something now, Andy would die.

Deciding it wasn't worth keeping their secret over their brother and cousin's life, Danny lifted his arms, intending to do something while Takuya got out his D-Tector.

Dorimon stuck out his head from Andy's backpack and shot out pink bubbles at the cord. The bubbles melted the cord down enough that it broke, causing Andy to fall just before the giant butcher knife could come down on him. Seeing Andy suddenly falling, Danny stopped doing whatever it was he was doing and ran over to catch his falling brother.

Andy landed on Danny, sending them both to the ground. "OOOF!"

"Ugh… Sorry, bro…" Andy groaned from on top of his brother.

"Don't apologize, you almost died just now!" Danny pointed out, looking his brother over. "Are you okay? How did you escape?"

"Uh… just lucky, I guess," Andy shrugged before seeing the butcher knife turning back into a shaver. "We should probably get out of here before it decides to grab another one of us."

"No questions asked here," Takuya said as he ran over to the twins. "Let's scram!"

The three of them quickly began running as the shaver flew after them.

"What does it want!?" Takuya frowned, getting annoyed with this.

"It's a ghost possessed object, who knows what it wants!" Danny shouted.

"If it's coming after us, I think it wants us dead!" Andy answered.

Looking back again, Takuya growled. He _so_ wanted to kick that thing away, but it would come back no doubt. Still, they had to do something, so, he pulled out his Fenton Rod and extended it before turning and swinging the end at the shaver.

With a THUNK, the shaver was knocked away several feet.

"What… where did you get that?" Danny asked, surprised at the Fenton Rod his cousin was holding.

"Just… an incident at the zoo involving a ghost." Takuya lied. Well, it was half true anyway. "It made me realize carrying around a Fenton weapon would be better than being unarmed."

Andy looked back, seeing the shaver floating back up, and it looked like it was going to come down at them again, before it began to spark with electricity. A minute later, the shaver quickly floated up into the sky and flew away somewhere.

"Looks like it decided we weren't worth the trouble…" Andy noted, seeing it leave.

"I hope you're right…" Takuya agreed. Then he sighed and put his Fenton Rod away. "Let's go. I think we're going to be late if we don't hustle."

"Wait… are you sure we should still be going? Andy almost died to that thing, and there might be more out there," Danny asked in concern, looking at Andy worriedly.

"I'm fine, Danny, really. I may have almost died, but at least I wasn't in pain like you were…" Andy said quietly. "Besides… are you sure you really want to miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity?"

Danny frowned. "I don't know… Not after what nearly happened to you." He then sighed. "But… I don't want to miss this either."

"Come on, let's go, you two need some cheering up, and spending more time together at a party is a great way to do it," Takuya spoke up. "Besides, it would be a good chance for you to make it up to Andy, Danny, don't you think?"

Andy and Danny looked at one another before Danny sighed.

"Well, I guess it would be fun." Danny admitted. "And I do want to have some time to bond with Andy again."

Andy looked at his brother. "Okay, we'll continue on to the party if you want to, Danny."

The three of them continued walking to Dash's house, though they were more alert in case anymore unwanted attacks happened. Thankfully, they reached Dash's house without anymore incident.

"So… uh… who wants to be the one who rings the doorbell?" Danny asked a little nervously.

Takuya just reached up and knocked on the door. When the door opened, Dash was at the entrance. Danny blinked as he saw Dash was wearing a shirt that was just like his, and matching pants. "Hey, you like it?" Dash asked as he looked at the threesome.

"Where did you get that?" Andy asked, surprised, he had only ever seen Danny wear that shirt.

"Oh, I found it on sale at the mall since I didn't have enough money for those sweats." Dash replied. "I changed the dress code to loser chic."

Danny looked into the house, seeing how everyone else were wearing the same kind of clothes he, Tucker, Sam, and Andy wore. Though none of them wore what Takuya wore.

"Though I have to say, I'm surprised you didn't wear those sweats I showed you," Dash added, looking at Danny. "I thought that was why you had that garage sale… or that you said you had two, didn't you?"

Danny frowned. "I… didn't want to ruin them." He admitted. "It seemed a bit much so…"

"You should just tell him, Danny," Andy whispered. "We're never going to get those sweats anyways, it's best to just be honest about it, or else you will get caught eventually."

Danny sighed, knowing his brother had a point. "Okay, you got me…" He then looked back up at Dash. "I don't have the sweats. I just… didn't want to look like a fool when you were going to have me wear them."

Dash was a bit surprised that Danny just admitted that he didn't actually have the sweats. "Well… I suppose it doesn't matter anyways. At least you're in dress code. Come on in, the party is just getting started."

The three of them made their way into the party, with Dash shutting the door behind them. Takuya looked around, seeing how all the popular kids were enjoying themselves.

Danny felt a bit odd being at a party where people were dressed like him and his brother. "This is… awkward…"

"Are we seriously the only 'losers' in school? I mean really, there are other people like Mikey who are way more geeky then we are," Andy huffed, seeing how so many people were dressed like him and Danny, as well as Tucker and Sam. Most of the girls dressed like Sam.

"You like it?" Paulina suddenly asked as she walked up to them, wearing Sam's outfit. "It's so horrible that it's cool! … So, who dressed you two up, your mom?"

"I'll have you know this is our original look, and you're all ripping off of it!" Andy snapped, glaring at Paulina.

Takuya glared at her as well, but he kept his temper under control, lest he have some part of his Spirits come out in his personality. "Andy, it's just a party. It's nothing to get too mad over."

Dash was surprised at how quickly Andy latched into Paulina's attitude.

"At least the girl makes the black work," Paulina snapped back.

"I'm not a goth like she is, and neither are you, unless that was the look you intended to go for," Andy hissed back.

Danny grabbed onto Andy's shoulder and pulled him back. "Easy bro… uh… sorry, Paulina, we'll go somewhere else."

Paulina glared as Andy was dragged away by Danny, Andy never breaking his glare with the popular girl. Takuya didn't even look back at her as he turned away.

"Andy, just calm down." Takuya assured his cousin. "As I said, it's just a party. Geez." _Now I'm beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea…_

Andy finally tore his glare away from Paulina before he gave Takuya and Danny a smile. "Right, let's have some fun and enjoy ourselves~"

Takuya gave a grin of his own. "So, let's find a way to party already!"

Dash sighed in relief when he saw that Andy calmed down, he knew about his distaste for Paulina, but he didn't know how far it went.

When the party got started, most of the popular kids were either dancing to loud music or chatting with each other. Andy snuck over to the food bar so he could let Dorimon out to eat.

As soon as he was at the food bar, Andy snuck Dorimon some cheese and pieces of sausage that were on a plate. The In-Training Digimon chowed down happily as he did so.

"Hey, what is that?" Someone suddenly said.

Andy froze for a moment before he turned around, seeing one of the popular girls, Star if Andy remembered right, was looking at Dorimon in surprise.

"Uh… my… puppy," Andy hesitantly answered.

Star looked on at Dorimon with a look that bordered on gushing. "He's so cute~ Can I pet him?"

"Uh… well…" Andy hesitated before Star ran over to Dorimon before he could answer.

"His fur is so soft, and he's so sweet!" Star giggled as she petted Dorimon, who leaned into the petting.

Andy blinked before he sighed. It seemed Dorimon could play the part of a puppy well. _At least I don't have to worry about Dorimon being mistaken for something else._

"When did you get him?" Star asked.

"Uh… just a few weeks ago." Andy lied.

"Hey, what's Star looking at?"

"I don't know, but she's giggling, it must be something good."

"With one of the loser twins?"

The other girls started to approach Andy and Star, seeing Dorimon in Andy's arms. The girls began to gush as soon as they saw the little In-Training Digimon, and were now all but pouncing Andy.

"Gah! Takuya! Danny! Help!" Andy cried out as all the girls were trying to pet or hold Dorimon themselves.

Dorimon had no idea on what to do at this point.

Takuya heard Andy's cry and ran over. "Hey, excuse me! Let me through!" He managed to wedge in between a few girls and saw what they were gushing over. He felt a sweat-drop run down the side of his head. _Okay, maybe bringing Dorimon was a bad idea…_

Dorimon saw Takuya and wormed his way out of the grasp of the girls and over to the older boy. The little guy was shaking a bit now.

"These girl humans are crazy," Dorimon whispered.

"They love cute things." Takuya whispered back. "What can you do?"

Andy was pushed through the crowd of girls, nearly crashing into Takuya and Dorimon. "Come on, let's head upstairs and hide for a bit."

Takuya nodded. "Good idea." He didn't want to have Dorimon scared anymore than he already was. "I think it would do Dorimon some good too."

"Hey, where's that cute little puppy?" One of the girls asked.

Takuya and Andy booked it towards the stairs before the girls could realize Dorimon was gone.

Once they were making their way upstairs, Takuya looked back, still holding Dorimon. "I think next time we won't bring Dorimon, or at least keep him in the backpack."

Andy sighed. "Sorry about that, Dorimon. I didn't think these girls would lack such self restraint."

Dorimon looked at Andy. "You didn't know, so it's not your fault."

Takuya chuckled. "Girls can be a bit crazy sometimes."

"Which reminds me… I didn't see Valerie here, did she not get invited or did she decide not to come?" Andy wondered as they reached the top of the stairs.

Before Takuya could answer, however, he suddenly got that hot feeling again. Dorimon started to growl, facing a door.

Looking over, Andy was confused before he remembered how Dorimon and Takuya tended to react around ghosts. "Um… is it a ghost or a Digimon?"

Takuya looked back at Andy. "I'm sensing a ghost."

Suddenly, there was shaking in the house, and a loud cry as well as loud laughter. It was coming from the door. Andy, cautiously, opened the door to see what was going on inside. To his, Takuya, and Dorimon's surprise, they saw that Phantom kid again, and he appeared to be fighting with Dash's floating computer. The computer had a face, a familiar face.

"Shit…" Takuya hissed. "I think that is Technus, if that face and voice are familiar."

"That ghost is here?" Dorimon asked, a bit nervous now.

"And it took over Dash's computer…" Andy frowned. "The ghost boy, Phantom, is fighting him now though. Let's see what happens first before we jump into it."

Takuya had to agree with Andy on this one. "Good call."

Andy really wanted to see if his theory on Phantom taking over Danny's body was true, that was what he was looking for as Phantom was confronting Technus.

Technus laughed as different parts of glowing technology came together to form a mechanical body. The body was pretty big, and it was mostly black with green glowing lines. Technus's face turned into a lime green face with only red eyes and red teeth to indicate a sinister smile. However, Technus started glitching out a bit.

"Oh no, you're not getting that upgrade disc and making yourself more powerful!" Phantom snapped.

"Huh?" Technus looked at the disc before he grinned. "What a great idea! You should be a tutor!"

Andy and Takuya frowned at that.

Phantom launched himself at Technus, however, Technus made a toaster appear from his back to hit Phantom with glowing toast. The toast was enough to hit Phantom, and sent him into Dash's closet. The closet door fell open, revealing a bunch of leather jackets, and colorful looking teddy bears. Andy paled at seeing those demonic little bears.

"They're building an _army_…" Andy hissed.

_SMACK_! Takuya's hand hit the older boy's face in disbelief. "Worry about the bears later, we have an issue in the room!" He pointed at Technus.

"Right… just… be ready to burn every single one of those bears when you spirit evolve," Andy said.

Takuya sighed before putting a hand on Andy's head and turning his face to Technus's form. "_That_ is the bigger issue, _not_ those bears."

Technus grabbed onto the disc, ready to insert it into his mecha form, but Phantom quickly tackled him into the wall before he could. Phantom was strong for someone so lean. Unfortunately, Technus apparently already had the disc in the insertion of his mecha form before Phantom tackled him, because the disc went inside after Technus hit the wall. Technus gave a hungry looking smirk. Phantom frowned, seeing this. He flew at Technus again, turning himself and Technus intangible before tackling him out the wall.

"We should go and help Phantom." Takuya said as he looked back at Andy. "He may need the back-up from us humans." The older boy took out his Fenton Rod to emphasize the point.

"Yeah, right," Andy agreed as they started to turn around to get to the front door, but they were surprised to see Dash standing there.

"What was going on? I heard a lot of crashing, yelling, and shaking noises coming from my room," Dash asked.

"A ghost was in your room, it took over your computer and made itself a mecha body," Andy quickly answered. "And that Phantom kid is fighting it outside right now."

Dash was surprised. "Wait, a _real_ ghost took over my computer?" He began to shake a bit. "A-and you want t-to go h-help another g-ghost?"

"Well, we have to do _something_!" Andy said back. "We did face with Digimon before, so we have some experience with dealing with things that are stronger than normal creatures! Maybe you can sic him with your teddy bear army."

Dash shook his head. "No, I can't sic my…" Dash sighed. "Forget the bears, Andy. But you do have a point. We _have_ faced down Digimon." He then looked around and found his own Fenton Rod. He hefted the rod as he looked at Andy. "Let's go."

"What about your party guests?" Takuya asked.

"Wait…" Dorimon frowned. "I sense something coming…"

"What? What's coming now?" Andy frowned.

Suddenly, the entire house was covered in fog.

"It's a digital field…?" Andy asked, looking around. "Fog doesn't usually come inside houses…"

Takuya frowned. "And when a ghost is around is when a Digital Field comes in… I think there is something odd going on, but I don't know what it is."

"Hey, what's going on with this weird fog?"

"Someone turn off the fog machine!"

"Dash, you get the guests to leave, Takuya, Dorimon, and I will try to find where the Digimon is going to emerge," Andy quickly instructed.

Dash frowned, but agreed. "Okay, but when they are safe, I am coming back to help." There was no room for argument in his voice.

Dash split up from the three, knowing that getting the party guests to leave will not be easy, but he knew this would be too dangerous for them.

"Where do you think the Digimon is coming from?" Andy asked Dorimon and Takuya since they could sense the Digimon.

Takuya looked around the room. "It seems to be strongest here." He was getting that feeling of heat again, and it was more insistent than ever.

Andy frowned before seeing a bright light starting to emerge in the middle of the room. "Dorimon, time to digivolve!"

"Right!" Dorimon jumped down onto the ground.

Andy's D-Tector glowed brightly before Dorimon was surrounded by data. "Dorimon digivolve to… Dorumon!"

In the middle of the room, several small forms appeared, making Takuya gasp at them in surprise. "Andy, those are ToyAgumon. They're weaker than a Champion level, so it should be easy for Dorumon to attack."

"ToyAgumon?" Andy blinked.

Dorumon's forehead gem glowed for a moment before Andy's D-Tector's screen glowed, then a holographic version of the ToyAgumon appeared in front of him. There was written data on it that Andy could read.

"ToyAgumon is a Puppet Digimon. A unique Digimon whose entire body is made up of unique plastic blocks. It is said that a child playing on the Internet created it by imitating Agumon's appearance, so it is very cute," Andy read out loud.

"They normally are harmless, but if that is the case, then why are they here in the real world?" Takuya mused as he looked at the ToyAgumon again.

Takuya remembered the ToyAgumon, he, Koji, and Tommy had faced them back in the Digital World, when they were corrupted by Cherubimon. But they didn't seem to be corrupted this time, so he wondered if there was a reason why they came here.

"It's just awful, terrible!" One of the ToyAgumon cried out.

"So much pain… it hurts… make it stop!" Another ToyAgumon roared.

Then Takuya remembered Dorumon when he had been fighting with Andy and Phantom before he had hatched and became Andy's partner. _Wait… Dorumon said he felt pain when in our world because of someone attacking him back in the Digital World. Is it possible that happened with these ToyAgumon too?_

"Calm down, please, just tell us what happened!" Dorumon said, hoping to try to calm the ToyAgumon down.

However, the ToyAgumon were still in a fit of panic and pain.

"We must rebuild!"

"Yes, rebuild!"

"Rebuild our protector!"

Suddenly, the ToyAgumon fell to pieces, like legos.

"Uh… was that supposed to happen?" Andy asked Takuya.

"I think it's best we get to open ground." Takuya suddenly said. "If they do that, then they're about to use their bodies to build something."

Before Andy or Dorumon could ask, the legos that made the ToyAgumon's bodies suddenly moved on their own. They scrambled onto the teddy bears that were in Dash's closet. The teddy bears were being put together, and all the fractal codes of the ToyAgumon began to infuse into the teddy bears.

"... I… suddenly have a very… very bad feeling…" Andy paled.

"Andy, RUN!" Takuya shouted before grabbing Andy's arm and Dorumon's tail, pulling both of them out of the room, down the stairs, through the living room, and out of the house to hopefully counter the teddy bear army outside.

As soon as they got outside, there was a loud crashing sound. Takuya, Andy, and Dorumon looked back to see bright fractal code had jumped out of the window, likely shattering the glass, and landed in front of them outside. When the fractal code dispersed, Takuya's eyes widened when he saw a huge black teddy bear, it looked a bit torn, and wore a red cape, its right paw had large furry claws strapped to it.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me…" Takuya muttered. "WaruMonzaemon…"

"I knew it! I told you that you should've burned those teddy bears!" Andy shouted.

Dorumon glared at WaruMonzaemon, the gem on his forehead glowed before Andy's 'D-Tector' showed another holographic version of the Digimon. "WaruMonzaemon is a Puppet Digimon. It is said that the WaruMonzaemon plush toy it wears on its waist is something that WaruMonzaemon sent to it."

"Wait a minute… this thing is an Ultimate!? How are we supposed to fight it?" Andy frowned in realization.

Takuya looked down at his D-Tector. "I could go Beast, but…" He wasn't sure if that would be a good idea right then and there.

"Try to hold off on that, Takuya. BurningGreymon is powerful, but he might cause a lot of damage to the city," Andy spoke up.

Takuya frowned, but had to agree. He sighed. "You're right. I guess it's best to wait." He then looked at Andy again.

"Pain… despair… feel it all!" WaruMonzaemon shouted, clearly not in his right mind.

"But you should still spirit evolve at least!" Andy quickly instructed. "Go with Agunimon, you have better control of your flames as him!"

Takuya nodded. "You got it!" The blue outline of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as fractal coding formed around his left hand. He then swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

With Takuya as Agunimon, he felt a little more confident in this fight.

WaruMonzaemon charged at this, the claw on his paw glowing as it grew. _"Bear Claw!"_

Agunimon saw that and gasped before dodging to the side, but the attack wound up clipping him on the arm, drawing some blood slightly. He hissed at the pain, but it didn't appear to be deep, so it wouldn't slow him down. But it did surprise him that he was able to draw blood as a Digimon, that had never happened before.

_"__Metal Cannon!"_ Dorumon shot out his iron balls at Waru's back, trying to slow him down or distract him.

The iron balls did cause Waru to flinch, but it otherwise didn't do much damage.

"No… I'm too weak to face an Ultimate level…" Dorumon frowned.

"Well, we can't just quit either." Andy pointed out. "Besides, I have a few ideas."

"Eh?" Dorumon looked at his partner.

"Dorumon, give me some of your Metal Cannon, I'm going to try something," Andy instructed.

"Oh, um… okay," Dorumon said, knowing it was best to just listen to Andy.

Agunimon, meanwhile, was trying to keep Waru's attention away from the other two. Waru was about to attack Andy and Dorumon after Dorumon attacked him.

_"__Pyro Darts!"_ Agunimon threw several small flame bits at Waru, managing to hit the Ultimate level Digimon on the arm.

Waru glared at Agunimon and began to charge at him again. He jumped over Agunimon suddenly, and slammed down his foot on Agunimon's head. _"Nasty Step!"_

Agunimon went down with a grunt, feeling like he was seeing stars. His vision was blurry, and his head ached like something fierce. He was sure he had a concussion with how hard that hit was. Still, he managed to get to his feet, turning to face Waru again. _C'mon Andy, hurry up! I can't keep this up for much longer…_

Dash came running out of the house, and gasped at seeing the fight. "Oh my gosh!"

"Dash! Get over here!" Andy called out quickly.

Dash ran over to Andy. "You need my help with something?"

"Yes… I need you to be brave for this, Dash," Andy said before he handed Dash an iron ball that was the size of his palm, there was a sticky note attached to it. "Throw this at that giant teddy bear as hard as you can!"

Dash blinked, but nodded. "Okay." He was confused about it, but figured Andy would tell him what it was that he had planned later on. He took the ball and hefted it. "One fast ball, coming up!" He threw it as hard and fast as he could, right at Waru's back.

The iron ball slammed into Waru's back, and Andy whispered something to Dorumon. Dorumon's forehead gem glowed for a second.

_"__Metal Explosion!"_ Dorumon called out.

The iron ball suddenly gave off a large explosion. Waru let out a cry as he stumbled forward, his back smoking.

"Throw another one, Dash!" Andy instructed.

Dash did as Andy asked, surprised at the plan, but eager to help nonetheless. "Sure thing!" He threw two more at Waru, one at his back and the other at his left shoulder.

"Now!" Andy instructed Dorumon.

_"__Metal Explosion!"_ Dorumon called out.

Like with the last one, the iron balls exploded, sending Waru stumbling to the right as his left shoulder was now smoking.

"Alright! That's it!" Andy smiled.

Waru, however, was still not done yet. He stopped moving and turned his attention to the three.

"I… don't like the way that bear is looking at us…" Dash gulped.

Dorumon quickly stood in front of them protectively.

_"__Heart Break Attack!"_ Waru shot out dark purple looking hearts at them.

Agunimon saw that and gasped. He remembered being hit by that same attack clearly when he was in the Digital World last time. He made to move quickly towards Andy, Dash, and Dorumon. If anyone was going to take that attack, it was him!

"Agunimon! Move!" Andy cried out.

The purple hearts popped when they hit Agunimon. Agunimon wasn't injured, but he felt emotionally crushed. He fell to his knees, fractal code surrounding his body before he reverted back to his human form.

"What… what did that thing do?" Dash asked, horrified.

Takuya shook, feeling like his heart was breaking. He couldn't answer Dash because of all the emotions he was feeling right then and there.

Waru was grinning at this.

"He was hit by WaruMonzaemon's Heart Break attack…" Andy frowned. "It apparently crushes one spirit so much they lose the will to fight."

"Watch out!" Dorumon warned.

_"__Heart Break Attack!"_ Waru summoned more purple hearts.

"Get down!" Andy yelled as he pushed Dash.

Andy was then hit by the attack, the hearts popping on him. The effects hit Andy harder than it did Takuya, because the depression made him remember Danny's accident and how it affected him and his family. And Andy couldn't stop thinking about what would have happened if Danny had died, if he had stopped breathing, and what if he was already dead and they didn't know it? Andy began to cry, unable to stop the thoughts and the feeling of hopelessness.

Dash was now horrified at what he was seeing. Andy and Takuya were hit by that attack, and he was the only one who could fight to protect them! He was shaking like a leaf, but he wasn't about to abandon his new friends.

"Andy…" Dorumon frowned. "Please… you have to fight it… I can't fight if you can't…"

Dorumon looked weakened himself, Andy's D-Tector stopped glowing and appeared to be shutting down as the boy continued to weep.

Hearing Dorumon's unnoticed pleas, Dash felt something happen. He wasn't sure what it was, but he _knew_ he had to help Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya.

While Dash was looking at them, he couldn't help but think back on all those times he would bully Andy and his brother. He had bullied a lot of other kids he considered weak and losers back then. They had probably cried a lot too, and he didn't care, he just kept doing it, because it made him feel good. But he never truly enjoyed it, he only made himself enjoy it because it was a part of the 'food chain', he had to do it, or he'd be weak like they were.

But Dash had realized something. They weren't the ones who were weak, they weren't the ones who pretended to enjoy beating up on other kids just to feel better about themselves, they weren't the ones trying to 'fit in' with the popular kids, feeling scared that if they slipped up, they would be seen as weak and losers. Andy had been strong and brave enough to stand up for him when he was being beaten up by someone stronger. Andy stood up for him despite what Dash had done to him and his brother and friends over the years. And Takuya stood by him, supporting him, and helping him even though he knew what Dash had done to his cousins.

Dash didn't like to be weak, he didn't like to be seen as weak, but he realized he had been weak. What could he do against a powerful Digimon? Dash shook his head. Even though he was only human, he didn't want his real friends to be hurt anymore. It was about time he fought back for someone other than himself.

Dash clenched his fists as he stood up straight and faced Waru himself. "You… You hurt my friends…" Dash then looked up, a glare in his eyes, one that held a feral look. "You will _regret_ hurting them!"

Then, Takuya's D-Tector began to beep and flash, just as a symbol appeared on the screen. Out came two orbs, glowing with data surrounding them. Dash saw the two orbs float over to him and in front of him before the fractal code dispersed, revealing the two idols in front of him. Dash blinked before his phone let out a beeping sound and

he took it out of his pocket, only for it to turn into a dark tan, and light tan device that looked oddly like Takuya's.

**"****It is time."** A feminine voice said from the device as an odd symbol appeared on the screen.

The two idols entered the device, just as the symbol for Wood showed up on the screen. Dash was gaping before images flashed into his mind of what to do. The tan digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he held up his hand with the fractal coding around it. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Dash felt his body increase in strength and power as he felt his skin become more like wood and he felt his senses increase in sharpness and sensitivity. His eyes turned a golden color as he finally landed, crying out his name as he did so. _"Arbormon!"_

Now as a Digimon himself, Dash looked down at himself, surprised, but he couldn't look at himself for long, because Waru wasn't going to stop just because he suddenly turned into a Digimon himself.

Arbormon looked back at Waru. "You will _pay_ for hurting my friends, you oversized child's toy!"

"Feel my despair! _Heart Break Attack!"_ Waru shot out the purple hearts at Arbormon.

But Arbormon had an idea of what to do. He drew back a leg and let loose with one of his attacks. _"Roundhouse Punt!"_ The purple hearts were popped all in one blow.

Waru was shocked when he saw that. "How…?"

Arbormon was wondering how he could snap Andy and Takuya out of their despair, when he felt an instinct to hit the glowing thing in Waru's chest.

Arbormon then decided to heed the instinct and let loose another Roundhouse Punt towards Waru's chest.

"Hopefully this will beat some sense into you!" Arbormon stated as his attack hit Waru's chest directly.

Waru let out a scream of pain and backed away from Arbormon. "Noooo! What have you done!?"

Andy and Takuya snapped out of their depression state.

"Ugh… I feel like I was just rained on…" Andy groaned.

Dorumon smiled. "You're back!"

Takuya shook his head. "I _hate_ that attack…" He grumbled before looking up, only to see a sight he never thought he would see again. "Wait… _Arbormon?!"_

Andy shook his head for a minute, getting rid of the last bit of depression before looking at Arbormon himself. "Who?"

Dorumon smiled. "It's Dash! He somehow managed to spirit evolve while you two were out of it."

Dorumon faced Arbormon again before the gem of his forehead glowed.

"That's… actually Dash?" Andy said in surprised awe.

Then Andy's D-Tector beeped, he looked at it to see a holographic version of Arbormon appearearing. "Arbormon is a Cyborg Digimon. It possesses power over Wood which bears the might of AncientTroiamon. The blueprints of a medieval, wooden karakuri puppet converted into its data, so its gimmicks are surprisingly archaic."

"Arbormon was one of the Legendary Warriors, but…" Takuya was still in shock. "How did Dash… turn into him?"

Arbormon jumped away from Waru's Bear Claw attack, and landed near Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya. "Hey, are you guys alright?"

Takuya nodded, surprised at what he was seeing. "Yeah… I think so."

"We're fine, but… how did you become a Digimon, Dash?" Andy asked, surprised.

"I think the Spirit… The Warrior of Wood reacted to him when he showed his bravery and determination to protect you guys," Dorumon guessed.

Takuya perked up at that. "Then he must have been chosen to wield the Spirits." _It's similar to how my friends and I got our Spirits before._

"Thanks for snapping us out of that," The goggle-wearing boy added.

"No problem, but the battle isn't over yet," Arbormon pointed out. "WaruMonzaemon is still standing."

"He won't be for long," Andy said before he wrote something on a sticky note he pulled out of his pocket. "Dorumon?"

"Yeah," Dorumon spat out an iron ball, before handing it to Andy.

Andy placed the sticky note onto the iron ball. "Okay, now toss it!"

Dorumon threw the iron ball at WaruMonzaemon before his forehead gem glowed. The ball changed into an iron arrow. The arrow pierced right through the bear's chest, causing it to scream out in pain.

"That should weaken him enough for you to attack," Andy said to Arbormon.

Arbormon nodded. "Thanks, Andy!" He then turned to WareMonzaemon. _"Roundhouse Punt!"_ The kick hit WaruMonzaemon in the chest, causing the bear's form to turn black as fractal coding came out of his form.

Arbormon was surprised, but Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya were not.

"That's his fractal code!" Takuya exclaimed. "You need to scan it before he can be purified, or return to normal!"

The Warrior of Wood approached the blacked out form and pulled out the device. Arbormon held it up before he pressed a button on the side and the symbol for Wood appeared on the screen. "Time for you to sleep in the grip of the trees! _Fractal Code, Digitize!"_ Arbormon scanned the coding, only for it to enter the D-Tector when it was done. All that was left now was a pile of teddy bears and a group of unconscious ToyAgumon.

"Whoa… are those my teddy bears?" Arbormon asked, seeing the teddy bears on the ground.

"Why do you even have teddy bears?" Andy groaned.

Coding surrounded Arbormon, returning him to his normal human form of Dash. Dash collapsed to his knees, feeling exhausted for some reason, as well as really hungry. "How did I do that? And why am I so tired now?"

"That tends to happen after you spirit evolve the first time," Takuya chuckled. "It gets easier buddy."

"Spirit evolve…? You mean… like how you did?" Dash asked, surprised, before looking down at his D-Tector. "This is awesome!"

"Yep. The very same." Takuya confirmed. He then grinned. "And yeah, it can be awesome, especially because you have heightened senses and are stronger than a human."

"That's cool that Dash can become a Digimon now, but… that doesn't really answer why my D-Tector is so different compared to yours and Dash's," Andy said, looking at his D-Tector. "And why I can't turn into a Digimon myself."

Takuya looked at Andy's 'D-Tector' and frowned. "I don't know, but as I said, Ophanimon wouldn't send you a Digimon partner if she didn't have a plan in place." _But _why_ is Andy's 'D-Tector' different anyways?_

"Are you disappointed that you can't turn into a Digimon yourself, Andy?" Dorumon asked with a small frown.

Andy looked at Dorumon before shaking his head. "It would be cool to be a Digimon, but then I wouldn't have a great partner like you watching my back."

Dorumon blushed at the comment, making Dash and Takuya chuckle. "Looks like Dorumon is blushing~" The older cousin teased.

"H-hey! I am not!" Dorumon squeaked.

"Ugh…"

Everyone turned their attention to the ToyAgumon that were just waking up.

"What hit me…?" One of them asked.

Takuya wasn't sure what to expect, but he still stood up and made his way over to them. "You… were attacked. And then one of the Legendary Warriors saved you."

"We were saved, by a Legendary Warrior?" One of the ToyAgumon asked as Takuya nodded.

"Which one?" Another piped up.

"Ah… it was this wooden android-like Digimon," Takuya replied. "He called himself Arbormon."

Dorumon walked up to the ToyAgumon. The ToyAgumon looked a little relieved to see another Digimon here.

"So what happened to you guys? What were you doing here?" Dorumon asked.

"Oh… we…" The ToyAgumon looked around for a moment. "We… don't know. Where are we anyways?"

"Yeah, the last thing I remember was playing with Monzaemon, and the next thing I know, we were all in sudden pain and agony…" Another ToyAgumon answered, shivering.

"You guys are in the human world," Dorumon replied. "But I don't know how you got here."

"The bigger question is, how will we send them back to the Digital World?" Andy grumbled. "We can't have these ToyAgumon running around."

"There was something…" A ToyAgumon said. "There was some kind of weird light that we fell into before we ended up here."

"Takuya, didn't you say that a Trailmon was able to take you from the Digital World and back here?" Andy asked. "Do you think maybe we could contact a Trailmon or something to take these guys back?"

Takuya perked up and looked at Andy. "I think we could try. I never tried that before myself, but it's worth a shot." He then looked back at town. "But they will have to go to the train station. Underneath the station was where the Trailmon terminal was located. The elevator would go down to the Trailmon terminal, where there should be a Trailmon waiting for them."

He then took out his D-Tector and began to press buttons on it before he managed to get the symbol of Ophanimon to appear. _"Hello, Warrior of Flame."_

"Hey, Ophanimon!" Takuya grinned. "Good to hear from you."

There was a chuckle from the other end. _"Normally it is I who contact you. What changed that?"_

"We… have a bit of a situation… here in the real world…" Takuya began.

_"__I figured as much. While things are peaceful here in the Digital World… I fear that something is wrong. I have not heard from Seraphimon in a while, nor have I heard from Cherubimon,"_ Ophanimon informed.

"Oh boy…" Takuya sighed. "If Seraphimon is missing, and so is Cherubimon, I can't help but wonder if Cherubimon was corrupted again."

_"__It was not that Cherubimon was corrupted. Seraphimon began to act a bit… odd before he disappeared. Cherubimon said he found Seraphimon's location and was going to see what was wrong, but then he too disappeared. But when I went to check the location, all I found were impact marks from Cherubimon's attacks and Seraphimon was nowhere to be found either."_ Ophanimon replied._ "I can't say what had happened to them, but I am keeping a look out for them both."_

"Whoa…" Andy and Dash were crowded around Takuya, looking at the screen of his D-Tector.

"So that's Ophanimon, right? I thought I recognized her voice." Andy grinned.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. Hey, listen, we have some ToyAgumon who came to the real world through some kind of Digital Field, and we need you to send a Trailmon to the city of Amity Park to get them back to the Digital World. Think you can do that?"

_"__Of course,"_ Ophanimon chuckled. _"And I sensed you were not alone either. I am proud that a new Legendary Warrior has been chosen. And… that a new helper has come too."_ The image looked at Andy. _"Andrew Fenton, you have been gifted with a great partner to help you out. Your 'D-Tector', as you call it, is what your partner uses to evolve. And you can use it to scan Digimon to save them and then gain their abilities to use, but as cards. This is called a D-Arc, and it is different from a D-Tector in that it can modify the Digimon whom you are partnered with, through the use of the cards I mentioned earlier."_

"A D-Arc?" Andy gave a curious look at his device.

_"__The device is based on older Digidestined, those who saved the world, both Digital and the real world before you and your friends were called, Takuya. Back then, humans had Digimon partners to fight with them instead of becoming Digimon themselves. But they too…"_ Ophanimon paused for a moment._ "Perhaps it would be best if you figured it out for yourselves in the future. I will send a Trailmon at the city of Amity Park. You'll meet one at the substation. Follow the map I will put into your D-Tector to find them."_

Takuya nodded. "We will. And thanks." He gave a grin.

Ophanimon just chuckled again before the line went dead and Takuya looked at his two friends and Dorumon. "Well, you heard her! We have some ToyAgumon to send back!"

"I'm glad we get to go back home!" ToyAgumon cheered.

"What about those Digi-Eggs in your D-Tector, Takuya? Could you send them on the Trailmon?" Andy asked.

Takuya blinked before looking at his D-Tector again. "You know, that's not a bad idea." He then looked at Andy. "That's a good suggestion."

Takuya saw a holographic map appear on his D-Tector, showing him where the Trailmon was waiting. "Alright, everyone, follow me!"

The ToyAgumon began to follow Takuya.

"Weren't we supposed to be doing something earlier?" Dash asked.

"Hmm? Were we?" Andy blinked.

"C'mon, guys! We need to get the ToyAgumon home!" Takuya shouted back at them.

"It must not be that important," Dash shrugged.

"Hey, careful! Don't get separated from the group," Dorumon said, catching a smaller ToyAgumon before it accidentally wandered away. "I know the human world is fascinating, but you don't want to get lost out here."

Takuya waved Andy to follow. "Andy, I will need you and Dorumon to keep the ToyAgumon together. Can you help with that?"

"Uh… Sure." Andy ran over to help Dorumon with that task, forgetting all about what he had been wondering about.

Whenever they passed by someone, Takuya had to make the excuse they were using 'wind-up toys' to make a 'marching band', then the people would just pass them off as children playing around.

"It's a good thing these guys look like actual toys…" Dash muttered. "Though I can't say this is helping my reputation…"

"At least I don't have to stay hidden like this," Dorumon chuckled.

Takuya finally led them into the substation. "Wait… this substation is abandoned."

"Nobody at Amity Park uses the subway these days," Andy answered. "Because our city is pretty small, you can get anywhere quicker by car."

Takuya just nodded. "Well, it makes things easier for us then." He looked at the ToyAgumon. "This way we can keep these guys a secret now without anyone seeing us."

Dash chuckled. "Secrecy is the name of the game?"

Takuya chuckled as well. "You could say that~"

Then, not long after they got to the station, they heard a train's locomotive. It looked like a blue train with a single light dangling in front of its front. Andy and Dash noticed that this train looked to have a fish-like fin at the back of it.

"All aboard the Digital World express!" The train _spoke._

This caused Andy and Dash to jump at the sudden speaking train.

"Alright, Angler!" Takuya grinned. "It's been a while!"

"Oh, it's good you see you too, Warrior of Flame!" Angler spoke back.

"Um… is this a Trailmon?" Andy asked as Takuya chuckled.

"Dash, Andy, meet Angler, one of the several Trailmon that serve the Digital World." Takuya said, which caused the two boys to stare in wonder, before he looked back at the ToyAgumon. "Well, guys, here's your ride back." He then held out his D-Tector and the two eggs of Frigimon and Meramon emerged. "And take care of these two eggs. They need to go back too."

"Of course, I will do my best to see they're well cared for when I get them back to the Digital World," Angler promised, speaking in that weird German accent.

"It's so weird… to see a train that's a Digimon…" Dash replied. "Is it safe to ride?"

"Of course, Trailmon are Digimon meant to give rides in the Digital World," A ToyAgumon answered. "And now we're going back home."

The ToyAgumon cheered as they all hopped into the car that was attached to Angler.

"You guys all take care now, and try not to fall into anymore strange glowing holes," Dorumon said as he waved at them.

Angler departed with a sounding of his horn before Takuya, Andy, Dash, and Dorumon finished waving once Angler was out of sight.

Takuya sighed. "That was insane." He then looked at Dash. "But awesome too, because now you are a Legendary Warrior too!"

"Yeah, I still can't believe it myself. It's like I fell asleep at the party and am having this weird hangover dream or something from the punch," Dash said, looking at his brown D-Tector.

"You do have to admit, it has been a crazy night. I mean those ToyAgumon came in, turned your teddy bears into WaruMonzaemon, and you turned into a Digimon yourself," Dorumon chuckled.

"Yeah, and let's not forget about that party crashing ghost that took over your… computer…" Andy frowned as he, Dorumon, Takuya, and Dash began to remember what was going on before the ToyAgumon came along.

All four screamed in sudden realization.

"I can't believe we forgot about that Technus ghost!" Takuya exclaimed as he smacked his head with his open palm. "We have to go back and help that Phantom ghost kid!"

The four of them began running out of the substation.

"I can't believe we forgot about a ghost attack again because of the Digimon! Is this going to be a regular thing with us!?" Andy groaned as they were running through the streets frantically.

"I hope not," Takuya grumbled before he looked at Dash. "One thing about this ghost Dash. Don't evolve, because this Technus can control data. Dorumon was the victim of it last time, and we don't know how it will affect _our_ data, as in our fractal code."

Dash gulped. "O-okay." He gripped his D-Tector in his hand. "B-but if I can't evolve, then h-how can I fight a g-ghost?"

"First we need to find where Technus is!" Andy frowned. "I can't see him anywhere."

"I can probably try sensing him. That Technus left quite a trail when he formed that mecha body of his!" Dorumon suggested before his forehead gem glowed.

Andy looked down at his D-Arc, seeing a holographic compass appearing. A red arrow was pointing at east.

"According to this, we should go east," Andy said to Takuya and Dash.

Takuya nodded. "Okay, you lead the way, Andy." Dash gave a nod as well.

Andy nodded before he and Dorumon lead the way, since Dorumon could sense where Technus was via trail, and Andy's D-Arc was picking up what Dorumon was sensing, they knew where to go.

They headed into an alleyway, and came across a narrow road. They all stopped when they saw what looked like a pile of junk on the ground, with a computer monitor that was blinking 'error'.

"Okay… If that is supposed to be Technus, he's nothing but scrap now," Takuya noted with a raised eyebrow.

"Did someone already beat Technus?" Dash asked, looking around for the ghost in question.

"We_ have _been busy for a while facing WaruMonzaemon and getting the ToyAgumon back to the Trailmon…" Andy commented. "Maybe Phantom already took him out."

"Makes sense," Takuya remarked. "I'm not sensing Technus anywhere near here."

Dash looked at Takuya in surprise. "You can sense ghosts?"

"And Digimon." Takuya confirmed. "It's probably different for you since you have the Spirits of Wood, but my Spirits of Flame let me know when a ghost or Digimon is nearby through a flash of heat in my body."

"Or maybe Dash hasn't had a chance to sense a ghost yet," Andy pointed out. "After all, he just got his Spirit."

Takuya chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I kinda forgot about that…"

"Well, whatever happened to Technus, he certainly left his smelly ghost residue all over this pile of junk," Dorumon snorted, rubbing his nose a bit.

Takuya sighed. "Well, what should we do now? I mean, we can't just leave this junk here."

Andy frowned. "You mean we have to haul all this back to the shed?"

"Well… if this is your parents' junk, who else is going to take responsibility for this?" Dash asked.

Andy sighed. "Great… We're going to be out here all night…"

Dorumon dug through the junk with his claws, before seeing something was still glowing green. He yelped as he stumbled back. "G-guys! I don't think all of it has been purified!"

Takuya, Andy, and Dash all looked back, only to see what Dorumon was talking about.

The glowing shaver from before rose up from the pile of junk, making a growling noise despite being an inanimate object.

"Are you freaking serious!?" Andy groaned.

"What do we have to do to get rid of that thing?!" Takuya growled.

"Just run!" Dash screamed as he grabbed Andy and Takuya before bolting, Dorumon quickly followed them.

The shaver morphed into a giant butcher knife and began to chase them down.

* * *

**Titanic X****:** **ZAFT**: There will be more Tamers and Digimon as time goes on. ;)

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Well, to be fair, Technus picked the right twin this time. Remember, Danny never fought with Technus here in this story, Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya did.

**ZAFT:** And yes, Dorimon is so cute and funny when he acts like a plushy~


	10. A Haunted Locker

**DarkFoxKit: **We seem to be late with a lot of our chapters lately. Probably doesn't help that I keep forgetting about the schedule and get very distracted with other things.

**ZAFT: **True. But that's life. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** It's still no excuse to be late all the time. It's more responsibility than anything. Well, at least we're getting it out now.

**ZAFT:** True. That is what counts.

* * *

**Chapter 10: A Haunted Locker**

Takuya looked back at the glowing shaver. "Okay, _please_ tell me I can evolve to burn that thing to a crisp!"

The giant butcher knife came down, narrowly missing them. Dorumon's tail fur got a little shaved off.

"If you even have time to spirit evolve before this guillotine comes down on you!" Dorumon yelped, grabbing onto his tail.

Andy then had an idea. "We head back to my house! We can send this thing back to the Ghost Zone!"

Dash looked at Andy. "You sure that will work?!"

"What other options do we have?!" Andy shot back, pointing at the giant butcher knife. "It's too fast, neither you nor Takuya have time to spirit evolve before it comes down on you!"

"It's worth a shot!" Takuya agreed.

"Let's just hope that it doesn't decide to go after someone else once we get there." Andy frowned.

"It won't, I'll keep its attention on us if I have to!" Dorumon reassured, still holding his tail.

The three of them hurried to Fenton Works.

"The door is closed! How are we going to get it open?" Takuya asked when he saw the door was closed to Fenton Works.

"Dorumon, can you slow that blade down?" Andy asked.

"I'll try my best," Dorumon replied as he turned to face the blade. _"Metal Cannon!"_ He shot out a few iron balls at the blade, aiming to slow it down. Takuya and Dash used their Fenton Rods to try to swing it back when it got too close.

Andy hurried up to the door, before taking out a spare key from under the welcome mat, then he shoved the key into the knob to unlock the door and pushed it open. "Hurry, this way!"

Dorumon stopped his attacks before rushing inside with Andy, Takuya, and Dash, the blade went after them.

As the foursome ran by, Jazz was in the living room, reading a book. As she heard them yelling, she looked up, confused. Jazz closed her book and looked around but Andy, Dash, Dorumon, and Takuya were already in the kitchen. Then, she saw the glowing green blade that emerged through the door. Jazz screamed as she saw that, ducking down behind the couch.

"Jazz!?" Maddie and Jack, wearing their PJs, came running down from their room.

"What's wrong, Jazzypants?" Jack asked in concern, seeing how his daughter was shaking behind the couch.

The glowing green blade was nowhere in sight.

"Wh-where did it go?" Jazz wondered as she poked her head out from behind the couch. Looking at her book, Jazz placed a hand to her head. "Maybe it was a hallucination induced by too much studying…"

"What did you think you saw, Jazz?" Maddie asked worriedly.

"Was it a ghost!?" Jack looked around eagerly.

"I probably imagined a glowing green blade emerging from the door." Jazz grumbled. "It was just something my mind induced because I was studying too hard."

Jack and Maddie looked at each other in question. Jack shrugged while Maddie was trying to figure out what her daughter meant by 'a glowing green blade'.

Meanwhile, Takuya, Dash, Andy, and Dorumon came barreling into the lab, the green blade right above them. They yelped as they scrambled away from its deadly chop.

"Open the Ghost Portal!" Andy yelled, seeing that the doors for the Ghost Portal were currently closed.

Takuya looked around, only to see the buttons next to the portal. "Dash, get ready! We'll need a good swing with your Fenton Rod to send it in!" With that, he hit the OPEN button.

The glowing blade turned back into its shaver form to move faster. Dash quickly got in front of it with his Fenton Rod.

The doors opened. As the glowing shaver flew at him, Dash swung the rod and hit the shaver, sending it tumbling into the Ghost Portal.

Dorumon jumped over at the CLOSE button, and tapped it with his paw, causing the doors to the Ghost Portal close. They all waited a minute to see if the shaver would somehow phase through the doors or claw its way through. But after a minute of nothing happening, they all began to relax.

"Oh thank goodness it's finally gone!" Andy cheered.

Takuya chuckled. "Not bad for teamwork, eh?"

Dash also laughed. "Yeah, that was intense!"

Dorumon was jumping around, doing small flips in happiness. "We won!"

"What's going on down here!?" All four of them jumped when they heard Jack's voice booming from the stairs.

Andy, Takuya, Dash, and Dorumon all looked at each other in a slight panic, before the three human children stood in front of Dorumon to keep him hidden as Jack and Maddie came rushing down into the lab, still in their PJs.

"Andy? Takuya? What are you two doing down here? Is this a friend of yours?" Maddie questioned, looking at Dash.

"Y-yeah! Uh…" Andy looked nervous. "We just… were…" He looked around and his eyes landed on Dash's Fenton Rod. "Showing Dash some of your newest weapons!"

"Oh, yeah! We were doing that, weren't we?" Takuya looked at Dash, who caught on to the lie.

"Y-yeah! I wanted to see what you were working on because… I… am interested in learning about… how to defeat ghosts!" Dash agreed.

"Really? Someone is actually showing interest in our line of work?" Jack smiled excitedly.

Maddie frowned at her husband, who frowned back, before he cleared his throat to try to sound stern. "Uh… I mean… you kids should've known better than coming down here without permission. It's, uh… dangerous!"

"Next time you two want to show a new friend the lab, you need to tell us. Tucker and Sam are practically family, but if you make new friends, we'd like to meet them first," Maddie scolded. "Do you two understand?"

"Y-yes, Mom…" Andy bowed his head.

"Understood, Aunt Maddie," Takuya said as he bowed his head too. "We won't make that mistake again."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Fenton, I promise I didn't mess anything up," Dash apologized.

"It's fine, as long as you boys understand. Whatever you were doing, you scared Jazz, so be more careful next time," Maddie said.

"We promise we will, Mom," Andy answered.

"You kids better head to bed, it's already getting late," Jack stated.

"Do you need help getting home, Dash?" Maddie asked.

"Oh, no, I can get home myself, Mrs. Fenton," Dash answered.

Jack and Maddie then left the lab, going back upstairs to reassure Jazz that things were alright, and what she saw was likely a prank the boys made to scare her. Takuya, Andy, and Dash all looked at one another, each with a worried look on their faces.

"That was _too_ close…" Takuya sighed.

"Tell me about it…" Dash muttered.

"At least we came out of it okay," Andy remarked.

"Yeah, and it was pretty fun working together like that," Dorumon chuckled from behind them.

Takuya then looked at Andy. "You had better return Dorumon to his In-Training form before we head upstairs."

Dash looked at Andy. "You can do that?"

"Yeah," Andy took out his D-Arc and the Degeneration card.

The card spun before Andy caught it with two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held up his D-Arc, the card slot facing down towards his head and connected the card with the slot. He pulled the D-Arc to the right, and the card to the left. _"Digi Modify!"_ The card was swiped through fully as the D-Arc and card were separated on either side of his body. _"Degeneration Activate!"_

Dorumon glowed before he shrank down, fractal code surrounding him before it dispersed, revealing him back as Dorimon.

"Oh wow, that card sliding thing was pretty cool!" Dash smiled.

Andy blushed at the comment. "Heh… Glad you think so."

"You should probably get home soon, Dash, or else your parents will worry," Takuya spoke up. "I think we've got everything wrapped up here. We can meet back up at school during lunch on Monday and talk about training again soon."

Dash gave a nod at his friends and fellow Warrior. "Okay. Sounds good." He then made his way to the stairs and proceeded to head up them and out of the lab.

"Well, that was some party," Andy chuckled. "Do you think all popular kid's parties are that insane?"

"Being attacked by ghosts and Digimon? I sure hope not. But then I preferred that over the crazy human girls," Dorimon commented.

Takuya chuckled. "I doubt parties are that crazy, but then again, when you live our lives, it's kind of expected we will encounter crazy stuff like that."

Andy picked up Dorimon. "I better go check to see if Danny came home… I just hope he didn't get hurt when Phantom took over him… well, you know, assuming that is what's going on anyways. We still don't know enough to say for sure, but I didn't see Danny at the party anymore when that Technus ghost took over Dash's computer."

Hearing that, Takuya frowned. "Yeah, I hope so too." He then looked back up the stairs. "If Danny _is_ host to Phantom, I hope Phantom knows to keep himself out of sight. Who knows what Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack may do if they found out."

"If only there was some way to know… and to possibly separate Danny from Phantom if they are in the same body," Andy sighed.

"Hey, don't worry. If Danny isn't hurt or in any pain, then whatever Phantom is doing, it's not hurting him, right?" Dorimon spoke up, hoping to reassure his partner.

Andy looked at Dorimon for a moment, before giving a small nod, hoping that his Digimon partner was right.

Takuya made his way towards the stairs. "C'mon. We need to see if Danny got home okay."

Andy and Dorimon looked at one another before Andy followed after his cousin. "Wait up!"

The three of them saw Jack and Maddie talking to Jazz in the living room, though Jazz still looked a little shaken up, she did calm down a bit. They couldn't do much to reassure her anyways, so they just left her to Maddie and Jack, and headed upstairs.

When Andy opened the door to his and Danny's room, the two boys were relieved to see Danny was already there, sleeping on his bed.

"Heh… I guess he got exhausted," Andy softly chuckled, seeing his brother sleeping peacefully in his bed.

Takuya smiled as well. "Yeah. We should probably let him sleep. I think we _all_ need to sleep." A yawn escaped his mouth as soon as he said that.

Dorimon yawned as well. "I wouldn't mind some sleep myself."

Andy nodded in agreement. "Then I guess it's goodnight, Takuya."

Takuya nodded as he gave a wave while walking down to his room. "Goodnight, Andy, Dorimon."

* * *

Takuya sighed tiredly when he was in his room, glad to just hit the bed, but he knew he had to shower first, that last battle caused him to sweat a bit.

After Takuya finished showering, and changed into his pajamas, he was about to call it a night when his D-Tector suddenly began beeping.

Takuya looked at it, confused for a moment before he picked it up and brought up the communication function. "Hello?"

The symbol for the Warrior of Light appeared on the screen before Koji's appeared. _"Takuya? Good, I finally got a hold of you. Koichi told me about what's been going on, and we just recently heard from Ophanimon that there's someone who just inherited the Warrior of Wood in your area. Is that true?"_

Sighing as he fell onto the bed, Takuya replied. "Yeah, it's true. He's a good person, but a little rough around the edges." He looked at Koji's image. "But I didn't expect to have a new Warrior come in. Either way, it can only be good for us, considering what's been going on."

_"__It's still surprising though. I didn't think we'd find anyone else who would inherit one of the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors. Do you think there'll be more?"_ Koji asked.

"I can't say for certain, but if there are, it will be interesting to see." Takuya chuckled.

_"__I'm also glad to hear from Ophanimon again, it seems things are still as peaceful as ever in the Digital World. But I am a bit concerned about Seraphimon and Cherubimon. According to Ophanimon, it was likely there was a battle between those two before they disappeared. I'm worried Cherubimon might've gotten corrupted again and is in hiding right now while holding Seraphimon hostage,"_ Koji remarked in concern.

"Yeah, same here." Takuya admitted, also concerned. But something seemed off. "However, Ophanimon mentioned that Seraphimon began to act weird before he disappeared. That is what concerns me."

_"__I guess we won't know until we can figure out where they are. Until then, let's hope nothing too bad happens. If it was just ghost attacks, then you might have it covered, especially since you have Arbormon and Andy with his Digimon partner backing you up now. But the Digimon coming into our world still has me concerned. Didn't Bokomon once tell us that Digimon can't survive in the real world?"_ Koji asked.

"Yeah, he did." Takuya confirmed. "But maybe, since they apparently can, it was a lie told to Digimon to keep them from heading to the human world." He then shrugged. "That's the only thing that makes sense."

Koji put his fingers on his chin. _"Maybe… well… we'll keep trying to find something out on our end. You just make sure you keep everyone in Amity Park safe from these ghost and Digimon attacks."_

Takuya nodded. "Okay. Just be careful." The line then went dead as his D-Tector fell from his grasp onto the bed next to him.

* * *

_Monday Morning At Casper High_

"How did we let you talk us into this, Sam?" Andy grumbled.

Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were all carrying heavy boxes with the label "Save The Frogs" on it, as well as a picture of a frog with a red circle with a diagonal line through it.

"It's for frogs' rights!" Sam said as she looked at Andy. "We have to stop dissecting frogs in our school's biology labs. And at today's assembly, I'm going to demonstrate a humane alternative." She flipped her box around, revealing the top.

"'I can't believe it's not a frog cadaver'?" Tucker asked as he read the top label.

Sam smiled as she took out a mechanical frog from the box she was carrying. **"Ribbit! Please remove my detachable three-chambered heart! Ribbit!"** The frog spoke up.

"Eew… it's all slimey… how is it secreting slime like that?" Takuya asked, completely grossed out.

"Well… it is supposed to be a replacement for actual frogs," Sam stated.

"Hey, look on the bright side… it… uh… might not be real slime," Danny chuckled sheepishly.

"Well, what could it be then?" Takuya commented sarcastically.

"Don't worry about the slime, Takuya," Sam assured him. "This is way better than using real frogs, which is way grosser if you ask me."

"Of course it is," Tucker sighed.

Suddenly, a familiar light blue mist came out of Danny's mouth, at the same time, Takuya felt heat, and Dorimon shivered in Andy's backpack. Andy gasped as the box he was carrying glowed green, and he quickly dropped it. The box didn't fall, however, instead it floated up and Andy quickly backed away.

The top burst open, just as a green smoke came out from it. The smoke startled Sam so she threw the mechanical frog away so that it landed on Tucker's head. The smoke took on a form, only to reveal itself as the glowing blue-skinned Box Ghost.

"Oh great…" Danny groaned. "Him again?"

"Isn't that the Box Ghost that attacked the school last week?" Andy questioned, recognizing the ghost.

**"****I AM THE BOX GHOST!"** Boxie declared.

"Yup, that's him…" Takuya sighed, remembering the declaration of the Box Ghost all too well.

Sam pulled the robot frog off of Tucker's head, and Tucker was coated in green slime.

"Eeew! This is _so_ gross!" Tucker groaned.

Looking at Boxie, Takuya wondered if evolving would be worth it, but decided against it. The box-obsessed ghost didn't seem like he was worth the effort. Instead, he looked back at Sam. "Is this guy that obsessed with his cardboard boxes?"

"From what I've seen of Boxie? Yeah, he is," Sam answered.

Danny looked at his friends and brother, frowning a bit. "Guys, we should… uh… go and hide before this ghost does something!"

Takuya looked at Danny, frowning to himself. But, he decided to play along with it. "Okay, we'll… go and hide…" He said as he nudged Andy.

"Y-yeah, let's go!" Andy agreed.

Andy, Takuya, Tucker, and Sam scattered, Danny pretended to run for a few seconds, but he stopped as he watched Andy and Takuya run out of sight so he could change. Unfortunately, the Box Ghost wasn't willing to let Andy go so easily.

"Where do you think you are going!? Tremble before my awesome power!" Boxie shouted before he lifted up a box that had scalpel knives in it.

Because the knives were in a box, the Box Ghost could control the scalpels, and he grinned before he had the knives aimed at Andy.

"ANDY! LOOK OUT!" Danny shouted, seeing that the knives were going after him.

"Wah?" Andy looked back, and gasped.

With a split second reaction time, Andy managed to get down and roll, barely avoiding the knives, but they did cut the straps on his backpack, and caused his backpack and Dorimon to go rolling away.

"Ah! My backpack!" Andy yelled as he scrambled onto his feet to run after his backpack and his partner.

Takuya saw that and looked back as he gasped. More knives were coming at Andy. That feral look flashed in Takuya's eyes before he pulled out his Fenton Rod and extended it, then spun the rod around to deflect the knives coming at his cousin. "You're _not_ hurting him!"

The backpack stopped at Danny's locker, and Andy rushed up to the backpack, seeing Dorimon lift up his head, and had circles in his eyes.

"Is… the ride… overrrrr?" Dorimon groaned.

"You're going be okay, Dorimon…" Andy whispered as he picked up the backpack, not seeing the Box Ghost flying towards him.

"Bro! Look out!" Danny warned before he ran over to his brother and pushed him away.

Boxie ended up slamming into Danny, who went intangible by instinct to avoid the brunt of the attack, so his body went through the locker and quite a few walls. Andy looked back from where Danny just pushed him, shocked that Danny's body literally went through the locker.

Takuya ran at the Box Ghost, his Fenton Rod out and still extended. "Eat this!" He swung the rod at Boxie, aiming for his stomach while spinning said rod in his hand.

Looking around, Andy saw there was a Fenton Thermos on the floor._ Did Danny have one on him?_

Deciding not to question it now, Andy carefully set his backpack and his still disorientated partner on the floor, before he rushed over to the Fenton Thermos and picked it up. Takuya was still fighting Boxie with his Fenton Rod.

"You cannot defeat me with that stick!" Boxie shouted before Takuya slammed it into his cheek. "Ow! Hey! That's not fair!"

"I don't care what's fair or not! You are going down!" Takuya shouted as he ran at Boxie again, bringing the Fenton Rod down on his head.

The Box Ghost lifted up more frog boxes and threw them at Takuya. Takuya yelped as he was suddenly buried in boxes.

"HAHAHA! You foolish human! You cannot hope to compare to me, THE BOX GHOST!" Boxie laughed.

"Hey Box Ghost!" Andy suddenly called out, holding the Fenton Thermos in his direction. "Time to stuff you into a non-box-like thermos!"

The Fenton Thermos shot out blue energy at the Box Ghost, and it began to pull him inside.

"NOOOOO! NOT THE CYLINDER CONTAINER!" Boxie shouted as he was pulled inside.

The Box Ghost was sucked in, and Andy slammed the lid on the top, grinning as he held it up. "Sweet! So that's how it works!"

Takuya popped his head out from the boxes. "Gah! I _hate_ that Box Ghost!" He exclaimed as he climbed out from the boxes.

"Uh… you're covered in frog slime…" Andy sweatdropped.

Takuya looked himself over before groaning. "Great… Just when I got cleaned up the night before too…" He smacked his head against the wall.

Andy shook his head with an amuse chuckle before he went over to his backpack, seeing Dorimon was still in there.

"Hey, you okay?" Andy asked.

"I think so, but the room is spinninggggggg…" Dorimon moaned, still with swirls in his eyes.

"Just take a moment to rest a bit," Andy said before he looked at the damage of the straps of his backpack. "Great… the knives cut right through this… I'm going to need some duct tape…"

Then Andy looked over at Danny's locker, seeing it was dented so inwardly that the door couldn't be opened, and the boy was willing to bet that the inside got pretty messed up too. But what concerned him was Danny. Andy knew he saw Danny getting tackled into the locker, but he doubted Danny was inside the locker itself. Andy knocked against the destroyed door, then put his head on it, trying to listen for breathing, or whining, or anything that might show there was someone in the smooshed locker. There was nothing but complete silence.

Takuya walked over, still covered in that slime. "Is Danny in there?" He was concerned about his younger cousin now, as he had seen Danny get slammed into the locker as well.

Andy wasn't sure if Danny was in the locker or not, so he decided to turn to Dorimon. He picked up the little Digimon since nobody else was around.

"Dorimon, can you try to melt this door with your acid bubbles attack?" Andy asked.

Dorimon had recovered from his little roll across the floor by now and looked at Andy. "Are you sure? You might get in trouble."

"With how busted this locker is, Danny's going to be assigned a new one anyways. But if he's in there, he might be suffocating," Andy said. "We need to get him out."

Dorimon frowned, but knew he had to help his partner, so he nodded. "Okay." He faced the locker door. _"Acid Bubbles!"_ He opened his mouth and the pink bubbles came out, floating over to the locker door and popping against it. The acidic bubbles melted away the door, revealing nothing but smashed up books, broken pencil, and a destroyed notebook or two.

"Wait… he's not in there?" Takuya asked in surprise. "But I know we saw him getting tackled in there!"

"Hmm…" Andy had suspected this, which was why he wasn't so frantic to get the locker door opened, but he had to be sure just in case Danny really was in the locker. "Not necessarily… it was for a split second, but to me, it looked like Danny's body became see-thru… transparent, before he was tackled through. If he was transparent, then it was likely he went through not just the locker, but the walls behind the locker too."

Takuya blinked. "So you think Phantom's powers came into play then?" It was looking more like Danny _was_ host to Phantom if that was the case. "Or was it Phantom himself turning Danny transparent?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping it was just Phantom was watching us while invisible, and decided to save Danny at the last second," Andy answered.

"What do we do for now then?" Dorimon asked.

Andy looked at Takuya. "Danny could've fallen anywhere. But if he's alright, then chances are he might make his way to Sam's assembly. So maybe we should head to the auditorium."

Takuya nodded. "Good idea. It's better than just searching randomly around the school for him."

Andy nodded before he opened his own locker door, which was next to Danny's destroyed one, and took out some duct tape. "But first… could you help me tape up the straps of my backpack?"

Takuya sweatdropped. "Uh… sure."

* * *

The assembly wasn't quite the success Sam had been hoping it would be. Apparently, Danny had fallen backstage after the Box Ghost had shoved him, and he landed on a box that was filled with costumes, and as luck would have it, Danny ended up wearing a pink, floof dress, complete with a curly hair wig, and a pink hat. Andy and Takuya had no idea how those clothes ended up on Danny if he had just fallen into the box. But this distracted everyone from Sam's speech to save the frogs, and were now laughing at 'Little Bo Peep Danny'.

Later, after Takuya got a good shower at the boy's locker room, and Danny got all the costume off of him, and was assigned a new locker by Mr. Lancer, they all met up in the hallway after class. Some of the students were still laughing when they saw Danny walking by.

"Okay, that's enough! It wasn't that funny, people!" Andy shouted, getting fed up with all the laughing.

A few continued to laugh, but the majority seemed to settle down, having gotten it out of their system. Takuya looked at Danny. "Wow. I can only say sorry about what happened."

Dorimon had been growling at the laughing from Andy's backpack, but it was so soft, only Andy could have heard it. "I don't like those humans." The small In-Training Digimon was in a huffy mood because of it, well and the roll he had suffered when that Box Ghost attacked.

Andy sighed a little.

"Great, my assembly was a total bust because of your little costume party," Sam grumbled, clearly in a bad mood.

"Well, hopefully this will blow over soon," Tucker remarked. "Though I gotta say, you don't look good in a bra, dude."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm the one taking the biggest hit here. And because that stupid Box Ghost trashed my locker, I've been assigned a new one."

"What is your new locker anyways, bro?" Andy questioned curiously.

"Uh… It's locker 724." Danny replied as he looked at the paper that had his new locker assignment.

Sam and Tucker seemed to gain worried looks on their faces at that. Tucker pointed behind Danny, and Danny turned around, seeing an old, beaten up locker with the numbers '724' written on it. It stood out due to how little maintenance the locker itself had.

Danny approached the old locker. "Guys, what's wrong?" He looked back at his two friends and Andy.

"Jeez, it looks like this locker could fall apart at any minute," Takuya commented, looking at the locker door himself.

"There was a myth surrounding this locker," Andy spoke up, studying the door himself. "It was probably why nobody bothered to maintain it over the years."

"What myth?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow. "And how do you know about it, bro?"

"Hello!? How could you _not_ know about it?" Tucker questioned, surprised that Danny didn't know.

Takuya raised an eyebrow as he looked at Tucker. "Myth?" He questioned.

Tucker looked at him. "Well, you I can understand not knowing the myth, but _Danny_? No way!"

"Well what is this myth then?" Danny asked.

"Some say that Locker 724 is cursed," Sam spoke up. "Because it used to be owned by a Poindexter kid back in the 50s."

"A Poindexter?" Danny blinked.

"Legend has it that he was bullied, a lot. Probably the most bullied kid in the history of Casper High," Andy informed. "There were rumors about how picking on him was a graduation requirement. He got stuffed into his locker so many times, it was believed that his spirit still inhabits it to this very day."

Dorimon listened in, intrigued but also confused.

Takuya looked at the locker, not sure what to expect. On one hand, he was not sensing a ghost from the locker, but hearing that legend made his skin crawl. He shivered at the feeling. "Glad I don't have that locker."

Danny frowned. "Come on, it's just a locker. If there was a ghost haunting it, I think we would know by now."

Danny opened the locker door, it gave a loud squeak when he did. There were some cobwebs inside, but otherwise there was nothing but an old looking mirror that was hanging at the back of the locker's wall.

Takuya frowned at seeing the mirror, but he didn't say anything about it. Still, he gazed at the mirror for a second before he looked away and at Danny. "Are you sure you're okay with this? I mean, if the locker _is_ haunted, who knows what could happen?"

"Well, it's the only locker around here that's available, otherwise I'd have to go all the way to the band room," Danny responded. "I think I'll be fine, one little haunted locker isn't going to scare me away. I'd say I'm more worried about how my parents will react to it."

Takuya cringed at memories he did not want to remember. "Yeah… I think we'll worry about that instead."

Suddenly, someone put the pink hat with the curly wig onto Danny's head.

"Hey nerd, you left something back at the assembly!"

A dark skinned jock with black hair laughed, he wasn't as muscular as Dash, but he was still pretty buff, and like with all jocks in the school, he also wore a red and white leather jacket. He had some other jocks behind him, laughing.

Danny looked back at the jock with a glare, but the jock just smirked at him. "Let's see if it fits in your new locker, like you!" The jock picked up Danny and stuffed him into the locker, wig and all, before slamming the door and walking off laughing with his fellow jocks behind him.

Andy sighed at seeing that. "Great… Now Calvin gets in on the act too…"

Tucker opened the locker, just as Danny fell out. "I was going to warn you about Calvin too, but I think you figured that out."

Takuya reached down and helped Danny to his feet. "I'm getting the feeling you getting stuffed into lockers is a common thing around here."

"No need to remind me…" Danny grumbled, clearly not happy about it. "Well, Calvin may just regret messing with me. I've had just about enough of being pushed around."

"What are you going to do?" Andy asked, frowning.

Danny hesitated a little. "I don't know yet, but it'll be something."

"Hey, Takuya?" Tucker pointed at Takuya's cell phone. "Do you have any games on your cell phone?"

Takuya looked down at his phone. "Uh… Not really. Why?"

"Oh, just wanted to know if you had any. Maybe I could show you how to download some," Tucker stated.

"Andy? What happened to your backpack?" Sam asked, seeing the duct tape on his straps.

"The Box Ghost cut it with a box full of scalpels. You know, if Box Ghost is going to be showing up a lot, maybe we shouldn't put dangerous things in boxes anymore," Andy grumbled.

Neither Andy or Takuya noticed that Danny had turned invisible, nor did they notice him flying down the hallway and flew into Calvin's body. But they did notice that Calvin was suddenly smashing himself against other lockers a few times, before ducking his head into a janitor's cleaning water.

"Uh… was Calvin under some kind of dare or something?" Andy asked in confusion.

"No clue…" Takuya murmured. He had no idea himself. _What _was_ that about?_

Tucker was trying to keep a grin off his face while Sam seemed to be disapproving of something. Danny suddenly reappeared back in the group, not that Takuya or Andy noticed he had left earlier.

"Wow, that was pretty amazing, maybe it was karma, or the locker really is haunted and decided to spread its curse on Calvin," Danny chuckled before giving Tucker a high five.

"I don't know…" Takuya remarked. "That was odd, but I don't think it was a curse."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever it was, it worked out to our advantage."

"Let's just get out of here before something else weird happens," Andy grumbled, he was not in the mood to deal with more ghosts today.

* * *

_At the outskirts of town..._

_"__Pyro Darts!"_ Agunimon fired out small fiery darts at Arbormon, Andy, and Dorumon, all three of them jumped out of the way.

Andy looked at Dorumon and gave a grin. "Ready?"

Dorumon nodded. _"Metal Cannon!"_ He launched a few iron balls at Agunimon, only for the Warrior of Flame to kick them back at him, Andy, and Arbormon.

Arbormon smacked a fist into his open palm with a grin, even if it was not visible on his face. "Let's see you counter this! _Roundhouse Punt!"_ He kicked the balls back at Agunimon, who wound up jumping back to avoid getting hit with them.

Andy and Dorumon ran up towards Agunimon, Agunimon braced himself for a possible melee combat. Andy took out his Fenton Rod and extended it. He and Agunimon began to go at it, armored fists with metal rod clanging together. Dorumon joined with his claws. Arbormon joined in the fight, though it was a free-for-all, so Andy and Dorumon had to block or dodge his punches and kicks as well. Andy, being the weakest of the group, was pushed back rather quickly. Shortly after, Dorumon was punched away as well, leaving the two Warriors to go at it.

Now with just the two of them, Agunimon and Arbormon were eager to get into it.

"Let's see how well you can stand on your own, Dash." Agunimon said. "I will warn you, I have more experience than you, so don't expect it to be easy."

Arbormon chuckled at that. "We'll see…"

With that said, Agunimon rushed at Arbormon, throwing out a back kick, but Arbormon was quick to counter it by grabbing the Warrior's foot. He then threw Agunimon back, only for the more experienced Warrior to flip and land on his feet. Arbormon rushed at Agunimon with a fist drawn back, only for the Warrior of Flame to block it with his right arm before countering with a few punches of his own.

Arbormon was forced to block or dodge the punches before he caught Agunimon's left arm under his own. He drew his head back and slammed his forehead against Agunimon's own.

Andy and Dorumon cringed at the blow, which made Agunimon stumble back.

"Ow…" The Warrior of Flame groaned as he rubbed at where he had been hit.

"Not bad for a beginner, right?" Arbormon smirked.

Andy looked at the two of them, seeing they were standing right next to Dorumon's Metal Cannon balls from earlier. Andy raised his hand to Dorumon, giving a signal. Dorumon nodded before his forehead gem glowed.

_"__Metal Morph!"_

Suddenly, the iron balls next to Arbormon and Agunimon's feet melted, slathering themselves onto the Legendary Warriors' feet. Then as soon as they did, the melted metal hardened, keeping them stuck in one place. Arbormon and Agunimon looked down, seeing two small pieces of paper stuck to the metal.

"You know… you two should've learned by now… never take your eyes off an opponent," Andy said, before he rolled the last iron ball towards the two stuck Warriors.

Arbormon and Agunimon stared at the iron ball and gulped, knowing what was about to happen next.

Andy raised his hand to Dorumon.

_"__Metal Explosion!"_ Dorumon called out.

The iron ball that rolled between Arbormon and Agunimon exploded. Though the explosion wasn't big, it was enough to cause some damage.

The explosion had also destroyed the metal around their feet, freeing both Warriors, although they had been blown back by the force of the explosion. Agunimon groaned from his spot on the ground. He was up against a tree, his legs against the tree trunk while his back was on the ground. As for Arbormon, he was on his stomach nearby.

"Ugh… Sometimes I wonder if Andy is just that sneaky, or if he plans ahead…" Agunimon muttered.

Andy looked at the two fallen Warriors. "Uh… sorry, did I overdo it with the explosion?"

"No… We're good." Arbormon confirmed. "It just caught us by surprise."

"Heh, considering we're not quite at your levels yet, we do have to work smarter rather than harder," Dorumon stated. "Andy's idea to have me use Metal Cannon so Agunimon would deflect them was a good way for us to get a chance to put the code papers on them."

"Us getting knocked out during the melee fight was a good way to keep suspicion off of us while you two went at it," Andy added.

Agunimon grunted as he flipped off the tree and landed so he was in a kneeling position before standing up. "Okay, I will admit it. That _was_ pretty good." He chuckled.

"Yeah, but this is something I want you two to keep in mind. There might be times we'll face against a more intelligent opponent, you can't always use just brute force to fight back," Andy informed. "It would be dangerous to take your eyes off an enemy just because you think they're weaker, and focus on a 'stronger' opponent, as you just saw what happened now."

Agunimon nodded. "Yeah. I guess I should." He then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm not that tactical though…"

"Yeah… me neither…" Arbormon sheepishly admitted. "I might be the football captain, but I mostly prefer crushing our opponents than outsmarting them."

Agunimon rolled his eyes at that. "Okay, we'll work on using our brains more."

"You don't have to rely on it, just work on it. Like how I have to work out on getting stronger and faster in a battle," Andy said. "You two are our heavy hitters, Dorumon and I are more for supporting or back-up. At least until Dorumon can Digivolve."

The two Warriors had to agree with Andy on that one. Agunimon was actually coming up with a plan for when they resumed sparring, not that anyone knew it at the time.

When it was getting late, Agunimon and Arbormon reverted back to their human forms. All four of them were sitting down near a tree, needing to catch their breath.

"I think… we've gotten a lot… stronger now…" Takuya commented while panting.

"It helps… to have… another Legendary… Warrior… on our side…" Andy agreed.

Dash chuckled, despite being just as exhausted as the other three. "Glad… I could be… of some help… to you guys…"

Dorumon could only nod in agreement, he was too tired to speak.

They rested there for a moment, drinking some bottled water they brought with them.

"I've noticed that Calvin has been getting more bold lately with the bullying," Andy spoke up. "What's been going on with him?"

Dash frowned at that. "I think he's trying to become the 'King of Casper High'. I know I am known as that because I am captain of the football team, but Calvin wants to be the one who is respected by the popular kids because he thinks I am 'too soft' as he puts it."

"Too soft?" Takuya frowned.

"Ever since I became friends with you guys, I've stopped bullying the other students, and because of that, the other jocks are starting to see me as 'going soft'. I am still the football captain, but because I haven't been picking on the other kids lately, they think I'm losing my nerve," Dash sighed. "I was… hesitant about not bullying the other students anymore, but after our battle with WaruMonzaemon, and my realization of being weak due to peer pressure, I don't care anymore. I'm not going to hurt others just to make myself look good or feel better. It's not worth it. I can still be a good football captain without hurting others and putting them down."

Andy, Takuya, and Dorumon smiled at that conviction.

"I'm glad you see it that way, Dash." Andy grinned.

"I don't get why humans feel they have to be mean to each other to be at the top. The Celestial Digimon are at the top in the Digital World because they're not just powerful, but compassionate. When one of them lets power consume them, then the world starts to fall apart," Dorumon stated.

Takuya nodded at Dorumon's words. "That is true. Digimon are more about power, but some know compassion is just as strong as power." He then looked down at his D-Tector. "And when the Warriors were around, they were some seriously strong, if not compassionate Digimon too."

"Heh… yeah… I've learned that lesson when I became Arbormon," Dash admitted. "But unfortunately, a lot of people will think showing compassion will make you weak, especially the jocks at Casper High. I can try to discourage the bullying, but I can't control what the other jocks will do."

"As long as you try, that's all we can ask for." Takuya sighed. He then looked up. "I think it's time we head back. It's nearly dark, and we don't want to get caught out too late."

"Yeah, we also don't want to come back home too beaten up," Andy chuckled sheepishly.

* * *

_The next morning at Fenton Works_

Andy yawned as he walked into the kitchen, he was still feeling sore from his spar yesterday. He walked over to the cabinets to get a box of cereal. Danny walked beside him, not looking as sore or tired as Andy, but he did look pretty tired.

Takuya came in as well, with a serious case of bed-hair. He yawned, feeling some hidden bruises aching as he stretched, trying to hide his wince of pain.

"What's up with you three? You look like you didn't get any sleep last night," Jazz questioned, looking at her brothers and cousin.

"Just a rough night…" Andy muttered through a yawn. "I had some trouble sleeping…"

"Yeah, same here…" Danny yawned himself.

"Me three…" Takuya muttered.

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "You _all_ had trouble sleeping? That's odd…"

"Don't worry about it, Jazz…" Takuya said. "It could be just a one-time thing…" Another yawn escaped him.

Maddie was working on another gadget, so she wasn't paying them much attention. And Jack was enjoying his bacon and eggs breakfast. He then looked at Danny. "So Danny, what's this I hear of you getting a new locker?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Dad. My old locker kind of got damaged, so I was assigned a new one. Nothing for you and Mom to get obsessive with," Danny assured his parents.

"Why?" Jack asked, serious as could be. "Is it _haunted?!"_

Takuya slapped his face with his hand at that question from his uncle.

"Don't worry, son, you'll barely even notice us while we're staking out that locker during normal school hours!" Maddie assured Danny, causing Andy to cringe at that.

"Wait, why would you two assume the locker was haunted?" Andy asked, speaking up.

"We've heard about the legend of Sydney Poindexter who used to own the locker," Maddie explained. "And that it's apparently cursed. So, we want to go down there and make sure nothing happens to one of our little boys."

_Great, now I have to deal with Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack at school too? Having to keep Dorimon hidden is hard enough as it is…_ Takuya thought. "Just what we need…"

Jazz perked up when she heard that. "What?" She looked up from her book in surprise.

"Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie are going to the school to stake out Danny's locker," Takuya answered.

"No!" Jazz put down her book before she ran over to Danny and grabbed him in a hug. "Danny is already considered a clumsy nerd with weird ghost hunting parents. The last thing he needs is you two confirming it. And not to mention how this could also affect Andy and his peers."

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Takuya pouted.

"Well, you don't share the last name, and you're Japanese, so you get off easier than we do," Andy pointed out.

Takuya sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He had to admit, Andy did raise a good point.

"Jazz, you are really bad at giving pep talks," Danny grumbled.

Jack suddenly grabbed the mechanical gloves that Maddie was working on, then he put on the gloves, causing them to spark with electricity as he slammed both of his fists together. He was enjoying showing off how much power the gloves were giving off.

"And the best part is, thanks to the new Ghost Gloves, when that ghost comes out of that locker, I can spar with it, mano-to-ghosto!" Jack said as he did a few punching moves as though he was fighting a real ghost.

For some reason, Takuya felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up at that. _Is he _serious_?! He could get hurt if he tried that!_

Unlike Takuya, however, Andy was looking at the Ghost Gloves with interest._ Those could be useful for future battles. They pack a lot of power, and I'll bet even Digimon would get hurt from being punched by metal gloves with electricity._

Jack then held up his fists as though he had won a fight, a big grin on his face. "Those ghosts won't stand a chance!"

"Don't worry, maybe girls will talk to you in college," Jazz shrugged.

"I mean Sam talks to him, does she not count?" Andy questioned.

Jazz looked at Andy. "She does, but I mean in the romantic sense." She then put her hand on Andy's shoulder. "Teens tend to avoid those whom they deem freaky, and Danny right now is going through that. Once out of high school, teens are more mature, and then Danny will find someone."

Andy groaned, and Danny didn't look much happier. Although Jazz was talking about Danny, both twins knew she was referring to both of them.

* * *

_At Casper High_

Things weren't much better in school. The kids mostly stopped laughing at Danny now, because him being dressed as a girl was yesterday's news. They moved on to other nerds however. Danny was in a foul mood after this morning, and seeing Calvin and his buddy bullying someone from the band, the one who played a tuba, just made him more bitter. Danny shut his locker door and walked away, debating with himself on whether or not he should do something to Calvin.

Andy, who was on the other side due to his locker being further away from Danny's current locker, noticed his brother's foul mood, and was a little uneasy. He looked over at Calvin and his buddy, tossing the band member's hat around.

However, when the other jock threw the hat away and Calvin went to catch it, the locker door suddenly swung open, clocking Calvin in the face and sending him to the ground with a black eye and a missing tooth, the hat fell on his hat perfectly. Andy blinked, surprised at what he had just witnessed. _Okay… did that locker door just _open_… on _it's own?!

Deciding to stay away from the potentially dangerous locker, Andy walked to class, keeping Dorimon safely tucked away in his backpack.

Then later, after class, Andy and Takuya were at their lockers, getting something out for the next class, when Andy suddenly bristled at hearing an all too familiar voice.

"I'm so fascinated with, like, AV equipment, could you tell me more about them?" Paulina sweetly asked a nerdy looking kid who was rolling a projector down the hall when Paulina stopped him near the trophy shelf.

Behind the nerd, Kwan was sneaking up on him and reached down, untying his shoelaces before retying the nerd's laces together into one big bow.

Then, the locker began to glow slightly before a trophy was knocked down onto Kwan's head and he staggered back, knocking into a fire extinguisher and causing it to spray foam everywhere, some of which landed in Paulina's hair. Then, the nerd's shoe laces were returned to their normal state before the nerd looked around, confused. He then shrugged and continued on his way down the hall.

"... The heck…? Takuya, did you see that?" Andy asked, shocked at what he just witnessed._ Though admittedly, it felt immensely satisfying seeing Paulina getting sprayed by the fire extinguisher._

Takuya could only nod. "Uh huh…" He was just as surprised as Andy. _That was _weird!

Andy looked at the rusted locker door for a moment. "Um… should… should we check it out?"

Looking at the locker door himself, Takuya frowned a bit. He wasn't sure about it, but if that what happened was not normal, then it would stand to reason a ghost was behind it. "I don't know… but I think we should, just so Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack don't get the same idea."

Takuya walked over to the locker, slowly putting a hand on it. He touched the locker door, expecting the thing to lash out at him. Nothing happened, which made him relieved.

Andy walked over to Takuya, before he looked at the locker himself. "Do you sense anything unusual?"

"No, I don't…" Takuya muttered with a frown. "Maybe we can get a better look after lunch. I think the ghost might have gone dormant or something."

The warning bell rang, and Andy sighed. "Yeah, you're right. We don't want to get in trouble for being late. As long as nothing big happens, I think we can afford to leave it alone for now."

* * *

Later, when it was lunchtime, most of the students were in the cafeteria. Calvin was talking to his jock buddies and the popular girls at their table, he mentioned how the locker door suddenly opened up and slammed into his face. Paulina was whining about how she was going to be brushing foam out of her hair for a week. Kwan was uneasy, feeling like the school was haunted now.

Sam was looking at Danny with a disapproving look. "_Someone_ has been busy…" She grumbled to Danny.

Of course, being seated away from Danny, Sam, and Tucker at another table, Andy, Takuya, Dorimon, and Dash didn't hear what the trio was talking about.

"You know, you two don't have to sit away from them," Dash mentioned as he was eating his mac and cheese.

"I know we don't have to, but they seem to want to talk about something that they rather keep secret from us," Andy stated, a little bit of bitterness in his tone. "Besides… we also have something to talk about that we don't want them to hear either."

Dash remembered what it was as he saw Dorimon munching away on a piece of ham that Andy had snuck the little guy. "Yeah, I can see your point." He then chuckled. "You're feeding it right now."

"Well, that and something ghost related," Takuya added.

Dash frowned a little, he was still scared around ghosts.

"I see…" He murmured. "And you don't want to talk to them about it because…?"

"It may freak them out." Takuya replied. "And Andy wants to be sure of this issue before we go further into detail."

"What is it then?" Dash questioned.

"You know how everyone is talking about how these odd things are happening?" Andy asked, and Dash nodded. "Well, Takuya and I saw Danny's locker responsible for these things. It swung itself open into Calvin's face, it used some kind of green, ghostly energy to drop the trophy on Kwan's head, and untied the nerd's shoelaces that Kwan tied together earlier. And who knows what else it's been doing. Takuya and I were going to investigate after we were done eating, and we were hoping you would come with us since it could get dangerous."

Dash wasn't sure he wanted to go since it had a ghost involved, but since they were his friends, he decided to go with them. "I… I really don't want to, but if you guys are right, then you will need my help." He made a point to show his D-Tector discreetly.

Andy and Takuya smiled at that.

"Alright, then let's finish our food quickly so we'll have time to check out that locker," Andy said.

There was suddenly laughing coming from Danny's table. The three of them looked over to see Danny was just pelted by a lot of meat in the face. Calvin and his posse of jocks had just thrown meat at Danny, and were laughing.

"Hey guys, let's _meat_ my new locker neighbor!" Calvin laughed, feeling proud of his little pun

"That is so wrong… if anything, Fenton is _my_ locker neighbor," Dash grumbled.

Takuya groaned. "Not to mention what a bad pun that was…"

"I thought the pun was good…" Dash mumbled.

Andy frowned, he didn't like seeing someone picking on his brother. Danny threw the meat off his face, and he glared dangerously at Calvin. Takuya blinked, he could've sworn he saw Danny's eyes glowing green for a second, before Sam put her hand on Danny's shoulder to try to calm him down.

However, that backfired because meat, cheese, veggies, and a large bun were all thrown at Danny's face next, the bun landing on his head.

"Oh gosh, they just threw an entire sub sandwich at him," Takuya noted.

"What a waste of a sandwich," Dash grumbled.

"Waste of a sandwich? I'd say it's a huge annoyance that they're picking on Danny like that," Andy huffed. "If I wasn't hiding Dorimon, I'd have him spit iron beads at them right now."

Takuya had an idea. "Or maybe…" He looked at Dorimon. "We could use some of those iron beads and 'send him on his way', if you get my meaning." He looked at Andy with a grin.

Andy blinked before getting what Takuya meant. "Subtle, I like it. See, you can think with your brain pretty well, cuz~"

Takuya blushed a bit at that. "Hehe…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Andy picked up Dorimon. "Okay, Dorimon, aim at the floor, just behind those jocks."

"This better not backfire on us…" Dorimon sighed before he shot out little iron beads at the floor, they rolled around like small marbles.

Calvin and his posse made their way towards the 'marbles', only to wind up slipping on the iron beads and falling, or in the case of a few jocks, sliding around like they were in a cartoon.

The other kids looked at them in shock, though several of them started to laugh, several others didn't in fear for their health and safety. Andy, Takuya, and Dash all started eating their lunch innocently, Andy had Dorimon under the table.

Takuya, as a treat, handed Dorimon a chocolate bar, allowing the small In-Training Digimon to eat it up.

"Whoa… wonder who actually put marbles on the floor behind those guys," Tucker whistled, impressed.

"I'd say that felt good, but it's not enough," Danny remarked, still messy from being pelted with a whole sandwich. "Wonder how Calvin would feel with having 12 frogs in his pants…"

Sam frowned as she held up the frog box. "Oh, no! You are _not_ using innocent amphibians for a juvenile revenge scheme!" She had a scolding tone to her voice as she said that.

But Danny had other ideas as his eyes flashed green and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Why do I suddenly have a very ominous feeling going up my spine?" Andy frowned.

* * *

After Andy, Dash, Takuya, and Dorimon ate their lunch, they headed into the hallway. It was mostly empty due to everyone else wanting to stay at the cafeteria or outside until lunch was over. So it made it easy for the four of them to just head to the locker without being all secretive.

"There it is," Andy pointed at the rusted locker. "From what I've seen, it targets kids when they're picking on other kids."

Takuya, Andy, Dorimon, and Dash approached the locker. Takuya grabbed the door and opened it, but there was only the old mirror inside it, along with Danny's books. "Huh… There's just this old dusty mirror."

"Let me take a look," Andy stated.

Takuya moved away to let Andy look inside. He peered at the mirror, before he reached his hand out and, cautiously, touched the mirror. There didn't seem to be anything unusual, it was just a mirror.

"Hmm… I can't tell if there's something supernatural about the mirror or not, it seems to just be an ordinary mirror," Andy muttered.

Dash frowned. "Well, if it's just a mirror, then what is going on?" He was wondering how the locker could be haunted if there was a normal mirror inside it.

Andy pulled away before holding Dorimon up to the mirror. "Well… maybe Dorimon should check it out. He can fit into the locker, and Digimon have an easier time sensing ghosts."

Takuya and Dash had to admit that Andy had a point. Dorimon wriggled out of Andy's grasp and into the locker before sniffing at the mirror. He didn't smell anything unusual, but then his fur bristled. "Ghost energy…"

"You sense ghost energy? From the mirror?" Andy asked.

"Yes… Faint, but there." Dorimon confirmed as he moved back towards Andy, who then picked him up in his arms.

Andy turned to Takuya and Dash. "Okay, so that mirror is definitely haunted. But that leaves the question of… what do we do now?"

Just then, Takuya felt a flash of heat and cold in his body before he looked back and saw Calvin at his locker, which was close to Danny's, but not as close as Dash's was. Behind Calvin was Phantom's form, holding a box of frogs. "I think we have ghostly company…"

Dorimon wasn't growling like he usually was when they felt ghostly energy, but he gave a curious look. Dash yelped at seeing the ghost boy and ran to the nearest empty classroom door before opening it and going into the classroom to hide.

"Dash! Where are you going?" Andy asked, before he lost sight of Phantom. "Hey… where did the ghost boy go-"

Suddenly, Calvin's pants was pulled open from behind, and his underwear was pulled onto his head, then a floating box poured frogs into Calvin's pants.

In a fit of pain and agony, Calvin's head burst out from his underwear and he ran down the hall, holding his behind as the frogs moved about in his pants.

_"__Buuuulllieeeees!"_ A voice from the haunted locker spoke up.

Takuya, Andy, and Dorimon all looked at the locker. Takuya suddenly felt another flash of heat, while Dorimon started to growl at the locker.

"Uh-oh…" Andy frowned.

Then a ghost boy popped out of the locker's door. The ghost was gray in color, and he definitely looked like a nerd, with the glasses, the bowl cut hair, and the buckteeth, and the way he wore his clothes.

Takuya was surprised, but he didn't react. Dorimon remained in Andy's arms as he growled.

The nerdy ghost then spoke. "Hey! I'm free! Finally, the doorway's been opened!" The ghost even sounded like a nerd in the way he spoke.

Then the ghost, seeming to be ignoring Takuya and Andy's presence, was glaring at something invisible. "You think that was funny, Buster Browns?"

"Huh? You can see me?" A familiar voice asked in confusion.

"Yeah, that's right, bub!" The grey ghost nerd snapped.

Phantom reappeared from his invisibility as he looked at the ghost before him.

Andy and Takuya were looking at each other, not sure what to do. The two ghosts were having a conversation about something. Though they stopped listening as they were trying to figure out what to do. They couldn't tell if this nerdy ghost was dangerous or not.

"You're the bully from where I'm standing," The ghost nerd said that caught their attention.

"Uh… floating," Phantom pointed at the ghost nerd's feet, which were floating off of the ground.

"Let's see how _you_ like getting bullied!" The nerdy ghost declared as he raised his hands up into the air, only for lockers all around them to begin to glow. The nerd ghost's eyes turned red, and books, pens, pencils, and notebooks all shot out of the lockers at Phantom.

Before Andy and Takuya could even think of doing something, Dash suddenly ran out of the classroom he was hiding in, grabbed Andy and Takuya's arms, before he dragged them away from the fight.

"It's too dangerous to be in the crossfire between ghosts!" Dash warned as he was dragging them down the hallway.

Takuya was trying to get away, as his mind was on the ghost fight. "I know, but we need to stop it! That ghost could hurt someone!"

Dorimon wriggled in Andy's grasp. "The ghost is bad news!"

Dorimon started to run down the hall.

"Wait! Don't go by yourself, Dorimon!" Andy shouted. "Dash, let go! We can't let Dorimon take on the ghost by himself!"

Takuya yanked his arm out of Dash's grip and ran after Dorimon before grabbing the little guy. "Don't just rush in there! We need a plan first before we do anything!"

The entire school was panicking, the ghost nerd's power likely caused everyone's books and pencils to go flying all over the place. Some of them ran out through the front door. Andy cringed when he heard what sounded like Jack's yell from the front door. "Move Maddie, move!"

"Great, just what we need…" Andy groaned as Dash let go of Andy. "Come on, Dash, we have to get in there!"

"B-but…" Dash frowned before shaking his head. "A-alright…"

Andy ran past Takuya and Dorimon. Takuya looked up before he hurried after Andy. Dash was lagging behind, it was clear he was terrified of ghosts.

As the foursome ran back to the battle, Takuya wasn't sure of what to think of this situation. On one hand, the nerdy ghost was right about bullying, but on the other, Phantom had just been getting payback at Calvin. _Maybe we could talk to the ghost?_

Takuya then looked at Andy. "So, what do we do when we get to the battle?" He wasn't sure about just rushing in when there was stuff flying around.

"I don't know yet," Andy answered. "But we need to see how hostile this ghost is first."

When they reached where the ghost nerd and Phantom were, they were surprised to see Sam and Tucker were there as well. Sam was putting the frogs back into the box, while Tucker approached the ghost nerd.

"I am Sydney Poindexter! And whenever there's a nerd in need, I shall be there!" The ghost nerd, who called himself Poindexter, announced proudly as he gestured to Tucker.

"Hey, who are you calling a nerd?" Tucker asked as he pointed at Poindexter.

Phantom, looking annoyed now, flew towards Poindexter, likely to tackle him. Poindexter turned himself transparent, making Phantom fly straight through him, and he ended up ramming into Tucker instead. The two of them flew into a wall.

"Oof… that looked painful…" Andy cringed.

Dorimon, who had jumped back into Andy's arms, winced. "Ow…"

"That's the guy who once had your locker!" Tucker said once he regained his senses. Hearing that, Poindexter seemed to smirk. He then faced Phantom.

"In your face, skeptic!" Tucker exclaimed with a laugh.

Phantom frowned at Tucker, he had been skeptical about the myth, but he didn't need to hear it from Tucker.

Poindexter seemed to think Tucker was talking to him and held out a pen. "In his face? What a swell idea!"

Poindexter then aimed the pen at Phantom and let the ink fly into his face. Poindexter then started to laugh.

"Eew… ink in the face… I hope that's not too hard to wash off…" Takuya muttered.

Annoyed, Phantom suddenly turned himself transparent before he tackled the laughing Poindexter ghost, and both of them went under the floor.

"Looks like they just went down into the boiler room…" Andy frowned. "Either that or they went down into the underground."

"Shouldn't we go after them?" Takuya asked.

"Hey! What are you two doing here?" Sam called out, seeing Andy and Takuya. "And… you brought your stuffed animal?"

Sam looked at Dorimon in Andy's arms.

"Uh…" Andy hesitated, not sure how to answer.

"Is that Dash?" Tucker asked in worry, seeing the football captain himself standing a few feet behind them.

"Yes! And I was just on my way to class when I saw you nerds all gathered here," Dash said, trying to sound tough.

Andy frowned. "Where's Danny? Wasn't he with you two?"

Takuya looked around, seeing that Danny was indeed missing. "Did something happen to him?"

"Uh… we… don't know where he went?" Tucker said, making it sound more like a question.

"Smooth," Sam sarcastically grumbled. "He went to do something else. Meanwhile I'm cleaning up after his mess. There you go little froggies, you'll be safe in here…"

Sam was still putting frogs back into the box.

Dash and Andy shook their heads as Takuya rolled his eyes. It seemed Sam would never change.

"Well, I'm uh… going to go… get a soda," Dash awkwardly said, knowing that Andy had wanted to keep their friendship a secret, but Dash didn't want to be a bully anymore either, not even by pretending, so he just excused himself and walked away.

Andy looked at the floor where he saw Phantom shoving Poindexter through. While Tucker and Sam were busy with the frogs, Andy looked over at Takuya and whispered. "We could probably try going to the boiler room… but… if those ghosts hit something down there, there's a good chance this entire school will explode."

Takuya paled at hearing that. "Then we should hurry…" He whispered back. "We don't want others to be hurt or worse." _I don't like this..._

Dorimon shivered at hearing Andy's words. "The school will go boom?"

"It's a possibility, I don't know for sure," Andy said. "We can take the sta-"

Andy suddenly stopped, he felt a sudden weird sensation in his chest that he couldn't explain. He then began to shiver like he was cold.

Takuya looked at Andy worriedly. "Andy?"

"Andy!" Dorimon exclaimed, feeling the shaking of his partner, as Andy was holding him. It felt weird to Dorimon, like he was vibrating now.

Andy suddenly dropped Dorimon, though Dorimon hit the floor, he wasn't hurt all that much, he was more worried about Andy. Andy let out a gasp before he stumbled back, hitting the lockers. He suddenly felt like he was having trouble breathing, like someone was strangling his lungs. Takuya and Dorimon rushed up to Andy, not knowing what was going on with him. Andy was struggling and flailing around now, like he was fighting something that was invisible and trying to crush him.

"Andy, calm down!" Takuya exclaimed as he grabbed Andy's shoulders. "Just calm down!" He was not showing it, but the older boy was panicking inside as he tried to get Andy to settle down.

Dorimon walked up next to Andy and nudged his leg. "Andy…"

Andy didn't seem to be able to hear them, he kept flailing around while Takuya was trying to hold him down. If Andy was breathing, Takuya was sure he'd be screaming as well.

Then after what felt like an eternity to Takuya and Dorimon, Andy suddenly stopped, he closed his eyes and went limp.

Takuya felt his heart leap into his throat as Andy went limp in his grasp. He was panicking now, as memories of Koichi's still form came to mind. This was just like that, and he had witnessed it this time. "ANDY!"

Dorimon was on the verge of tears now. "Wake up…" His plea was so weak and heartbroken, it hurt Takuya to hear it.

Takuya quickly tried to calm himself down, he remembered the best way to tell if a person was still alive was to check for a pulse.

He wasn't entirely sure where to check for a pulse, but he figured the neck would be a good place to start. He put two fingers to Andy's neck, only to feel a pulse. He visibly relaxed when he felt Andy's pulse, but it was racy and quick, which concerned him.

"He has a pulse… but it's racy and rapid." Takuya reported.

"What happened to him?" Dorimon asked in worry.

"I'm not sure…" Takuya admitted. He ran a hand through his hair. "This is the first time I saw something like this."

"Hey, what's going on?" Tucker asked as he noticed Takuya was standing over an unconscious Andy. "Andy? Did he pass out?"

Dorimon went still, remembering he had to act like a toy around others.

Takuya froze when he heard Tucker's voice. A quick glance revealed Dorimon was pretending to be a toy, so Takuya turned his attention to Tucker. "I don't know. One moment Andy was fine and the next, he was flailing around like he was suffocating. Then he passed out. I don't know what happened to him to cause that, and I want to be sure he's alright and-" He was cut off by Sam.

"Whoa! Just calm down." Sam said as she looked at the panicking Takuya. "Did you say Andy was flailing around like he was suffocating?"

"Yes! It freaked me out!" Takuya exclaimed, trying not to freak out at what he just saw his cousin went through.

Tucker and Sam frowned as they moved closer to Andy, seeing he was out cold.

"That's weird… I don't think he had an asthma or heart attack, I mean he doesn't have asthma… maybe an anxiety attack?" Sam guessed. "Whatever the case may be, we better get him to the nurse's office and hope it was nothing serious."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… We probably should." He looked at Sam and Tucker. "Can you pick up Andy's backpack and put his toy into it? I think he would want it when he wakes up." Takuya then picked up Andy and put him onto his back, giving the unconscious boy a piggyback ride, before heading down to the nurse's office.

Tucker picked up Dorimon. "... I'd like to get a toy like this. It looks like something out of an anime."

"This isn't the time for one of your geekiness, Tucker, put it into the backpack and let's go. I'm worried about Andy," Sam huffed, holding out Andy's backpack. "One of us should tell Danny too when he gets back."

Tucker pouted, but did as Sam asked, slipping Dorimon into the backpack before closing it. "Okay, let's go."

* * *

Takuya had no idea how long it had been since they brought Andy to the nurse. It felt like hours, but it could've only been a few minutes. The nurse was checking Andy out, trying to find signs for anything abnormal. Takuya himself was pacing, he had no idea what happened to his cousin, but it did scare him. Dorimon was worried too, but unlike Takuya, he wasn't allowed to show it since Tucker and Sam were there as well.

Sam was looking worried as she sat in one of the chairs while Tucker was biting his lower lip as he fidgeted with his PDA's stylus in hand. Sam was flicking two of her fingers together as they waited for the nurse's word on Andy's condition.

Takuya was constantly running the scenario in his mind, how Andy suddenly acted like he was cold before he suddenly started to flail around wildly, looking to be unable to breathe. Then how Andy suddenly passed out. Takuya had no idea what kind of disease, if it was a disease, that would cause that. Or if a ghost or Digimon was involved, but Takuya hadn't felt either of those nearby other than Dorimon when it happened, and Dorimon was just as scared and clueless as he was about this.

_What caused that? I know it wasn't a ghost, but… what else could it have been? I just don't know!_ Takuya was too caught up in his own thoughts to pay attention to anything else. _I know Andy was fine one moment, and the next, he isn't. And where is Danny? He is Andy's twin! Surely he would have felt something was wrong! Besides, aren't twins supposed to be half of each other's soul?_

That was when Takuya realized something that made him turn pale. _What… oh-no… what if something happened to Danny and that resulted in Andy's sudden suffocation attack?_

Now Takuya was _almost_ certain whatever happened had to do with Danny. _Or what if it was _Phantom_ that did something to Danny?!_ That thought scared him. _What if Phantom isn't a good ghost after all?! What if he hurt Danny?!_

Before Takuya could go into a panic attack of his own, the nurse suddenly approached him, Tucker, and Sam.

"I've ran all the diagnosis I can on Andrew Fenton," The nurse said as she looked at her clipboard. "He seems perfectly healthy. I'm afraid I can't find what caused him to suddenly pass out."

Takuya frowned at that. _That seems to confirm it was something with Danny._ He thought. "Okay… Thanks anyway. We were just so worried about Andy that we brought him here. We didn't know what else to do."

Sam and Tucker nodded in agreement.

"I will say that his pulse seems faster than normal," The nurse stated. "He could have passed out from stress, but that's my best diagnosis on him suddenly passing out. For now, we will wait until he wakes up. If he doesn't wake up soon, or if he suddenly gets worse, I will have to transport him to Amity Hospital."

Tucker got pale at hearing the world 'hospital'. "Oh no…" He looked like he was going to faint himself. "I _hate_ hospitals…"

While Tucker was fretting about the hospital, Sam and Takuya were more concerned with the fact that their friend and cousin, was possibly going to be hospitalized. For Sam it was worse, since she had to go through Danny being hospitalized when everyone thought he was dead.

Takuya on the other hand was also worried, since this was his family member. He had heard of Danny's accident yes, but to see Andy so still and lifeless had reminded him of Koichi's own accident and how he had wound up in the Digital World. Koichi had been essentially a spirit himself, and this scared Takuya, because Andy could be going through being in a coma like Koichi had been. Sometimes he still had nightmares about that.

"You three should get back to class, I'll keep watch over Andrew," The nurse stated.

Takuya, Tucker, and Sam all nodded, even though they didn't want to leave Andy. Takuya picked up Dorimon from Andy's backpack and put him beside Andy. Takuya knew Dorimon would want to be next to his partner until he woke up, and the nurse shouldn't mind a 'stuffed toy' being with the unconscious patient.

"Okay… just… keep us informed please…" Takuya said as he stood up, his eyes now hidden by his hair. _Andy… please… wake up soon…_ Unseen by anyone else, tears were running down his cheeks.

Sam and Tucker looked at Takuya in concern, but they too were worried for Andy. He looked too much like Danny when he was brought to the hospital after the accident; completely lifeless.

"Hey… I'm sure… I'm sure Andy will be alright," Sam said, hoping to reassure Takuya, though she sounded unsure herself.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… He should be…" Takuya then turned and left, not wanting to spend any more time near his unconscious cousin. _Not when this reminds me of Koichi's own accident..._

* * *

Class dragged on longer than it usually did. Takuya couldn't stop this feeling of worry. He hadn't seen Danny at all either. He was itching to investigate, he _needed _to know if both of his cousins were alright.

So by the time class was over, Takuya all but ran into the hallway, he had to find Danny, or at least Phantom. He needed to know. He then ran into Mr. Lancer, who was carrying a box of frogs, likely found it from Sam, and when Takuya smashed into him, Mr. Lancer dropped the box. Gasping, Mr. Lancer ran after the frogs.

"Sorry about that!" Takuya called back, not bothering to stop and help pick up the frogs. He had more important things to worry about.

Takuya then saw his uncle and aunt looking around the lockers.

"The kids said they've witnessed a ghost attack, but they didn't say where…" Maddie frowned, holding up a device in her hands.

"Fear not, Maddie, we won't be leaving this school until we find that ghost!" Jack assured.

Takuya was about to walk away from them when he suddenly saw Danny right behind him. Danny gave a confused look at Takuya, his eyes seemed a little off. They appeared to be dark gray instead of the baby blue eyes Takuya came to know.

"D-Danny?" Takuya asked, not sure what to make of this. _What's going on? Why are Danny's eyes gray instead of blue?_

Danny, or who was supposed to be Danny, looked at him. "Do I know- uh, yes, of course! Hi there, uh… my friend!"

Takuya blinked. It was obvious this was _not_ Danny, since Danny would know he was his cousin. He frowned. "I'm your cousin…"

"Oh! Right, of course, I knew that!" 'Danny' smiled.

Before Takuya could say anything else, however, Tucker and Sam ran over to them.

"Danny, there you are dude!" Tucker said. "Where've you been? Your brother is in the nurse's office!"

'Danny' blinked. "My… brother…?"

"Yeah, Andy." Takuya replied. "He passed out and is now unconscious. We wanted to let you know since you two are brothers." He was not trusting this being pretending to be Danny though. _If that was Danny, he would be panicked over his twin, but he's not. So it can't be Danny._

"Oh-oh! Right, my brother! What happened to him? Is he sick?" 'Danny' asked in concern.

"No, just… passed out from stress." Takuya replied in a flat tone as he looked at 'Danny' with a glare.

"Danny? Are you okay? You sound kind of… off," Sam asked, raising her eyebrow.

Takuya just realized that 'Danny's' voice did sound off, it sounded too high pitched to be Danny's voice, and he had a bit of a different accent.

"Uh… um… going through puberty," 'Danny' excused.

Takuya didn't buy that for a moment, but he didn't say anything on it. Instead, he just looked at 'Danny' before grabbing his arm. "Sam, Tucker, can I speak to 'Danny' alone please?" With that, he dragged 'Danny' off.

"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing, buddy? That's rough!" 'Danny' whined as Takuya brought him around the corner.

Takuya sighed and let 'Danny's' arm go. He _so_ wanted to evolve and deal with this imposter, but that would not help Andy in the slightest. _What would Andy do?_ He mused.

_"__Gather information."_ Takuya imagined Andy's voice telling him.

Taking that to heart, Takuya took a deep breath and calmed himself down so he wouldn't have that feral look in his eyes before facing 'Danny'. "Okay, I _know_ you are not my cousin." Takuya folded his arms over his chest. "I want to know who _you_ are. Don't try to say you are Danny, because I know you are not. My cousin has blue eyes, and yours are gray. Plus, your voice is off. It's too high pitched, and the accent is off too."

'Danny' frowned, looking a little uncomfortable. "Uh… oh… jeez, I… didn't think I would be caught this quickly…"

"Well, when it comes to fooling family members, it isn't that easy." Takuya chuckled. "Save for my aunt and uncle. They would have fallen for it easily."

'Danny' looked a little more at ease seeing Takuya chuckling. "Oh, I guess that's true… my own family picks on me…. Oh, uh, I'm Sydney Poindexter, the spirit of Sydney Poindexter to be exact. I took over your cousin's body because he was being a bully to an innocent kid."

Takuya sighed here. "And _that_ is where the issue is. Danny _wasn't_ being the bully; he's the _victim_ of bullying. He was just doing some harmless payback." He ran a hand through his hair. "Ugh… This is going to be a _long_ day…"

"Wait… really? That… was payback?" Poindexter asked in surprise.

"Didn't he tell you or did you just assume he was being a bully?" Takuya asked. "Danny is actually the victim of bullying. I guess he just wanted some payback after all this time."

"O-oh… jeez… I didn't know…" Poindexter frowned, looking down.

Takuya felt somewhat more at ease now that he was actually talking to the ghost in his cousin's body. _Heh… I guess gathering information works better than I thought._ "Look, I don't blame you for thinking that, but making an assumption like that not only hurt my other cousin, Andy, but it has me worried about what could be happening to Danny. I mean I'm not sure how you taking over Danny's body caused Andy to suddenly go comatose but… could you come out of Danny's body now?"

Poindexter looked up at Takuya with a wide-eye realization, the kind of realization that Takuya knew was bad news. "I… uh… can't… See, I may have… um… well… when I took over his body, there was… an unexpected development… somehow Danny's spirit reacted in such a way to my presence that it left his body when I took control. I think it went into the mirror… to my lair… the lair that I've been trapped in for the past… uh… however long it's been since I was alive."

Takuya felt like pinching the bridge of his nose would alleviate some of the urge to evolve, so he did just that. "Okay… great… Now I need to figure out how to save Danny from the mirror. Some day this is turning out to be…" _I guess now I know what happened. Andy and Danny are two halves of the same soul, so when Poindexter accidentally ripped Danny's soul out of his body, it affected Andy as well… that would explain the sudden comatose state. I guess when Danny's soul was being ripped out, Andy felt its effects, hence why he suddenly started flailing around…_

* * *

**Titanic X:** **ZAFT:** Glad you like it. :)

**Luna Lillyth****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, their teamwork is a working progress.

**ZAFT: **But it will get better over time. :)


	11. Peaceful Resolution

**ZAFT: **Well, we are on time today. :)

**DarkFoxKit: **Yeah, thank goodness for that. Last chapter, by the way, poor Andy passed out. Poor boy, he can never seem to catch a break.

**Andy: *Is currently unconscious***

**ZAFT: **What happened to Andy? Did he knock his head or something?

**DarkFoxKit: **What? No, don't you remember what happened to him? Poindexter took over Danny's body and Andy felt that.

**ZAFT: **Oh. Whoops! ^^' Well, he gets better here. ;)

**DarkFoxKit: *Frowns* **But I feel bad for him**. *Snuggles with the sleeping boy***

**ZAFT: **Believe me, I feel bad too**. *Hugs Andy***

**DarkFoxKit: **Nobody but us gets to cuddle with him until he wakes up. :3

**ZAFT:** Yep! :3

* * *

**Chapter 11: A Peaceful Resolve**

"Can't you just get out of Danny's body and go back through the mirror?" Takuya asked Poindexter as he and Poindexter stood outside of locker 724.

"No way, bub. I rather be stuck in this kid's body for the rest of eternity than go back to that nightmareish place!" Poindexter quickly answered.

Takuya groaned as he smacked his face with his hand. He then sighed. "Look, I would like to have my cousin back, just as much as you want to avoid that place. But we can't have everything we want, so one of us has to make that choice, and I would rather have Danny back." The goggle-wearing boy felt a headache coming on. _I wonder how Andy would handle this now..._

Takuya looked around, trying to get an idea on how to handle this situation. But he was no expert on ghosts. He spotted Maddie and Jack running through the hallway of the school._ Maybe I should try asking the experts then..._

Takuya then ran after his aunt. "Aunt Maddie!"

His voice made Maddie stop and turn to him. "Yes, Takuya?"

Takuya came to a stop in front of his aunt. "Hey, listen, can I ask you a question?" He hoped he wasn't going to mess this up. "Um… Okay, so… say you come across a ghost. How would you help it to move on? And I don't mean to 'destroy it molecule by molecule'." He made quotations with his fingers at those last five words.

"We wouldn't help a ghost move on," Jack said. "That's silly, and only in movies."

"But if you want an answer," Maddie spoke up, looking a little intrigued. "Most say that in order to help a ghost move on, they would need to satisfy whatever business they have in this world, or confront what is keeping them tethered. If an item is keeping them tethered to this world, then in order to free them, you'd have to destroy it."

Takuya looked at his aunt and uncle, an idea coming to his mind. "Okay, thanks!" He turned and ran off, heading back to Poindexter's location.

However, when Takuya got back to where Poindexter was, he didn't see Poindexter anywhere.

Looking around, Takuya tried to find Poindexter, but there was no sign of him. The older boy groaned. Now_ where did he get to?!_ He felt that headache coming back on. _Way to go, Takuya. You lost sight of a ghost in your cousin's body. What a goof-up that is…_

Takuya began to run around the school, trying to find Poindexter, he needed him in order to get Danny and Andy back. Then he stopped when he saw Dash at the soda machine, frowning.

"Stupid machine ate my quarter…" Dash grumbled.

Takuya was about to ask Dash if he had seen 'Danny', when said kid suddenly walked over to Dash. Tucker and Sam were behind him.

"Hey, let me help you out there, pal!" Poindexter smiled at Dash before he put his hand on the side of the machine.

"Hey, Takuya… what did you say to Danny? He's been acting kind of… weird," Tucker asked Takuya while 'Danny' was doing something.

"I didn't really 'say' anything. I just wanted to know what happened to him and why he wasn't worried about Andy." Takuya lied, keeping an eye on 'Danny'.

Suddenly, there was a 'kerchunk' sound, and a soda can plopped down to the little slide hole of the vending machine. Dash picked up the can, and looked at 'Danny' in curiosity.

"How did you do that, Fenton?" Dash asked. "I didn't take you for a… mechanic."

"Ah, that's my little secret~" 'Danny' said with a wink. "Just mess with the parts, and it works."

Takuya frowned to himself. _Poindexter is trying to help, yes, but what is he doing?_

"Thanks, but… why did you do that for me?" Dash asked, still not sure what to think about 'Danny's' sudden kindness.

"Well, we're friends, aren't we?" 'Danny' asked.

Tucker, Sam, and Dash all gave 'Danny' a very confused look.

"Ah, I uh… need to talk to Dash about something… football related!" Takuya quickly spoke up, almost panicking.

Takuya waved Dash over around the corner, to which the football captain obliged him.

"Okay, what's going on with your cousin?" Dash asked as soon as they were out of hearing range.

"Something has taken over Danny." Takuya replied bluntly. "The ghost of locker 724, called Sydney Poindexter, has possessed my cousin, and now he won't leave Danny's body. Andy passed out because of Poindexter taking over Danny's body, as he felt the effects of that incident, and if I don't get Poindexter to leave Danny's body, Andy may never wake up."

Dash stared at Takuya as he was trying to process everything that the older yet shorter boy just told him. "... Andy's in a coma… because of a nerdy ghost that took over Fenton's body?"

"Pretty much, since Danny and Andy _are_ two halves of one soul." Takuya admitted.

"I thought that was just a myth!" Dash frowned. "Or a metaphor for saying how close twins are."

Takuya gave Dash a look. "Then how else would you explain it?" He folded his arms across his chest. "Because that's the only explanation I could come to."

"Alright, fine, let's say that it is. How are we going to get that ghost out of Fenton? Do we need to call an exorcist or something?" Dash asked, looking uneasy.

Takuya frowned. "Well, under normal circumstances, yes, but you see, this sent Danny's spirit somewhere else. We need to get that ghost to be _willing_ to leave Danny's body. He doesn't want to because of something that happened in his past, namely being bullied."

"Great… so first lesson of the day; don't be a bully," Dash grumbled. "Do you even know how we're going to get this ghost to leave Fenton's body?"

Takuya sighed. "No… I'm still trying to figure that out…"

"Well… maybe we shouldn't let him out of our sight then?" Dash suggested.

Takuya looked around the corner, only to see 'Danny' was gone again, along with Tucker and Sam, they had likely followed 'Danny'.

"Son of a- ugh!" Takuya nearly cursed.

Dash frowned. "I guess we need to find him first then."

"Let's go, then," Takuya sighed.

And so, Takuya and Dash began to search the school for 'Danny', hoping to find him before the end of school. Thankfully it was just study hall for Takuya, so he didn't have to worry about getting to class for a while. It was nearly P.E. class for Dash though.

"Hey, Takuya!" Dash suddenly called. "I found him! He's… handing out… free sodas to all the jocks?"

Takuya looked back, only to see Dash was right. "Okay… Either the ghost in Danny's body has no idea the jocks are bullies, or he is just doing that to try to win over people so they won't think twice when a ghost betrays that trust."

"This ghost came from… like the 50s according to the legend, right?" Dash asked. "So I guess it's understandable that he wouldn't know the difference between jocks and… well… non-jocks. I guess to him he's just being nice."

Takuya perked up at hearing the ghost was from the 50s, but then he frowned. _How can I use that to our advantage? Maybe we can show Poindexter that bullying is the same here?_ He then shook his head. _No, that wouldn't work. It would make him madder._

_"__When you don't know what to do, try asking for help."_ Takuya could hear Andy say to him.

Takuya frowned before he looked over at Tucker and Sam, they were watching 'Danny' handing out the free sodas.

"Three cheers for Fenton!" Calvin shouted after he gulped down his soda.

Takuya knew he had to act, so, he took a breath and let it out before approaching Sam and Tucker. _I guess I need to let Sam and Tucker know about this. The help would be needed._

"Hey, Takuya," Dash spoke up suddenly. "I have an idea."

Takuya stopped before he reached halfway to Sam and Tucker and looked back at Dash. "What is it?" He was intrigued now.

"I know of a way that I can keep an eye on him while you try to figure out what to do. And if it knocks him out, that'll be easier for us," Dash replied. "Since I'm captain of the football team, I can invite 'Fenton' to practice. I'll be able to keep an eye on him, he wouldn't suspect a thing, and if he gets knocked out, all the easier for us."

Takuya put a hand to his chin in thought before he looked up. A grin crossed his face. "Not a bad idea, Dash. I would appreciate it."

Dash gave a smile back. "Anything for a friend."

Takuya then turned to approach Sam and Tucker again. _Well, it's now or never…_ He sighed, hoping Sam and Tucker would agree to help him. _I think they will, since this is for Andy's sake too._

Dash walked into the jock crowd. "Hey, you know, we're a little short on players for practice today. How about we invite Fenton over to see if he's got any game?"

The other jocks agreed before they started to take 'Danny' out onto the football field with them. 'Danny' looked all too happy to oblige.

With the group gone, Takuya could finally speak to Tucker and Sam.

"Jeez, this day had gone from weird to weirder," Sam mumbled. "I mean who thought a few free sodas would be enough to win the popular kids over?"

"That's because that is not Danny." Takuya said as he approached the two. "A ghost has possessed Danny, and sent his spirit to the ghost's lair."

"Wait… what?" Tucker and Sam looked at Takuya.

"A ghost took over Danny's body?" Tucker frowned.

"How do you even know this?" Sam questioned.

Takuya sighed. "It's because I actually _talked_ with the ghost inhabiting Danny's body." He then looked at Tucker. "The legend of Locker 724 is true. That ghost is Sydney Poindexter. That also explains why Andy passed out. He felt the effects of Poindexter taking over Danny's body."

"Oh…" Both Tucker and Sam frowned at that. "Ooooooh…."

"Well, that does explain why Andy suddenly passed out," Tucker remarked.

"But now we need to get Danny's spirit back and get Poindexter out of Danny's body." Sam frowned. "How are we going to do that? Hmm… actually, I may have a book about something like this. I'll get it out of my locker."

Takuya nodded. "Good idea. I'll need all the help I can get." _Good thing Dash is helping out too._

* * *

_?_

Andy looked around as he walked through darkness. He had no idea where he was or how he got here. He only remembered talking to Takuya, then he suddenly felt like something was squeezing his lungs and pulling something out of him. It was painful. But now he found himself wandering aimlessly in this darkness.

Andy looked up as he heard voices. He squinted his eyes when he saw an image of Phantom fighting with a teenage looking girl ghost with blue fire hair tied in a fluffy ponytail. The image faded quickly. Then another image popped up the further Andy walked. He could see Takuya this time, he looked beaten up. Then he saw two more people that appeared to be his age, but he couldn't make them out too well.

Andy kept going, not sure what to make of these images. Then he saw what looked like a full body mirror. There was something other than images in this darkness. Excited, Andy ran towards the mirror, and saw his reflection. But the reflection was odd.

Andy's reflection was gray, and his shirt looked more similar to Danny's with the gray oval in the middle instead of a triangle, and the shirt was white. Though the pants and shoes were also gray. The only thing that wasn't gray in the reflection were the eyes, they were a neon green. Andy's eyes were green, but they didn't glow neon like the ones in his reflection were. The reflection stared back at him, looking to be surprised. Andy was sure he wasn't making a surprised expression, so the reflection wasn't copying him either.

The 'reflection' suddenly began moving his mouth, trying to say something, but Andy didn't hear anything. The 'reflection' looked to be in distress about something, and pushed his hands against the glass, looking like he was calling out in desperation, and yet still no words or sound was heard. Andy frowned as he started to realize this may not be his reflection after all. Andy walked up to the mirror.

The 'reflection' stopped when Andy approached, and gave Andy a curious look. Andy reached his hand out to touch the glass. When Andy's hand was on the glass, the 'reflection' put his hand on the glass too, both of their hands matching the other perfectly. Andy blinked when he thought he saw Phantom for a second in the mirror.

_"__Danny… what happened to you?"_ Andy questioned.

The 'reflection', Danny, only gave a soft frown, and gave Andy a sad look.

_"__You're not where you should be… please, come back to me, bro…"_ Andy begged, feeling like Danny was worlds apart from him, even though he didn't know why.

* * *

Sam was flipping through the pages in her book. Takuya and Tucker were eagerly waiting for an answer.

"Okay… so…" Sam stopped on a page. "In order for the original spirit, who was separated from their body due to another spirit, to regain his body, is for the two of them to duke it out. Danny will only be able to get his body back if he's able to fight with Poindexter in his body again. Trying to move his spirit on, like you were trying to do, Takuya, would only leave Danny's body soulless… we don't want that."

Takuya frowned. _And here I was hoping that we could resolve this _without_ violence…_ He sighed. "Okay, if that is the only way…" _So much for Poindexter being different from other ghosts._

"But… even if we could get Poindexter back here, how would he and Danny be able to fight it out? I doubt that Poindexter is in any hurry to go back to where he came from," Tucker said.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, he said as much to me himself."

"Well, that doesn't mean we can't lure Poindexter back to the mirror," Sam said as she closed the book. "He said it himself; whenever there's a nerd in need, he'll be there. Tucker, you seem plenty nerd enough for this~"

"... For what exactly?" Tucker frowned.

"And Takuya, you might be strong enough for this~" Sam smirked.

Takuya frowned. "... For what?"

* * *

Takuya couldn't believe what he was doing. Sam had him wear a thick leather jacket that all jocks wear, she also had him wear a big hat to cover most of his face. And he was carrying Tucker, who had to scream out for help to get 'Danny's' attention.

_I am _so_ going to get Sam back for this…_ Takuya thought as he carried Tucker down the hall.

"Help!" Tucker was crying his lungs out. "I don't want a swirly!"

Takuya gave out his best intimidating laugh at that. "Oh, you'll get the worst swirly of your life!"

Takuya and Tucker waited a minute to see if they would get a response, and to their surprise and relief, they did.

"TUCKER! I'LL SAVE YOU!"

Seeing how Poindexter had taken their bait, Takuya began running towards locker 724.

Takuya skidded to a stop in front of the locker and set Tucker down. "I hope this works, whatever it is you have planned out."

"Y-yeah, same here," Tucker gulped. "Never thought I would have to use these on my best friend…"

Tucker had the Ghost Gloves that Jack had earlier. Sam managed to 'borrow' it from the Fentons while they were looking for the ghost in the football field.

As soon as Poindexter arrived, still in Danny's body, Takuya turned back, his face still hidden by the large hat. He was unsure of what Poindexter would do, and he found he was backed against the lockers.

"Hey, what's going on here?" 'Danny' asked as he approached the two.

Tucker held up the Ghost Gloves and grabbed onto Poindexter, who gave a surprised yelp before Takuya quickly opened the locker door while Tucker shoved Poindexter's, or rather, Danny's body through the mirror.

"It's all up to Danny now…" Tucker said somberly once Takuya shut the locker door.

Takuya ripped the hat off and nodded. "Yeah. I just hope he will come back. Not just for his own sake, but for Andy's as well."

* * *

_?_

Andy didn't know how long it had been since he was staring at Danny through the mirror, but Danny looked quite beaten up, like a lot of people trampled on him or something. Andy didn't like that. He wanted to help get Danny out of whatever world he was in.

Then Danny suddenly looked away, seeming to be surprised by something. Andy's eyes widened when he saw Poindexter suddenly slamming into Danny. Andy squinted his eyes, for a second, Poindexter looked like Danny, but that form quickly evaporated in Andy's eyes, and he could see Poindexter for the 50s nerd that he truly was.

Poindexter looked confused, Danny looked angry. Andy didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to be there. He pushed his hands against the mirror that separated him from Danny. Andy's hands glowed white before they were pushed through the glass. Andy gasped a little, but seeing how it was working, he pushed back his fear and uncertainty before he forced himself to go through the mirror.

The first thing Andy heard was sound, the voices were back, loud and clear. The second thing was that Andy could see the school of Casper High, but it was black and white, and shades of gray. The third thing was Andy pushed himself up from the floor to see Danny and Poindexter looking at him in shock.

"B-bro?" Danny asked in shock. "How did _you_ get here?!"

Andy blinked, looking confused himself. Danny still had green eyes, which disturbed him a little. Andy managed to get onto his feet.

"Jeepers creepers, you two really are twins," Poindexter noted, looking a little surprised.

"Well, yeah. What did you expect?" Andy shrugged. "And I don't know how I got here… or… where I am… where are we?"

"This is my lair," Poindexter answered.

"Yes, now take back your lair, and give me back my body and my life!" Danny snapped, looking angry.

"Your body?" Andy blinked, surprised.

"Well yeah, don't you see I'm kind of in the wrong body right now, bro?" Danny asked.

Andy looked at Danny. "Uh… no? Your eyes are a disturbing shade of green though… I would ask if that was normal, but you're also gray… and so is the rest of the world apparently."

Danny rubbed the back of his head, unsure of how to explain things. _Well, this is awkward..._

Poindexter then spoke up. "I… kind of took over your brother's body, assuming he was a bully. I had no idea he was actually the _victim_ of said bullying though…"

"Wait, when did you figure that out?" Danny asked.

"Your cousin, Tacky, told me," Poindexter answered. "He's quite amazing, he found me out pretty quickly."

Danny almost snorted at that. "His name is actually Takuya."

Andy snickered at the nickname Poindexter had given his cousin.

"So you took over Danny's body? And we're… in your lair?" Andy asked.

"Pretty much," Poindexter confirmed.

"How did we get here?" Andy questioned.

"Well… when I took over your brother's body, his spirit ended up being taken into my lair and took on my form. Though I guess you can't see it for whatever reason. Then your friend Tucker must've found me out at some point, likely from Tacky, and grabbed me with these big gloves and shoved me back in here," Poindexter answered before he looked at Andy. "From what I can tell with you… you're a spirit right now yourself."

Danny gained a panicked look on his face as Andy looked himself over in confusion.

"Andy's a _spirit_?" Danny asked frantically.

"W-what? A spirit? As in I don't have a body? How? Am I… am I dead?" Andy quickly asked, looking worried.

"No, no, relax, just because you're here in spirit doesn't mean you're dead," Poindexter quickly assured. "But it does mean your body is probably lying lifeless somewhere."

"That's not helping!" Andy snapped.

Poindexter held up his hands. "Okay, I'm sorry. But I'm just telling like it is. But I can assure you, you're not really dead. You're just… separated from your body for now."

"How did that even happen?" Andy frowned, confused.

"It was likely because I ripped your brother's soul out of his body," Poindexter guessed. "Your own spirit must've reacted to that, and left your body to go find his soul. That's my guess anyways. I'm not all that educated about twins."

Andy frowned. _Well, Mom and dad _did_ say we were like two halves of one soul, given how close Danny and I were before the accident happened._

"So… what? Does that mean if Andy and I leave this world, we'll both be back in our bodies?" Danny asked.

"Maybe… well, Andy might be able, but…" Poindexter looked at Danny. "If I give you back your body, then chances are I'll be stuck here again. You've seen how horrible this place is. I don't want to stay here anymore."

Danny frowned, he had to admit that this was a horrible place, he couldn't stand being here for a few hours, let alone for however many years it's been for Poindexter.

Before Andy could ask, the doors to the classrooms suddenly opened, and the other students from the 50s came out. They were all dressed in old style clothings that Andy only saw in movies and books. They looked at all three boys in surprise.

"Are those… the halfas?" A tall boy wearing a black leather jacket, at least Andy thought it's supposed to be black in this gray world, pointed out to them.

Danny flinched while Andy blinked, cluelessly.

"What… halfas?" Andy questioned.

"Uh…" Danny was unsure of what to say at that point.

Poindexter blinked before he had a thought. _Maybe the halfa's twin doesn't know of halfas! I don't think he's a halfa himself either… oh beans._

"It's just what we call those who are half in our world, half your world." Poindexter replied.

Andy gave a surprised look, but he nodded, it made sense to him. Danny gave a small sigh of relief.

"Now come on, you two, follow me, we need to continue our discussion in a more private manner," Poindexter said to Andy and Danny.

Andy and Danny looked at each other before they followed Poindexter away from the crowd of students.

"I'm glad they seem to be distracted by your and 'my' appearance," Danny said to Andy. "Those guys kept beating me up every chance they got, they hung me on the ceiling's lights, stuffed me in the locker countless times, and played all sorts of mean pranks on me. It was horrible!"

Andy frowned, seeing that Danny was slowly starting to descend into madness as he went on. "Bro! Bro! Calm down, take it easy… we'll get you out of here soon, okay?"

Danny nodded, feeling a bit better with his brother by his side. Andy seemed to ground him when he was getting frantic, and this was one of those times.

Poindexter went to the front door, Danny frowned, he remembered trying to escape this place by running through the front door, but all he saw was a big empty space. Poindexter opened the door.

"This way," Poindexter gestured before he stepped outside, surprising Danny and Andy.

The twins followed him, not sure what to expect. Andy half-expected to get sent back to his body while Danny would remain behind, and he didn't want that. Thankfully, when they walked out into the space, they felt something solid under their feet.

"I usually come out here to escape from the bullying, but if I stayed out here too long, eventually I'll get pulled back into the school," Poindexter explained as he turned to face the twins. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you two. All I've wanted was to escape from my imprisonment and help other nerds in need."

"You said this is your lair, right?" Andy asked, trying to figure something out. "I may not know that much about ghosts, but… I always thought someone's lair was supposed to be their safe haven or something. So why is yours torturing you?"

Poindexter frowned. "I don't know. All I know is that I anguished over how I died and my torment, and this place became a horrible place for me."

"And you can't ever leave?" Danny asked.

Poindexter shook his head. "I can't find the door back to the Ghost Realm…"

"The door? Ghost Realm?" Andy blinked.

"You two have never been in the Ghost Realm before, have you?" Poindexter questioned.

Both twins shook their heads.

"No. We haven't." Andy said softly. "Even though our parents created a portal to it, since I'm assuming the Ghost Realm is the Ghost Zone, they have said it is too dangerous for humans to enter without proper preparation."

"... Ah, well, I guess it's not really a place for the living anyways," Poindexter shrugged. "But either way, I don't want to be here anymore. And that mirror to your world is my only ticket out of this joint."

"Yeah, but that means I'll be stuck here, and Andy… will likely be stuck here too," Danny pointed out. "And… wouldn't that make _you_ the bully?"

Poindexter cringed at that. "I… never thought of it like that."

"Poindexter," Andy spoke up, getting the nerd boy's attention. "You know… you don't have to keep tormenting yourself like this. Whatever happened to you in life doesn't have to follow you in death. This is _your_ lair, so you should have more control of it. Those people who are bullying you are nothing more than your shadows."

Poindexter looked at Andy in surprise. "They… aren't real?"

Andy shrugged. "I'm not that sure myself, but as the owner of the lair, _you_ should be in control of it, not the other way around. It only has as much power over you as you're willing to give it. That's my theory anyways."

"Have you been talking to Jazz again, bro?" Danny asked.

"No… I read one of her books," Andy pouted.

Poindexter seemed to become thoughtful at that comment Andy had made. "I have control over the lair…?" He seemed to be thinking about something at that point.

Poindexter started to walk back into the building. Danny and Andy quickly followed after him. The other students in the hallway stood near the lockers, not seeming to be doing anything, until Poindexter walked in. They all looked at Poindexter, despite him supposedly being in Danny's body, the lair knew who he was. They would usually start picking on him at this point, but they remained quiet, seeming to be unsure of what to do.

Andy and Danny peered inside, watching to see what would happen next.

Poindexter timidly walked up to one of the group and asked, "Hey… uh… wanna get an egg cream? Or… a soda?"

The student he had talked to was silent for a moment before smiling at Poindexter. "Sure!"

Poindexter gave a big goofy smile at that, while Andy and Danny grinned, seeing how Poindexter managed to get one of the students to talk to him like a person instead of a stereotypical bully.

Danny gave a grin to his brother. "I think I'll be coming home with you after all, bro."

Andy chuckled at that, feeling just as relieved as his twin.

After the first step, Poindexter grew confident enough to talk to the other students. They all began to treat Poindexter a lot better, asking if he would want to join them on their next project, or play some kind of sports with them that neither Andy or Danny heard about. Color suddenly returned to the lair, it was no longer just shades of gray. Poindexter looked a lot better in color.

Poindexter ran over to the twins, smiling. "Thank you so much for this. Really. I don't mind staying here a little longer… as for you…"

Poindexter looked at Danny before he held out his arms. "Take your body back, I won't be needing it anymore."

Danny's grin grew. "Thanks!" With a jump, he suddenly _flew_ into Poindexter's, or rather, _his_ body and then there was a green color flowing over Danny's body before _Phantom_ flew out, leaving Poindexter back in his own form.

"Wah!?" Andy fell on his butt, shocked at seeing Phantom all of a sudden. He had thought since Danny's spirit was here, Phantom wouldn't be here too, now he was doubly confused._ Or maybe he was Phantom all this time? I mean his eyes were glowing GREEN all this time!_

But before Andy could ask any questions, he felt funny. Almost like he was… fading…? Looking down, Andy yelped as he saw he was slowly turning transparent. He looked at Poindexter, confused and scared.

The nerdy ghost gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay. You're just heading back to your body."

"But I have so many questions…" Andy said.

Phantom looked at Andy, but before he could say anything, Andy's spirit disappeared.

In the nurse's office, Andy's eyes shot open.

* * *

**Titanic X:**** ZAFT**: Glad you like the story so far~! :3

**GirlFish****: ZAFT:** Okay, first, Danny and Takuya will find out each other's secrets down the road, but we won't say as to when.

**DarkFoxKit:** We don't have a 'final boss' in mind per say, we're just going to keep going and see where the story takes us. Though Grandracmon is definitely quite the… intimidating Digimon.

**ZAFT:** I am not sure if Flamon will show up, but it _would_ be funny if that did happen. XD

**DarkFoxKit:** I would say it's possible for Vlad to clone Takuya, but not his Spirits. So there's likely not going to be a clone version of Takuya running around, and it would just be hard for us to have to juggle between all those characters, it's already a struggle to do that now.

**ZAFT:** We do have some potential ideas for the other Spirits, but that would go into spoiler territory, so we will not say anything more.

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Andy can never seem to get a break. I feel that writing this story gives me a chance to better flesh out and re-write My Brother's a Ghost in a way. I wasn't too descriptive with some things, like how Andy reacted to when Poindexter was taking over Danny's body, so I was glad to be given the chance to do that here.

**ZAFT:** Aww, thanks! I was happy to give you that chance too~! :3


	12. Not Always What They Seem

**ZAFT: **New chapter this week. :)

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup. Though I may need to talk to you about this whole updating every week thing.

**ZAFT:** Oh? We could do it whenever you are writing with me then. Like we are with our writing schedule.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, that'll make it easier since it's too easy for me to forget during our week off.

**ZAFT:** Okay. Starting next week, it will go to every other week. I'm fine with that.

**DarkFoxKit:** Okay, now then, let's have the readers get on to the story. And I need to find out where Andy went.

**ZAFT:** Yeah. I'll let you do that then.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Not Always What They Seem**

Takuya and Tucker waited by Locker 724 since Tucker shoved Poindexter into it. They were getting antsy the longer they waited. Sam eventually came by.

"So what's the status?" Sam asked.

"We're just waiting to see if this actually works." Takuya replied before he gave Sam a glare. "And I _can't_ believe you talked me into that!"

Tucker gave Takuya a calming look. "Just chill out, dude. You did it for Danny and Andy's sake, remember?"

Takuya sighed at that. "Yeah, I know…"

"I just wish there was more we could do," Tucker sighed before he turned to Sam. "What were you doing anyways, Sam?"

"Oh, well, after you two got Poindexter to follow you, I thought I might as well use the residual popularity Poindexter gained after he scored a touchdown during practice, and give all the popular kids a 'Save The Frogs' badge. That should get the school to stop using actual frogs for dissection." Sam smirked, clearly proud of herself.

Takuya just smacked his head with his open palm. _Leave it to Sam to try and get her ideas across while others are working to save Danny and Andy…_

"That's all well and good, but we are more worried about _Danny_ and _Andy_!" Takuya hissed out.

"Calm down, Takuya, I'm worried about them too, but standing here and worrying about them isn't going to bring them back any faster," Sam stated.

Takuya groaned again, but didn't say anything more.

Mr. Lancer started to walk by them while holding onto a box of frogs. Sam started to seeth a little when she saw the teacher actually managed to catch all the frogs and put them back into the box. But then suddenly, the locker opened up, and Danny fell out of it, landing on top of Mr. Lancer, who dropped the box. The frogs quickly all hopped out and away. Mr. Lancer gasped before he quickly got Danny off of his back and started running after the frogs.

Takuya saw Danny on the floor and ran over to him, but he was also wary in case the plan had failed. He reached out a hand and held it out to the boy who was supposed to be Danny. "Are you okay?" He refrained from using a name in case it was still Poindexter.

The boy looked up at Takuya's hand, though Takuya couldn't see the boy's eyes due to his hair covering it up. Still, the boy who was supposed to be Danny took Takuya's hand before Takuya helped him up.

"Thanks, cuz," The boy said in Danny's voice, and Takuya could see the familiar baby blue eyes on his cousin's face.

In response, Takuya grinned before he hugged Danny. "I'm glad you're back…"

Danny blushed at his cousin's hug. "Uh… okay, you can let go now, Takuya…"

"Wait, how can we be sure you're actually Danny?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, I think it's time for the question test," Sam spoke up.

"Listen, I was using my… talents to get back at bullies earlier, but I just ended up becoming a bully myself. I'm not going to do that again, it was horrible." Danny frowned. "Also, in 2nd grade, Tucker threw up in Sam's lunch box, but he told her Ricky Marsh did it."

Takuya winced at hearing that. He had seen that happen. _Oh crap… Sam will be _pissed _to hear that…_

Sam frowned. "Wait…" She then looked at Tucker. "That was _you?!_ I kicked Ricky off the monkey bars for that!"

Then the two looked at Danny, because only he would have known of that.

"Yeah, that's Danny… also, you couldn't have said anything else?" Tucker grumbled.

"Sorry, but my body was taken by a ghost nerd, while I was stuck in his lair getting my butt kicked," Danny sighed. "And Andy- wait, Andy! Where is he?"

Takuya then remembered Andy was well. "Ah, sh-crud!" He smacked his face with his hand again. "I forgot! Andy's in the nurse's office!"

Danny made a beeline for the nurse's office, and Takuya was shocked to see how fast Danny could run. _And I thought_ I _was fast when I am evolved…_ Taking no time to hesitate, Takuya was after Danny to check up on Andy as well.

* * *

By the time Danny and Takuya reached the nurse's office, they saw Andy was already awake and sitting up on the bed with Dorimon on his lap. Dorimon looked happy and relaxed on the boy's lap.

"Andy?!" Takuya exclaimed as he ran in right behind Danny. "Are you okay?!"

"How did you get here, bro?!" Danny asked frantically. "Were you hurt at all?!"

Tucker and Sam finally caught up, but Tucker was out of breath while Sam had to drag him with her.

"Hey! Looks like someone woke up." Sam smiled.

"Yay…!" Tucker wheezed.

Andy couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I'm fine, yeah. Are _you_ okay, Danny?"

"Why are you asking _me_? _You're_ the one who was brought here!" Danny pointed out.

"I was?" Andy looked around, confused. Sure enough, he could see he was in the nurse's office. "Why was I brought here?"

"You passed out." Takuya explained. "You were fine one moment, and the next, you were acting like you couldn't breathe and you were flailing about like someone was trying to strangle you."

"Oh yeah, I remembered that… it was horrible." Andy frowned.

"But how do you feel now? Are you okay?" Danny asked in concern, walking up to Andy before he started to check him over.

"Hey, hey, I'm fine! I just passed out, okay? It's not like I was zapped by a freaking Ghost Portal and hospitalized," Andy pointed out.

Takuya frowned as he saw Tucker and Sam cringe at that comparison. _Ouch…_

"Dude, that was a _bad_ comparison…" Tucker pointed out.

"I just mean you don't need to worry about me," Andy clarified. "I'm fine, alright?"

Takuya sighed at that point. "I'm _so_ ready to get back to the house and just sleep for a week…"

Danny frowned a little, he knew Andy was just annoyed at the fuss, but he could tell Andy was also a bit stressed out. Likely due to the whole Poindexter lair thing. Danny figured Andy wouldn't be sure if what had happened was a dream or not, but if Andy was going to think it was a dream, Danny wanted him to think so, since he pretty much exposed his ghost half to his brother back there.

"Hey… we could all use some relaxation," Danny spoke up. "How about this weekend we all just hang out, go to a flea market to find something cool, then maybe go watch the football game tonight since I managed to get us front row seats. Then maybe the next day we could go see that new Dead Teacher movie that came out in theater last month?"

Takuya gave a smile to Danny. "I'm all for that, _especially_ after today." _Some time away from the ghosts would be good for all of us, even Dash._

"I'm down with that," Tucker agreed, finally catching his breath.

"Sure, that sounds good." Sam nodded as well.

The nurse came into the room, and was surprised to see Andy was awake, and that his friends, brother, and cousin were all there as well.

"... I'm going to have to ask you all to sit down or leave so I can check Andrew out to make sure he's okay," The nurse finally said.

The group decided to sit down and stay while the nurse checked Andy over one last time.

* * *

_Later, that night in Fenton Works_

Takuya was all dressed up in his red pajamas, ready to fall asleep for the night, when he heard someone knocking on his bedroom door.

Takuya walked over and opened the door. He was surprised to see Andy there with Dorimon in his arms. Andy was dressed in his blue pajamas as well. "Is something up, Andy?"

"Um… yeah… I feel like I need to talk to someone about it. When I tried talking to Danny, he kept avoiding the subject. And Jazz… well… this really isn't a subject she'll take seriously," Andy sighed as he walked into Takuya's room, and Takuya closed the door.

"So, what's on your mind?" Takuya asked as he sat on his bed, his D-Tector on the night stand next to the bed.

Andy put Dorimon down on Takuya's bed before he sighed. "It's… about this dream I had while I was out of it. I'm not really sure if it was a dream though. I remember… walking through darkness, seeing weird images of Phantom fighting with ghosts, and I also saw you looking pretty beat up at one point."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Okay… what else did you see?" _What is Andy trying to say with this?_

"Then I saw this full body mirror. I thought I was seeing my reflection at first, but…" Andy sighed. "It gets weird."

Andy told Takuya about seeing Danny in the mirror, before he saw Poindexter. Then how Andy ended up going through the mirror and was in Poindexter's lair with Danny and Poindexter, and how they managed to talk Poindexter into taking control of his lair before Poindexter gave Danny his body back. But Andy also told Takuya that he saw Phantom coming out of Poindexter's body instead of Danny, which confused Andy, before Andy suddenly woke up in the nurse's office, and was then licked and pounced by Dorimon.

Takuya was surprised at what Andy had told him.

"I… don't know what to say to that." He rubbed the back of his head at that point. "It must have just been a very vivid dream. I mean, what else could it be?"

"I don't know… it didn't feel like a dream," Andy said, looking down at his hands. "But I guess it… doesn't really make much sense either… I guess it had just been bothering me."

Takuya put a hand on Andy's shoulder. "It's okay. I'm no expert on the human psyche like Jazz is, so I can only guess, but I think the stress of what happened to Danny got to you, and you had that dream because of your concern and worry."

"Besides, what matters is that you're awake and Danny is back," Dorimon assured. "Everything is alright now."

Andy couldn't help but give a small grin. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Maybe this weekend is just what we need to recharge."

Takuya gave a grin. "Yeah." He then playfully pushed Andy off of his bed so the boy would go get some sleep. "Now sleep tight, and don't let the Roachmon bite~"

Dorimon shivered. "Eeew! No, no Roachmon, please!"

"It's just an expression," Andy chuckled before he stood up. "Fine, I'll go get some sleep. Being in a coma for a few hours in school isn't exactly re-energizing."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah…" He trailed off here before he shook his head. "Okay, I'm sacking out now." With that, he turned over and promptly fell asleep.

Andy chuckled before he picked up Dorimon. "Goodnight, Takuya."

Andy quietly walked out of Takuya's room while his cousin slept.

* * *

_That Saturday, at a flea market_

"Jeez, it's too bad Sam got a bad cold today," Andy said as he, Danny, Tucker, and Takuya were walking around the flea market.

Dorimon was snuggled in Andy's backpack again.

"Tell me about it." Takuya said as he looked around. "She would have loved some of this stuff." He pointed at a gothic looking stall just off to the right to emphasize it.

"Yeah… but there's nothing we can do about it now," Danny sighed, wishing Sam could've joined them. "She said she didn't want us to cancel our plans for her though, so… I guess we should just make the most of it."

Tucker and the group stopped near where there was a set of skateboard wheels. Andy and Danny reached out and grabbed the wheels in their packaging at the same time, looking at each other. Danny smirked. "Two for me and two for you?"

Andy chuckled. "You know me, bro~"

Takuya saw a charm that looked like it had flames on it. "Cool! I like this."

Tucker saw a cool little lighter that looked like a skateboard. "I like this thing."

They all paid for their little trinkets, and continued to look around the flea market for anything else they would be interested in. Takuya and Tucker split off at some point from Danny and Andy, allowing the two groups to look around easier.

"Hey, look at all this mystical stuff, bro," Andy said when they approached a short lady wearing some kind of fancy pink robes.

The stand's name was Madam Babazita's Mystical Oddities.

One of the items in question was a bottle that looked like it could hold a genie if those were even real. Andy picked it up. "Is this supposed to be a genie bottle?"

"Yes, they say if you free the genie from the bottle, all of your wishes will be granted," The lady, whom Andy assumed to be Babazita, explained. "But be forewarned, that your words could easily be twisted, and your heart's desire might become your worst nightmare."

Danny and Andy looked at each other.

"Sounds… really ominous," Andy said before placing the bottle down. "I'd rather not take that chance."

Andy and Danny walked away from the stand.

"That was creepy…" Andy said as he looked at his brother. "A genie that twists wishes around? No thank you!" He shivered at the thought of that.

"Yeah, no kidding, besides, who actually believes in genies that grant wishes these days anyways?" Danny chuckled. "The bottle looks pretty for decoration though."

As they were walking by the cotton candy stand, they heard a little girl begging her mom for some.

"PLEASE MOMMY!? I WANT SOME COTTON CANDY! PLEASE CAN I HAVE SOME? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!" The girl shouted in a high pitched squeal and she spoke so fast it was difficult to understand her.

"I think you had enough sugar for today," The mother replied, frowning at her daughter.

"BUT I WANT IT!" The girl cried as the balloon string she had tied to her arm went around the bottle that Andy looked at earlier, and caused it to fall to the ground, shattering it.

A green mist came out of the shattered bottle, and formed into a young looking lady, wearing a light blue hispic type clothing on her. She had no feel, instead they were replaced by a ghostly tail. Her skin was a radioactive green, but a little bit of a darker shade, and her eyes were red. She also had long black hair.

"And your heart's desire is my command," She said with a wicked grin on her face.

All at once, a light blue mist came out of Danny's mouth, Dorimon shivered and growled in Andy's backpack, and Takuya felt sudden heat.

Looking around for any sign of the ghost, Takuya saw where the ghost was. She was by the cotton candy machine, and with a wave of her arms, cotton candy began to gush forth in a geyser of the fluffy treat.

The ghost then aimed the cotton candy machine at the crowd, which began to scatter with people screaming as they ran. As for the little girl, she smiled upon seeing the sugary rush coming at her. "COTTON CANDY!"

Andy suddenly found himself buried in a massive wave of fluffy sweets. Takuya and Tucker were also carried away by the typhoon of cotton candy. Andy groaned as he tried to push his way through the sea of pink cotton candy. Dorimon popped his head out to see what all the commotion was, only to see he and Andy were buried under some kind of pink fluff.

"What is this fluffy stuff?" Dorimon asked, not sure what to make of the sight before him. "Is it food?"

Andy actually had a mouthful of cotton candy when he got buried, and he spat most of it out. "... Uh… sort of. Cotton candy is supposed to be a treat, but if you eat too much, you're going to get a bad stomach ache. I'm guessing a ghost decided to bury everyone in cotton candy for whatever reason."

Dorimon blinked. "Why would a ghost give humans so much of a treat?" Poor little guy didn't understand anything when it came to ghosts, save for they could be dangerous.

"I don't know, but maybe because it heard a little girl screaming about wanting cotton candy," Andy guessed. "Come on, help me get out of this stuff, there's not much air down here."

Dorimon smiled before he opened his mouth widely and took a huge chunk of the cotton candy in his mouth.

"... Don't eat too much, like I said, you'll get a bad stomach ache," Andy warned while sweat-dropping.

"It's so good! It's like eating a cloud!" Dorimon chirped as he continued to eat their way out.

Andy sighed, hoping that Digimon didn't get sick as easily as humans do.

Meanwhile, Takuya was trying to help Tucker get out of the mountain of cotton candy they found themselves buried under.

"C'mon…" Takuya grunted as he tried to pull Tucker out by his arms. "This is _ridiculous!_"

"You're telling me?" Tucker grumbled as he stuffed some cotton candy in his mouth. "The last time this happened, I was buried by heavenly meat."

"Almost…" Takuya gave one final yank, and Tucker found himself landing on the older boy's chest, knocking the wind from Takuya's lungs. "Ooof!"

"Sorry…" Tucker apologized.

The two of them finally managed to reach the surface of the cotton candy avalanche, they could see most of the area was covered in cotton candy. A few people looked to be having terrible stomach aches, likely from trying to eat their way out. Takuya looked around, hoping to find where his cousins were. He saw Andy and Dorimon just popping out from the cotton candy themselves. Dorimon looking like he was licking his lips.

"If you start having a stomach ache, you better hope we don't end up having to take you to a vet," Andy huffed, looking a tad bit annoyed.

Takuya made his way over to Andy and Dorimon. "Are you okay?" He could see Dorimon was quite happy that he had eaten some food, no matter what it was.

"Covered in cotton candy, I just witnessed how much a tiny Digimon could pack away, and a ghost is somewhere on the loose. I'm perfectly fine all things considered," Andy sarcastically answered.

Takuya sighed. "No need to be sarcastic." Then he remembered the ghost from what Andy mentioned. "Wait… where _is_ that ghost?"

Before Andy could answer, there was a sudden green light in the sky. Andy, Dorimon, and Takuya looked up quickly to see a blue and green ghost was just shot across the sky by Phantom, who just shot some kind of radiant green laser or energy blast. Phantom himself looked at his glowing gloved hand in shock.

"Okay… I think I know where the ghost behind this went…" Takuya muttered with a sweatdrop running down the side of his head. _That was quite a blast to send that ghost flying._

Dorimon blinked. "The cotton candy ghost is gone…?" He wasn't sensing her in the area anymore.

"It's gone from the area, but it's still out there somewhere," Andy pointed out.

Takuya frowned. "Then it's safe to say we will see that ghost again." He didn't like this one bit. _I just hope it _doesn't _come back..._

There was a bright flash of light, which caught their attention, and they saw Danny running towards them. Tucker also made his way over. Andy quickly picked up Dorimon.

"Is everyone alright?" Danny asked in concern.

"You mean other than being covered in cotton candy?" Tucker asked. "I think we're good."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. That was some wave of it."

Andy nodded. "I'm fine, bro. Just a bit covered in sticky candy."

"Yeah, that was pretty wild," Danny agreed. "Thankfully I managed to escape most of it myself."

"By the way, did you see that ghost kid? He just shot out an awesome energy beam from his hand!" Tucker smiled. "It looks like he got a new ghost power or something, that's so cool!"

Danny blushed a little. "Heh… yeah, I saw. That is pretty cool."

Takuya nodded. "...um… yeah, that was cool." He tried to sound excited, but it was hard because he was used to seeing such things when it came to Digimon.

"Well, regardless of that, we may have to go back home to shower for an hour before going to the football game tonight" Andy remarked. "I'd rather not go being coated in sticky, fluffy candy."

Takuya looked himself over, seeing he was still covered in that himself. "Yeah… good idea." He could see he needed a shower himself. _Good thing my room has its own shower._

* * *

_Later, that night_

The group were at the football field at Casper High. Tucker, Andy, and Takuya were sitting at the front row bleachers. There was surprisingly someone else with them. Sam was wrapped up in a blanket, and she looked pretty pale. She sneezed a few times, making Andy scoot away a little since he was sitting next to her.

"Ugh… I'm sick as a dog, and I hate sports. Why am I here again?" Sam moaned as she glared at Tucker, who had dragged her to the game despite her being sick.

"Because Danny's here, and he scored us the best seats in the house!" Tucker smiled.

"She really shouldn't be here." Andy frowned. "Not only is this cool air not good for her, she could get _us _sick as well!"

Takuya glared at Tucker. "And I don't want to get sick myself." True, it was hard for him to get sick now that he had his Spirits back with him, but it still _was_ possible for him to get sick anyway.

"**AND NOW EVERYBODY HERE THEY ARE! YOUR VERY OWN CASPER HIGH RAVENS!" **One of the announcers shouted, trying to get everyone pumped up.

There was a raven mascot hopping around the field, waving its arms up and down to look like it was flying, though the way they waved their arms reminded Andy more of a hummingbird's wings than a raven's wings. Then suddenly, the poor mascot was completely trampled by the football team. All but one of the jocks had no remorse over running over the poor guy. Dash actually stepped out of the way from the mascot person, though he looked at the mascot in concern, he had to focus on the game.

"I wonder if these people make it tradition to hurt their own mascot…" Takuya frowned.

Andy had to agree. It seemed like that happened at every game since he had started school. "Yeah… I feel bad for the poor mascot, whoever it is."

Dorimon, who was in Andy's arms, didn't say anything, but the way he slightly winced as a good indicator the little In-Training Digimon felt the same way.

The mascot's beak had fallen off after the abuse, so those in the front row could see the person's face. Andy frowned more when he saw who the mascot was. "Danny!? Why is he-"

"N-no! You can't ruin the illusion, Andy!" Tucker yelped, grabbed Andy when he tried to stand up and go over to Danny.

"My brother just got trampled, Tucker!" Andy snapped.

Takuya wasn't so sure if he got the message Tucker was trying to bring across, so he just sighed. "I don't think I'll understand this culture…"

Danny did stand up, however, and grabbed the beak, grumbling to himself. Other than the bruises, he looked perfectly fine, which did calm Andy down enough to sit back down, but it also made him and Takuya curious. No normal human being could walk off after being trampled by an entire football team so easily, most would have at least a broken bone from that.

"I don't know if it is because Phantom is residing in Danny or what, but there is _no_ way that a human could just walk that off. And yet Danny did." Takuya whispered to Andy.

"It can't just be because Phantom is in Danny… Phantom could only do so much to minimize the damage without influencing him enough to show ghostly traits…" Andy whispered back. "It seems the more we think we figured out, the more questions we get instead of answers."

Takuya could only nod discreetly. "Yeah. That's not normal, and yet there are no ghostly abilities shown."

"Either that or we're using cartoon physics," Andy chuckled a little at the idea.

Takuya gave Andy a deadpan look. "How is it that _I_ can become a Digimon, and yet we assume cartoon physics are in play when it comes to Danny getting trampled and walking away with just bruises?"

Andy looked at Takuya. "Because you turning into a Digimon is more of an anime. Danny getting up and walking off something that should be painful enough to land him in the hospital is more of a cartoon thing."

"What are you two whispering about?" Sam grumbled, her nose sounding stuffed up, then she almost sneezed on Andy.

Andy flinched away from Sam, holding Dorimon close to his chest. "Tucker, do you want to switch places with me? _You_ were the one who dragged her here in the first place."

Takuya looked at Tucker before getting up and grabbing the boy's arm, dragging him from his seat to Andy's seat. "_You_ sit by Sam when she is sick, not us!"

"Okay, okay, jeez! You don't have to drag my arm off," The techno geek grumbled, plopping right down next to Sam.

Sam gave Tucker an annoyed look.

There was a loud whistle, the game had started. The opposing football team were wearing bright yellow uniforms, while the home team wore white. The yellow team was surprisingly strong and tactful. Dash was the only one who could keep up with them, unfortunately, he was only one person. Dash was becoming more strategic with his play, like trying to hide the football he got while he tried to run to the touchdown area, or he would subtly 'throw' the football while keeping it behind him to gain him some time while everyone else was looking where the football went. Dash did manage to get a few scores by doing this. Sadly, it wasn't enough. The entire team wasn't as strategic as Dash, and got easily tackled and lost the ball to the opposing team. Dash got caught and tackled or beaten up by a pile of the yellow team as well.

"Oof… that looked painful," Andy winced after Dash got completely buried and piled by the yellow team.

"Tell me about it…" Takuya agreed, flinching at the impact as well. "That looks like it would put him out for a while."

"This is pathetic…" Tucker muttered at last. "Our team's fading fast."

"So am I…" Sam sniffed. "I'm going home. Later…" She stood up to leave, making Takuya look back at her in concern.

"Hope she gets back home alright," Andy remarked after Sam left.

"Look, the team is calling for a timeout so they could plan," Takuya pointed out. "Maybe Dash could try to get the whole team to be a little more strategic? They're obviously getting overpowered."

"Hard to say, jocks aren't really known for using their brains all that much," Andy sighed.

Just then, Takuya felt a flash of heat rush through him as Dorimon began to growl slightly. Looking up, Takuya could see a greenish smoke coming in overhead, revealing the same ghost that had caused the cotton candy wave.

Dorimon saw the same ghost as well. "The cotton candy ghost is back…"

"The heck?" Andy blinked, seeing the lady ghost for the first time. "Is she going to make more cotton candy to cover the field now?"

The lady ghost spread her hands, and covered Dash with green mist. Dash gasped before looking up, likely sensing her himself, he quickly backed away when he saw the green mist over him. Andy, Dorimon, and Takuya's eyes widened when fractal code suddenly surrounded Dash's body, almost as if trying to protect him from the ghost's mist.

"Oh shit…" Takuya hissed. "That's not good…" _If we don't act now, then things will be exposed for me, Dash, and Andy!_

"Is he evolving?" Andy gasped.

"Whoa, what's happening to Dash?" Tucker asked in confusion and worry.

Suddenly, the fractal code around Dash grew bigger and bigger. The other football teams backed away as the audience was staring in shock and confusion. Even the 'cotton candy' ghost lady was looking surprised.

Then, the fractal code dissipated, revealing some kind of giant iguana-like tree dragon.

"_Petaldramon!"_ The creature announced.

"Takuya… that's not Arbormon…" Andy said, staring at the Petaldramon in shock.

"That's his Beast Spirit, Petaldramon." Takuya informed Andy. "He's like BurningGreymon in a sense, as in he is a Beast Spirit. Arbormon is the Human Spirit."

"Oh… then everything is fine, right?" Andy hopefully asked.

Petaldramon looked around before letting out an irritated roar. "_Leaf Cyclone!"_

Red leaves began to cover the entire football field, turning into a cyclone. Everyone began to scream as sharp leaves began to cut their skin.

"... I'll take that as a no…" Andy frowned.

Tucker ran somewhere, heading towards the beaten up mascot costume.

Andy and Takuya ducked under the bleachers.

"We have to do something, Dash is totally out of control!" Andy hissed.

Takuya looked at Andy. "Dash is not in control of his Beast Spirit. The only way for him to gain control is to fight. I should know. My friends and I, when we got our Beast Spirits for the first time, had to fight in order to gain control of them." He then sighed. "It may sound harsh, but that is how it has to go."

"In that case…" Andy looked at Dorimon. "You better digivolve."

"Right. We'll worry about cover ups later," Dorimon agreed.

Fractal code surrounded Dorimon's body. "Dorimon digivolve to… Dorumon!"

Takuya grabbed onto his D-Tector. The blue outline of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed fractal coding around his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "_Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "_Agunimon!"_

Dorumon lifted his head from under the bleacher, he looked at Petaldramon before his eyes and gem flashed. A holographic version of Petaldramon appeared on Andy's D-Arc.

"Petaldramon is a Plant Digimon. It possesses power over Wood which bears the might of AncientTroiamon. Countless buds sprouted from Arbormon's surface and suddenly grew, and its surface changed into a form like a giant plant lizard," Andy read out loud.

Next to him, Agunimon peered out from the slats in the bleachers, frowning to himself. "We'll need to act cautiously since there are still humans around." Sure enough, there were a few humans still in the bleachers and on the field.

"**So… is this the result of a high protein diet? If so, awesome! I want to become a giant leaf dragon!"** One of the announcers declared.

"**Jimmy, you're a moron,"** The other announcer grumbled. "**That's obviously a robot."**

Agunimon perked up when he heard that. _Maybe we could use that as our explanation later…_ He mused mentally before he looked down at Andy. "Have any ideas?"

Petaldramon glared at the yellow team as they all stared up at him in horror. Somewhere in the back of his beastly mind, Petaldramon remembered how much these guys kept ganging up on him. He then stabbed his two tails into the ground. Agunimon paled when he saw this, recognizing the move.

"_Thorn Jab!"_

Without hesitation, Agunimon jumped into the field, quickly picking up as many of the yellow team as possible before huge thorns and vines burst up out of the ground.

Once he was sure there was some decent distance between him and Petaldramon, Agunimon set down the humans, who turned and ran from the field, screaming like little girls. The Warrior of Flame paid them no heed though, as his mind was more on the battle now.

"Whoa… what is this guy? I don't sense any ghost energy, but I sense something else…" Phantom wondered as he was looking at Petaldramon from the air.

Andy was whispering to Dorumon about something, and Dorumon nodded, before spitting out two iron balls on the ground, and Andy quickly started writing on some pieces of paper, and pulled out some tape.

Seeing what Andy was doing, Agunimon had an idea. _Okay, I think we can work with this._ He then faced Phantom. "Hey! Ghost boy, listen! I'm going to need your help with keeping this guy distracted so no one else gets hurt." He pointed at Petaldramon. "If we can do that, maybe we have a chance to calm him down!"

Phantom looked at Agunimon, blinking for a moment. "Uh… do I know you? You seem familiar."

"_Leaf Cyclone!"_ The area was getting covered in sharp leaves again.

"Okay, nevermind! Distraction it is!" Phantom quickly said.

Agunimon had never been so grateful for the attack to come their way, as it saved him from being in an awkward situation. "Look, just watch out for his Thorn Jab. That will cause the most damage."

With that, he got his attack ready. "_Pyro Darts!"_ Small bits of flame energy were thrown at the cyclone of leaves, igniting them and removing the threat.

Petaldramon glared at Agunimon, he obviously didn't like fire, and got down on all fours before he started charging towards Agunimon. Phantom flew over his head before he fired one of his green energy blasts at the giant Digimon's head. Petaldramon let out a roar of pain before standing up on his hind legs, showing how tall he was.

Taking a look around, Agunimon tried to figure out what it was he could do. There was _no_ way that he was risking using his Pyro Tornado, as that would set the field ablaze and possibly hurt other humans. Then, an idea came to his mind. Fractal code surrounded his form as he switched out to his Beast Spirit. "_Slide Evolution!"_ The coding cocoon burst and BurningGreymon flared his orange wings. "_BurningGreymon!"_

"What the heck!? _You_ were that BurningGreymon!?" Phantom shouted in shock.

Instead of responding, BurningGreymon rushed at Petaldramon, slamming into him and knocking the other Beast Warrior back. Petaldramon, not one to back down from a challenge, got back on his feet and launched himself at BurningGreymon with just as much force.

"Phantom!" Phantom blinked, hearing someone calling for him. "Could you come down here for a second? I could use your help!"

With the two dragon-like beasts trying to tackle each other down, Phantom looked at Andy, who had called him. Phantom was surprised to see Andy was still here, and he flew down towards the boy.

"What are you still doing here, b- boy!? You need to get out of here, it's not safe!" Phantom scolded.

"I know it's not safe," Andy said before he held up two iron balls with little pieces of torn paper taped to them. "But I need your help. You're pretty strong, right? I want you to toss these iron balls near the Petaldramon, that giant tree iguana. Try to get one of the balls to hit his head, and the other his feet."

Phantom looked at Andy in surprise before he gave a nod. "Okay, but only if you promise to run once we get this… Petaldramon, or whatever it is, taken care of."

"Thanks, Phantom." Andy smiled, glad to see the ghost boy was going to help.

When Phantom flew away with the iron balls, Dorumon popped his head out from under the bleachers, and waited for Andy to give him the signal.

BurningGreymon growled as he saw Petaldramon try to smack him in the side with his twin tails. The Beast Warrior of Flame caught the twin tails on his three-clawed hand before throwing Petaldramon away from his form.

Petaldramon hit one of the bleachers, breaking the whole thing, thankfully there was nobody there anymore.

Phantom quickly flew over to Petaldramon, a little cautious around BurningGreymon since he didn't know how beastly the fiery dragon was.

"Hey, you overgrown lizard tree! Eat some iron for your diet!" Phantom wittly called out before he threw one of the iron balls at Petaldramon's face.

Andy held up his hand to Dorumon.

"_Metal Morph!"_ Dorumon whispered as his gem glowed.

The iron ball suddenly melted onto Petaldramon's face. Phantom was surprised, but he threw the other iron ball at Petaldramon's feet just as he got down on the ground again, trying to shake the melted metal on his face.

"_Metal Morph!"_

Again, the iron ball melted into liquid before hardening, trapping Petaldramon.

Seeing the metal on Petaldramon's face and feet, BurningGreymon took the chance to fly up high before diving down towards Petaldramon, driving down one of his feet into Petaldramon's back. The pain was searing, both in BurningGreymon's foot and Petaldramon's back, but it seemed to do a good amount of damage.

BurningGreymon landed with a look to Petaldramon. "Get a hold of yourself! You have to calm down and gain control!"

Petaldramon struggled a little before Phantom flew in front of the iguana tree dragon's face, frowning, this situation reminded him of when Andy went on a rampage. Petaldramon looked at Phantom for a moment, before he stopped struggling and gave a confused look.

"... Eh…? What's going on?" Petaldramon questioned, sounding more confused than angry or beastly.

BurningGreymon perked up when he heard that and sighed audibly. "It worked…" Fractal coding surrounded him as he returned to his Human Spirit form. Now back in his Human Spirit form, Agunimon walked up to Petaldramon. "You had a mishap."

Phantom landed on the ground, putting his hands on his hips, trying to figure something out. He could see these two creatures had some kind of relationship with each other.

Petaldramon looked down at himself. "W-what!? What happened to me!?"

There were still people around, mostly people with phones and video cameras.

Andy quickly jumped over the fence, and ran over to the group. "Ah, looks like the giant robot idea was a bit too dangerous. I mean that glitch was pretty darn massive. I knew they shouldn't have tried to make a monster robot in case things started to go south for our home team."

Agunimon remembered what the announcers had said and looked at Petaldramon before he mouthed '_play along_' to him. "It would seem so."

"And didn't I tell you to tone it down on the costumes and the homemade flamethrowers? You could've burned someone with that!" Andy said to Agunimon, sounding like he was scolding him.

"I can't help it if I'm a pyromaniac." The Warrior of Flame countered.

"So… that's just a costume? And that big tree dinosaur is just a robot?" Phantom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Andy spoke up before turning to the people who were still around, likely recording all of this. "Don't worry, everyone! This was all just an elaborate prank, more of a backup plan in case things didn't go well for our home team! There was a bad glitch in the robot that made it run on a rampage, and some special effects that also went out of control! The guy in the armor costume was originally supposed to give a good half time show with his flamethrowers, but he tried to play hero and whatnot. That bigger dragon you saw was another robot used to try to stop the malfunctioning one earlier! All of it was just special effects, you could probably post this on the internet to make a movie or something!"

Agunimon couldn't help but chuckle at the explanation. It _did_ sound kind of out there. _But it's the best one we have, so we'll have to hope people buy it._

The other people began talking to each other, but Agunimon could hear many of them buying Andy's quickly formed explanation.

"I thought it looked too fake to be real."

"As someone who's watched tons of movies, I know special effects when I see them."

"There's no way that big leafy dragon is real. I'll bet the football team spent hours just gluing on all the grass and leaves they could find on it."

Hearing this, Agunimon felt relieved. _Looks like they bought it._ He then gave a glance to Andy. "I think we should get the 'robot' back off the field and 'back to the shed'."

"Yes, let's do that," Andy agreed.

Agunimon looked over at Phantom, and saw the boy's face. Phantom clearly didn't buy it. However, before Agunimon could even say anything, the ghost boy vanished.

Taking the chance, both Andy and Agunimon began to move the 'robot' off the football field and away from the people's sights. More like they were pretending to move it, while Petaldramon slowly walked away.

Once they were out of sight, Petaldramon looked at them, and Dorumon hurried over to them, the Rookie Digimon had likely been waiting for them to get here.

"Wow… you're pretty cool like that," Dorumon complimented.

"Thanks, but… how did I turn into this… tree lizard thing?" Petaldramon asked, looking at himself. "What even happened? I mostly remember getting covered by green mist, then the next thing I knew, I was being pinned down by a dragon with bird wings."

Agunimon spoke up at that point. "That was me. I was in my Beast Spirit form, BurningGreymon." He then looked at Petaldramon. "You were covered by that green mist and well, we saw fractal code surround you, and the next thing _we_ know, you are in your Beast Spirit form. Each Warrior has two Spirits, Human and Beast. Arbormon is your Human Spirit. Your Beast Spirit is Petaldramon, which is the form you are currently in."

"A Beast Spirit? Oh, so this is part of being a Digimon, right?" Petaldramon asked. "So why did I suddenly turn into Petaldramon in the middle of a game?"

"My guess is that your Beast Spirit tried to protect you from that ghost lady's spell or whatever she was doing to you, but it caused you to spirit evolve into Petaldramon, and… you uh… lost control," Andy answered. "Agunimon, Phantom, Dorumon, and I had to get you to calm down before you hurt someone."

"Beast Spirits are hard to control at first." Agunimon informed them. "When I first became BurningGreymon, I lost control myself. But you get better at controlling it the more you use it."

Petaldramon sighed. "I wish you warned me about this sooner… or maybe practiced it out in the training field where there was nobody else around. I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

"Nope, Agunimon managed to get those mean yellow guys away before you did," Dorumon assured. "The other football team ran away while screaming like girls."

Agunimon chuckled at hearing that. "Yeah, they did."

Andy sighed as he shook his head in amusement.

"Well, this is definitely going to make headlines, even if everyone bought our explanation. We're certainly going to get in trouble with the teachers in school," Andy sighed.

"Don't go there." Agunimon muttered. "The last thing we need is the teachers to come down on us."

"More like come down on the football team." Dorumon pointed out. "Since Andy told everyone it was their idea."

Andy smiled. "I _totally_ didn't push them under the bus on purpose or anything~"

Agunimon realized Andy likely did that as revenge on the football team for stomping on his brother earlier, which made him want to stay on Andy's good side since the boy had ways to get back at people who hurt his brother.

Looking back at Petaldramon, Agunimon faced him. "Returning to human form is like with your Human Spirit. Just let the evolution go, and you will return to human easily."

Turning back to his Beast Spirit to give a demonstration, BurningGreymon let his evolution go, returning to his human form of Takuya.

Petaldramon nodded before fractal code surrounded his Beast Form before shrinking him back down to normal size, then the code dispersed, revealing Dash as a normal human again.

Takuya nodded in approval. "Not bad." He then rubbed the back of his head.

"Now if only degenerating was that easy for me," Dorumon pouted.

"Heh, I think we could use more training time, especially for my Beast Form. I rather not go on a rampage again," Dash chuckled sheepishly. "Although after this disaster, of my team's performance, and how much I wrecked the field, there's a good chance I'm going to be staying at school late for a while."

"We could try planning the training around the evening or night if we have to," Andy suggested. "It would be bad if we didn't try to keep up with our training, especially if something like this happens again."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, I think we could do that." He then looked down at Dorumon. "It would be good if we could do it at night more so, because no one would see Dorumon so easily."

"Yeah, I agree. We just have to make sure we don't stay out too late, especially on school nights," Andy said. "Also… I think we should keep an eye out for Phantom. I don't think he bought our explanation."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. I saw him before we left, and he clearly looked like he was skeptical of our story."

Dash gulped. "W-wait, really? We have a ghost who might start hounding us now?"

"Don't worry, I doubt he'll be hostile, the most he could do is try to interrogate us," Andy said.

* * *

_At FentonWorks later that night..._

"I already told you, they were just robots, and costumes," Andy grumbled.

"I don't believe that for a second, bro, and you know it!" Danny frowned. "What are you hiding?"

Andy was holding Dorimon in his arms, stroking the In-Training Digimon's fur as a coping mechanism to keep himself calm.

"I could ask _you_ the very same question, Danny," Andy threw back.

Danny flinched at hearing that. It only showed how Andy could throw back just as well as he could. "It's not the same question though."

"Technically, it is." Andy pointed out. "You want to know what I'm hiding, just like I want to know what you're hiding. What's the difference about that?"

"We saw BurningGreymon before, we know he's real and not a robot," Danny pointed out. "Yet you talked like you knew him and that Petaldragon thing."

"Yes… and you disappear from school and other places frequently and reappear without any explanation, you get nervous whenever we try to talk to you about what happened, and Tucker and Sam are always covering for you when something… odd happens to you," Andy pointed back. "I think me _maybe_ knowing a dragon is a little less suspicious than that, don't you think?"

Danny frowned. "Yes, but still… You _know_, and _I_ know, BurningGreymon is _not_ a robot."

"But _no one else_ does, do they?" Andy threw back with a bit of a smirk. "You want to know the reason why I claimed he was a robot? It's because I rather not cause an entire town to start panicking and hunting down what could be a helpful dragon. BurningGreymon may be scary, but he's been helpful whenever we see him. Is that a good enough reason for you?"

Danny blinked. He did recall when BurningGreymon had helped out. Not once had the dragon-like creature done harm to the people of Amity Park. "Yeah. That's a good reason."

"Good, now maybe, unless you want to tell me your big secret, we can end this discussion," Andy replied firmly.

Danny hesitated, which made Andy frown.

"Yeah, I thought so." Andy grumbled before he got onto his bed and decided to try to get some sleep.

"H-hey, bro… are we still on for the movie tomorrow?" Danny hesitantly asked.

"... Yeah, I don't see why not," Andy answered, before something hit him. "Wait… I didn't see Tucker after that Petaldramon incident."

Danny's eyes widened as he paled. "Uh-oh…"

"Danny… what did you do?" Andy frowned.

* * *

_The next morning at FentonWorks_

"Jeez, so you two rushed out of the house to go get Tucker from the football field last night?" Takuya asked as they were eating cereal in the kitchen.

"Yeah, don't ask why." Andy muttered bitterly. "When we got there, he was in the mascot suit, which we both saw _Danny_ wearing." After he took a bite of cereal, he continued speaking. "Tucker was all set up like a pinata too."

"I said I was sorry to both of you countless times!" Danny frowned. "Things just… kind of happened."

"On the plus side, at least we got to Tucker before the angry jocks decided to hit him like a pinata," Andy continued. "He was just a little bruised up."

Takuya sighed. "Okay, let's just finish eating so we can hit the movies." He was so ready to spend some time _not_ dealing with ghosts or Digimon.

Then Takuya realized something, it was just the three of them, four if he counted Dorimon in Andy's backpack, at the table today. There was no sign of Maddie, Jack, or Jazz. Jazz was especially alarming since she was always such a morning bird and the first one at the kitchen table, whether it was the weekend or weekday.

"Hey, um, where are Uncle Jack, Aunt Maddie, and Jazz?" Takuya asked as he looked around. "They're normally here before us."

"You didn't know?" Danny asked. "Mom and Dad are down in the lab, they have a cold, I think, like Sam does. They claimed they're using a Fenton Ghost Catcher to expunge any viral ghost in their system or something. But I'm pretty sure they just have a normal cold."

"As for Jazz, she's laying in bed. She told me she wasn't feeling well when I went to check on her, so I left her alone," Andy informed. "I might bring her up some chicken noodle soup later."

Takuya frowned. "Why is everyone getting sick lately?"

"It's the sick season," Danny shrugged. "Summer's coming to an end, the cold air is starting to pick up, changing the temperature a bit too constantly."

"So the human body tends to get sick pretty easily around this time," Andy added.

Takuya gave a bit of a smirk. "You two are talking for each other again~"

Danny and Andy looked at each other for a moment before they looked at Takuya. "No we're not!"

They both said that at the exact same time.

Takuya couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, you did~" He waved a finger at the twins.

Andy picked up his bowl of cereal. "Oh yeah? You know what else I picked up from Danny?"

Takuya suddenly had a face full of milk and cereal.

The older boy spat some out from his mouth. "Okay… That was a bit much on my part." Takuya then grinned. "It's on!" He did the same thing to Andy.

Andy, however, ducked and the bowl ended up hitting Danny.

Takuya's hands flew to his mouth to hide his grin. "Oops! Sorry Danny!"

The bowl fell off of Danny's face, and he gave an annoyed look before he picked up his cereal bowl. "Someone's getting this to the face."

* * *

_Later, at the movie theater_

"You three are late, jeez! We'll have to catch the evening movie now!" Tucker frowned when Danny, Takuya, and Andy finally met up with him in the theater.

"Sorry… due to _someone_ causing a food fight, we ended up having to clean up the kitchen, ourselves, and bring Jazz, Uncle Jack, and Aunt Maddie some chicken noodle soup," Takuya grumbled, looking at Andy.

"Well, if you hadn't been teasing us, then we wouldn't have had a food fight, now would we?" Andy threw back, a bit annoyed at his cousin's teasing.

"But it was pretty fun," Danny chuckled.

"... Now I wish I was a part of that," Tucker mumbled.

"Well, we're here now, so let's go get our tickets, get some snacks, then find some seats," Andy spoke up. "I could use some relaxation after this morning's mishap."

Takuya looked at Andy. "Yeah, it _was_ pretty crazy."

Danny chuckled. "We haven't had a food fight like that since the first grade."

"At least it was less chaotic than the one you started at the school cafeteria," Andy remarked.

Takuya grinned. "At least that one was a bit more involved since more people were in on it."

Tucker groaned. "You three can cause so much trouble sometimes."

"Anyway, let's see if we can get our tickets and decent seats," Andy suggested as they reached the ticket counter.

Once the boys paid for their tickets, they headed into the concession stand. There was the heavy smell of butter and popcorn, a smell that Takuya had missed about this place. There were other teenagers here too, most of them from Casper High as Takuya recognized some of the teens. Danny took out his cell phone and called Sam while they stood in line to get some snacks.

"Hey, Sam? Yeah, I just called to see how you're doing," Danny said. "You sure you can't come to the movie theater and watch Dead Teacher 4?"

"_No, I can't..."_ Sam mumbled over the phone, sounding stuffed up. "_My parents are taking good care of me…"_ Knowing her parents, that probably meant a bit overreacting.

"Okay, then feel better soon." Danny said, hearing what sounded like electricity crackling from Sam's phone before he hung up. "Wow, Sam must be sick if she is missing Dead Teacher 4."

"This Time It's Personal," Tucker finished, saying the entire title of the movie.

"Andy, I'm surprised you're watching this with us," Takuya said, looking at his younger cousin. "I mean, from what I remember, you didn't like horror movies very much. Then again you were like 8 the last time I saw you, I guess taste changes with age, right?"

"Eh… I still don't like horror movies, but I wanted to spend time with you, Danny, and Tucker." Andy shrugged. "Besides, they might come in handy for in case we find any ghosts who are like those in the horror movies."

Takuya chuckled at that. "That's a pretty big if." _But then again, one can never be too sure when it comes to ghosts._

As they were almost at the cashier counter, Danny's blue mist came out of his mouth again, Dorimon shivered and growled in Andy's backpack, and Takuya felt a sense of heat.

"Are you serious right now? _Again_?" Andy frowned.

Looking back, Takuya groaned as his hand went to his head with a _smack_. Why? Because a big-headed anime style Paulina was floating before them. _Can't we _ever _get a break?!_

"Look at me! I'm so cute, and cuddly, and ever so wonderful, don't you think?" The big-headed anime Paulina cooed as she ran around the movie theater and everyone around her instantly fell in love.

"WE AGREE! WE LOVE YOU PAULINA!" The mindless crowd cheered.

"Takuya… What the _heck_ am I looking at?" Andy questioned, seeing his worst nightmare come to life.

"That would be an anime style Paulina…" Takuya mumbled. "And I think it is related to that ghost that created the cotton candy wave…"

Paulina started growing into a much bigger size. "Why squander my popularity here? I'm so adorable, I bet I could become super fairy queen of all of teenagedome, isn't that lucious?"

"No, no no no, NO," Andy frowned. "That thing must burn with fire!"

Takuya frowned. "Andy, I get what you are thinking, but no."

Andy looked at his cousin. "You must! That thing has to burn!"

"Andy, I can't do that, and you know it!" Takuya protested as Andy began to grope for his D-Tector. "Andy! There are people here!"

Takuya smacked Andy's hand away.

"Hey, uh…" Danny spoke up, snapping Andy and Takuya out of their argument. "Why don't you guys go and get seats in the theater? I can handle the snacks. Uh… the drinks though… Tucker, could I borrow the thermos please?"

"Do what you gotta do," Tucker sighed, giving Danny a Fenton Thermos. "And you two, let's go!"

Tucker grabbed Takuya's and Andy's arms before dragging them with him, he was surprisingly strong despite not being very athletically gifted.

"Hey!" Takuya yelped. "Geez! When did you get so strong, Tuck?" Andy was still trying to grab Takuya's D-Tector, only for Takuya to finally smack Andy on the head. " And knock it off!"

"S-sorry, I'll stop." Andy frowned.

Tucker managed to get them into a movie theater, but it was empty.

"Tucker… I think this is the wrong theater," Andy spoke up.

Takuya frowned. "Yeah, this isn't Dead Teacher 4."

Tucker frowned. "Whoops… b-but uh… hey, best seats in the house in here, right? Besides, who wouldn't want to watch a movie about…"

Tucker looked at the screen, only to see a cute pony on there. "... Uh… My Little Pony?"

Takuya groaned. "Great… Can't we just go back to Dead Teacher 4? I mean, we have tickets for it and all."

"Yeah, and I'm going back out there. I didn't tell Danny what else I wanted other than a medium sized popcorn with butter," Andy said.

"W-wait! You can't! Uh… we could just… enjoy the quiet here for a little bit," Tucker quickly suggested.

"Enjoy it yourself, I'm going back out there." Andy frowned. _And see what it is you're trying to hide from us._

Takuya followed Andy. "Wait up!"

By the time Takuya and Andy got back into the concession stand, however, there was no sign of that big anime headed Paulina, or Danny, anywhere. But a lot of the other teens looked like they just snapped out of a daze.

"That's odd." Takuya noted as he watched a teen walk past with a confused look on her face. "These people look like they snapped out of some kind of trance."

"Likely from whatever spell Paulina was putting them under while she was that… big headed anime Paulina," Andy shivered at the idea of having Paulina in any anime. "But the question is… what happened to Paulina? How did she become like that? Where did she go?"

"Hey! There you two are!" Danny spoke up, running over to them, he also had the Fenton Thermos strapped to his back. "I… uh… had to use the bathroom and lost our place in line. Sorry about that."

Takuya could see the thermos, but didn't comment on it. "Eh, it's fine. We… just went to get some fresh air for a moment."

Andy raised an eyebrow at Takuya. _We don't have a reason to come up with an excuse._ "Danny, did you see what happened to Paulina? Tucker did kind of drag us into the theater room."

"Yeah, uh… don't worry about her, she's back to normal." Danny assured. "It might've just been one freaky thing that was only temporary."

_Sure it was._ Takuya thought. "Well, it's passed, so let's get our seats."

"But… what about our snacks?" Andy pouted. "I can't watch a movie without popcorn."

Takuya sighed. "Okay, we'll get the popcorn." He looked at Andy. "What size popcorn do you want?"

"I usually get a medium, but if you're offering…" Andy grinned.

* * *

Takuya was carrying a monster sized popcorn with drinks, and some boxes of candy.

"Did you have to have a monster sized popcorn?" Takuya groaned.

"It's meant for all of us to share, and I did say I would carry the drinks," Andy pointed out.

"Yeah, but you were the one who insisted on carrying everything, so there you go~" Danny smiled.

"Sometimes you two are just too much…" Takuya grumbled. _But I still love them anyways._

When they came into the theater room, it was already almost packed with people.

"Let's head to the back, it's easier to see the screen from there, and less people are usually up there," Andy suggested.

"Wait, where's Tucker? Shouldn't he be saving our seats?" Danny asked before he started to look around for their friend.

"He… didn't come?" Takuya frowned. Sure enough, Tucker was nowhere to be seen. "Is he still in that empty theater for My Little Pony?"

"What?" Danny blinked.

"I'll go check on him. You and Danny go ahead and save our seats," Andy volunteered.

Takuya nodded. "Okay. you go do that." He turned and walked off to the back of the theater room with Danny, leaving Andy to go and search for Tucker.

When Andy looked around in the My Little Pony theater, he didn't see Tucker anywhere, and frowned. _Did something happen to him?_

"Something's not right…" Dorimon spoke up, seeing how they were in an empty place. "I smell the stench of ghost power around here."

"What?" Andy frowned, now even more worried. "That doesn't bode well for us… or Tucker."

"Yeah…" Dorimon murmured. "Tech boy is gone…"

Andy looked back at Dorimon. "Can you smell where the ghost went?"

Dorimon sniffed the air. "... Odd… I smell two different ghost aura, one is much closer though."

"Where is it?" Andy asked, deciding to go for the closer one.

"It's… in that last movie room you were just in with Takuya and Danny," Dorimon answered.

Andy frowned. "That's not good…" He then turned to leave. "We have to get back there in case Danny and Takuya are in trouble."

Dorimon pulled himself back into the backpack as Andy hurried out of the empty theater, and went back into the Dead Teacher 4 one. When Andy got there, he saw a series of odd things happening.

Before Andy's eyes, he watched as some unknown force munched on an old lady's popcorn, took a slurp from a woman's cup, moved an old man's toupee onto a child's head, and wrapped a nerds arm around a teenage girl before she raised a hand and punched the nerd in the face.

Dorimon shivered in Andy's backpack at the same time this was going on. "Ghost energy…"

Andy frowned, he cautiously made his way up the theater, trying to find where Takuya and Danny were sitting.

Takuya stood up and waved a hand to Andy; they were in the back, with Takuya sitting near the edge of the seats, close to the aisle. Andy quickly made his way over, but also tried not to step on anyone's toes as he made his way over.

"Takuya, Danny, hey," Andy whispered before he sat down next to Takuya, he then whispered in Takuya's ear. "Dorimon says there's a ghost here, and I did see some weird things going on earlier, so I'm inclined to believe him."

Takuya frowned at that. "I did see the nerd get punched by that girl earlier too, so… if Dorimon senses a ghost, I'm inclined to believe it was the work of a ghost being up to mischief."

"Did you say 'ghost'?" Danny asked, looking at them, which caught Takuya and Andy by surprise that Danny heard them at all. "Are you two talking about the movie or… something else?"

"The movie, of course," Takuya quickly said.

Andy nodded before he whispered quieter to Takuya, Takuya had to strain his hearing to hear it. "Just keep an eye out in case this ghost does something bad."

Takuya gave an imperceptible nod, trying to remain focused on the movie. _When we get back to the house, Andy and I will have to talk about what happened today, hopefully in my room where no one can hear us easily. And that includes Danny hearing our whispering._

For the rest of the movie, Takuya couldn't help but jump whenever someone screamed during a quiet moment. The fact that there was a real ghost in the theater room they were in really didn't help his nerves with the horror movie that was playing on screen. Andy was grabbing a lot of popcorn from the box, and he was also feeding Dorimon some, who really liked the popcorn and almost jumped into the entire popcorn box. Danny was grabbing some popcorn too as he was really into the movie.

Even though he was jumpy, Takuya somehow found he was still enjoying the movie, despite jumping at least ten times while the movie was playing. It made him feel oddly excited as well. _But then again, when fighting Digimon I felt the same way before._ Takuya couldn't help but muse to himself.

There were a few more odd occurrences going on during the movie, more people's popcorn suddenly got eaten by an invisible being, and another person stared at their drink when they heard the sound of it being sipped. There was someone who let out a bit of a yelp before they glared at the guy next to them.

Takuya couldn't help but feel bad for the poor confused man who was getting glared at by the girl. The way he looked so confused indicated he didn't do what she thought he did.

_Okay, I'm _sure _this ghost is causing mischief now._ Takuya thought as he tried to spot the ghost, but to no avail. He didn't have his other form's enhanced senses when as a human, so he was pretty much like any other human, save for the Digimon instincts he had when he sensed ghosts.

What was odd, however, was that Danny didn't seem to notice the ghost's presence. Usually when a ghost was nearby, Takuya would see a blue mist coming out of Danny's mouth, but he hadn't seen any mist coming out lately since the big headed Paulina incident.

The movie was finally over. As the credits rolled with creepy music playing in the background, the people began leaving the theater room. Takuya, Andy, and Danny could hear the people, mostly the girls, complaining about being touched at an inappropriate spot.

"Jeez, lots of pervy guys here today," Danny muttered as they were walking out of the theater room.

Takuya saw nothing but bits of popcorn leftover in the box, and he proceeded to throw it away at the nearest trash can.

"Seems _someone_ enjoyed the popcorn~" Takuya teased, knowing it wasn't all just Andy who ate the box.

Dorimon was licking his buttery lips while Andy held him.

"Hey, it was a monster size, we might as well all enjoy it," Danny chuckled.

Takuya chuckled as well, knowing that Dorimon had eaten at least a quarter of that large box by himself, not that Danny knew it anyway.

Takuya did notice that the presence of the ghost that was in the theater room was gone, so it had likely left after the movie was over.

Looking around, Takuya tried to figure out where the ghost had gone, but he couldn't sense it. He frowned to himself. _Okay, why can't I sense this ghost? I mean, Dorimon sensed it, so that means I should have been able to as well._ He then remembered what the difference between him and Dorimon was. _Of course, since Dorimon is pure Digimon, he has a sharper sense for this, so it makes sense now that I think about it._

And unfortunately, Takuya couldn't ask Dorimon to track the ghost with so many people around.

The group left the theater, heading outside.

"I'd like to know where Tucker went at least, did he go home early?" Danny frowned as they stood outside of the movie theater doors.

"I don't know," Takuya mused. "I think he may have, but I'm only guessing at this point."

"That's all we can assume right now, maybe we can ask him when we see him later," Andy suggested.

Suddenly, the blue mist came out of Danny's mouth, while Dorimon shivered but suppressed a growl in Andy's arm, and Takuya felt heat again. They heard someone screaming above them, before looking up, only to see a flying car with a surfboard on its roof flying around uncontrollably.

"... Either the future is now, or a ghost is making that car fly," Andy said, staring up at the car in disbelief.

Takuya frowned to himself. "And I'm thinking it's the latter because of that green mist around it." He then gave a glance at his D-Tector. _Should I risk it?_ Takuya shook his head. _No. BurningGreymon is too large to handle that, and my Fusion form? No way. _That's _a last resort _only.

"Ah…" Danny looked around for a moment. "Andy, you and Takuya should get home."

"What about you?" Andy asked, seeing his brother starting to move to behind the ticket booth.

"I'll meet you two later, just go!" Danny said frantically.

Takuya frowned, as did Andy. But in the end, the older boy sighed and grabbed Andy's arm gently. "C'mon, Andy. It's obvious he wants us to leave." Takuya gently pulled Andy along, away from Danny.

Andy frowned as Takuya pulled him away. Not long after, they both saw Phantom flying into the sky, going after the flying car. Though they could've sworn they saw a yellow, green, and red blur going after Phantom and the flying car as well.

"So, what do you think that other blur was?" Takuya asked as he and Andy walked down the street. "It was flying after Phantom and that car for some reason."

"It was another ghost," Dorimon answered quietly. "The same one from the movie place."

Takuya looked down at Dorimon, as did Andy.

"The same ghost?" Andy asked. "What would it be doing going after Phantom?"

"I don't really know," Dorimon answered. "But… I did notice there was something… familiar about that ghost."

"Familiar?" Andy repeated.

"Yeah… like the smell of technology… but not quite as buzzing as Technus's smell. There was also a hint of meat, like the same ones we eat as food," Dorimon described.

"Technology and meat…" Takuya murmured. It sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure how it was. He knew Tucker loved meat and technology, but that didn't quite seem right.

Andy looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think Phantom will handle it for now. How about we call up Dash and see if he's up for training tonight?"

Takuya grinned. "Sure. Besides, it will help him control his Beast Spirit if we train with that this time."

Andy chuckled. "Then training it is."

* * *

_Later, that night, in the outskirts of Amity Park_

"Uh… is there a reason why you two are wearing those masks?" Dash asked Andy and Takuya.

Andy and Takuya were wearing those masks doctors usually wore when dealing with patients. Dorimon was on Andy's head, he too wore a mask on his mouth, though his was bigger since his mouth was bigger.

"I think FentonWorks should be under quarantine right now," Andy grumbled. "I saw Danny starting to get the sniffles too."

"And I don't want to get sick myself." Takuya added as he looked back at Andy. He then reached up and removed his mask. "But that's enough. We're away from FentonWorks, so we don't need them right now."

Andy nodded before he removed his own mask. "At least I was able to change into my hazmat suit. Just hope Mom and Dad didn't put their icky germs all over it…"

Takuya looked at Andy. "Well, it will at least provide _some_ protection, although against Digimon, I'm not sure how well that will work out."

"It's for training, Takuya. I'm not getting my regular clothes all torn up," Andy rolled his eyes.

Takuya sighed. "Okay, so, should we evolve?" He held up his D-Tector.

Dorimon jumped down from Andy's head, using his little stubby limbs to remove the mask from his mouth. "I'm ready!"

"Wait, so we're going to be working on our Beast Forms, right?" Dash asked. "Would it be a good idea for Andy and Dorumon to be a part of this training? Won't it be too much for them?"

Takuya paused, realizing Dash had a good point. "Huh… That is a good point."

"Don't worry about us," Andy spoke up. "Considering how many times we ended up facing with Ultimate level Digimon, it might be best for us to be able to battle against stronger Digimon to better prepare ourselves. We may not be able to match power with power, but there are still ways to take down a stronger opponent."

Takuya chuckled. "That is true."

Dash wasn't so sure, but if it would help Andy, he could go for it. "I guess we just need to watch where we step then." It was an attempt to lighten the mood.

Although Andy and Dorimon didn't show it, they were a bit nervous, and unsure themselves.

"Right, let's evolve then!" Takuya said. "You know how to activate your beast spirit, right?"

Dash looked down at his D-Tector. "It's the same as the Human Spirit, right?"

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. It basically is, it's just more powerful."

Dash gave a confirmation nod. He focused and a ball of fractal code appeared around his left hand as the tan outline of his second Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector. He slammed the D-Tector against the coding, running it along the scanner. "_Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ The phrase came out like he knew it all along. As the code cocoon swirled around his body, Dash cried out at the power flowing into his body. His skin became bark and twin tails grew from his spine's base as his legs became more like an iguana's with his arms following suit. Leaves sprouted from his back, and a large flower appeared around his neck. Landing, the newly evolved creature called out it's name. "_Petaldramon!"_

As soon as Dash was evolved, coding surrounded Takuya and he became BurningGreymon once more. At the same time, coding surrounded Dorimon and he digivolved into Dorumon.

Once the sparring began, Andy and Dorumon quickly jumped away as Petaldramon charged into BurningGreymon. The two dragons began to duke it out physically with each other. Andy and Dorumon watched from a bit of a distance away.

"... Andy? Doesn't it feel like they're always getting stronger much faster than we are?" Dorumon asked after a while. "I mean… just last week, Dash discovered he can turn into a Digimon, and now he's rivaling BurningGreymon. Yet here I am, still unable to even go to my Champion level."

Andy put a comforting hand on Dorumon's head. "I understand how you feel, buddy. Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually helping or if I'm just being in the way. We haven't been able to really do a lot of damage to most of the Digimon we come in contact with, we've mostly just slowed them down for Takuya or Dash to hit."

The two of them watched as Petaldramon seemed to be physically stronger between the two, which made sense since his human form was much buffer than Takuya's, and he was pushing BurningGreymon back.

However, BurningGreymon had the experience that Petaldramon lacked, so he was already planning something. Flaring his orange wings, BurningGreymon took to the air and away from Petaldramon. "Heh, gotta love flight~"

"What do you think we should do?" Dorumon asked as they kept watching the two giant beasts go at it with each other. "We don't stand a chance in a fight against two powerful Beasts."

"Don't worry, I think we can come up with something to at least give them a run for their money," Andy chuckled. "Come on, let's move, we don't want them to see us."

Andy moved through the bushes, and Dorumon hurried behind him.

Both BurningGreymon and Petaldramon were not aware of what Andy was doing, they were too caught up in their battle with each other.

Dash stood up on his hind legs before the leaves on his neck began to spin. "_Leaf Cyclone!"_

The area was covered in razor sharp leaves that were in a cyclone, trapping BurningGreymon in midair. While BurningGreymon was trying to break free from the cyclone without burning the leaves that would no doubt cause a forest fire, he suddenly felt something heavy and hard slam into his head with a THUD. BurningGreymon gave a confused look at where he thought the thing hit him came from, but he didn't see anything. He felt another hard thing slam into his tail next.

Looking around, BurningGreymon tried to figure out what had hit him. His head gave a slight ache, and his tail was throbbing a bit, but he felt fine overall as the leafy attack faded away.

"You'll have to try better than that, I am the Warrior of Fire after all!" BurningGreymon stated.

"Then come down here and fight me like a real mon!" Petaldramon challenged.

BurningGreymon did just that, flying down and landing before he ran at Petaldramon, forgetting all about being hit by whatever it was that hit him earlier. While the two big beasts were fighting again, Andy and Dorumon were standing on a tree branch. Dorumon was flapping his wings a little, hovering over the tree branch.

"Okay, try this one," Andy whispered, holding up an iron ball in his hand.

Dorumon chomped down on the iron ball, and held it in his mouth before facing the two beasts.

Andy held up his hand before pointing forward, making that the signal for Dorumon to spit the iron ball out. It ended up hitting BurningGreymon's arm.

"No good, it keeps bouncing off. I need the ball to stick for it to work…" Andy frowned.

BurningGreymon looked down, only to see an iron ball on the ground. He cocked an eyebrow mentally, but paid it no heed. _It's most likely Andy trying something new._ He thought.

Andy frowned some more. _How can I get the balls to stick long enough?_ Looking around, Andy could see some things, like a stream running through it, etc. Then an idea came to him. _Maybe mud could get it to stick?_

Andy looked down to see he was still on the tree branch, with no mud nearby. _No, too limiting… and the streets of Amity Park don't always have mud readily available._

Andy did get an idea from the water, however. _Liquidation…_

Andy quickly took out his notepad and pen and began to write something down. _I don't know, this might take double the time to pull off, but I might as well see if I can do it._

"_Thorn Jab!"_ Petaldramon stabbed his two tails into the ground, and caused several thorns and vines to pop up from the ground that grabbed and sunk their needles into BurningGreymon's armor.

BurningGreymon struggled against the vines and thorns; even though he was the Warrior of Flame, he was _not_ risking setting the forest on fire. Then, he had an idea. "_Slide Evolution!"_ Fractal code surrounded him and he reverted to his Human Spirit form of Agunimon. This allowed him to slip out of the vines and thorns, landing away from where he had been trapped earlier. "Heh, have to have more than one way out of a trap."

"Oh, so we're also free to just turn into our Human Spirits too?" Petaldramon blinked.

"Yep." Agunimon chuckled. "Although I was going to return to my Beast Spirit anyway." Fractal code surrounded him once more and he reverted back to his Beast Spirit. "I didn't want to set the forest on fire trying to get out anyway."

Suddenly, BurningGreymon felt something wet and cool hit him from behind, and it stuck to him like super glue.

"Hmm? What's this?" Petaldramon questioned, rubbing against something silver and liquid on his chest. There was a small piece of paper in the liquid.

BurningGreymon tried to lift his left wing, but it was stuck to his back. "Whatever it is, I can't lift my wing because of it."

Then BurningGreymon and Petaldramon heard something that made them both pale.

"_Metal Explosion."_

"Not again…" BurningGreymon groaned before the explosions hit, sending him to his stomach and Petaldramon onto his back with a loud _THUD_.

Groaning as he tried to regain his senses, BurningGreymon figured out what that was. "And that was Andy's doing…" Looking around, he didn't see the boy anywhere.

"Where is he anyways?" Petaldramon questioned, groaning a bit from the explosion as he managed to get back on his feet.

Andy and Dorumon were hiding in the bushes. Andy wished he could've been cool and did tree hopping like ninjas did in anime, but he wasn't anywhere near skilled for that.

_Still, I suppose this is just as good._ Andy thought as he watched the two Beast Warriors trying to figure out where he was hiding. Seeing them looking around cluelessly made him grin.

_Okay, now for our next move~_ Andy smirked.

Suddenly, there were three more iron balls, rolling towards them. BurningGreymon and Petaldramon quickly moved away before they exploded like the bombs that they were.

BurningGreymon knew Andy was in the area, but where was the question. Then, he did something a bit odd; he sniffed the air. The scent of latex and body odor hit his nose, and BurningGreymon was able to get an idea of where Andy was located.

BurningGreymon, of course, wasn't planning to attack Andy since he could seriously hurt the boy. But he could catch him at least. BurningGreymon went towards the bush Andy was hiding in. Of course, Andy didn't expect that, and he gasped before he and Dorumon were suddenly grabbed by the dragon.

"So that's where you were," BurningGreymon joked. "Not bad, but a Digimon could sniff you out just as I did."

Dorumon had something in his mouth, however, then he spat it out at BurningGreymon's face.

The Beast Warrior of Flame was startled and he accidentally dropped Andy as it hit him in the face. Andy, thankfully, landed in the bush, followed by Dorumon who was also dropped.

Andy and Dorumon quickly scrambled away as BurningGreymon was trying to get the liquid metal off his face. Thankfully Dorumon didn't aim for the eyes, just the mouth.

BurningGreymon was able to claw the metal off, gasping in air once it was gone.

"Sneaky kid…" He chuckled.

"Great lesson, keeping my scent covered, I'll have to remember that. I only got lucky this time because Dorumon already had an attack ready in his mouth," Andy commented.

* * *

In the end, Dash and Takuya were exhausted from battling each other. Andy and Dorumon were covered in leaves and twigs. Andy was covered in a lot of dirt and metal liquid himself, likely to try to keep his scent as hidden as possible.

"That wasn't a bad trick, with those sneak attacks…" Takuya panted as he looked at his cousin. "The metal liquid… was new…"

"I mean… I think he… used it before, but… only after it was… thrown, and hardened… the liquid afterwards…" Dash commented.

"Yeah… but doing so does take up a lot more time. I have to write the code for liquidation, stick it to the iron ball, have Dorumon put it in his mouth, then have him melt it, then spit it out, and then activate the next code attached with it," Andy explained. "It would only work effectively if the enemy is distracted with something else. We do need to be more immediate with our attacks, so liquidation will only be used if it's necessary."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… good idea to save it for if it is necessary…" He then remembered that flying car. "Oh! There was something weird… that happened… after we saw a movie…"

"What?" Dash asked as he looked at his two friends. Well, three if Dorumon was counted in.

"There was some kind of… green mist around a car… and it was flying…" Takuya explained. "Andy saw it too…"

"Green mist…? Oh… maybe it was that… ghost woman we saw… back at the football field… I remember she tried… to use that green mist… on me," Dash remarked.

"The cotton candy ghost?" Dorumon frowned.

"I… think she does more than create a sea of cotton candy, Dorumon," Andy chuckled slightly.

Takuya frowned at that. "I remember that girl said she wanted cotton candy. It was like it was what she desired." Something was nagging at him, and he wanted more information. He then looked at Dash. "Did you say anything before that mist came out before you evolved that time?"

"I… did remember feeling really frustrated about constantly getting ganged up on and beaten up whenever I had the ball. I said 'I wish I could turn into the kind of monster to crush these guys single handed'. Not that I actually meant that, if I did I would've spirit evolved into Arbormon," Dash quickly explained. "It was just something I said out of frustration."

Takuya nodded. "Well, I think I can say that this ghost seems to grant wishes." He mused. "Although it's just a guess based on two incidents."

"That girl did really want cotton candy, I could hear her screaming, it really hurt my ears," Dorumon groaned.

"And Dash wished to become a monster… which I guess, technically came true when he turned into Petaldramon," Andy chuckled at the irony of it. "There was that incident with Paulina becoming that big, freaking, scarier than any horror movie monster, anime bobble head. So… Dorumon did say he thought he smelled that ghost woman again briefly in the room Tucker was in while we were at the movie theater, and then he smelled another ghost that was in the theater room we were in during the Dead Teacher 4 movie. And then we saw that flying car. So…"

Andy frowned as he started trying to put two and two together. "... I think… Tucker may have made a wish, and that was why we didn't see him at the theater anymore."

"But what kind of wish?" Dash asked. "I mean, what could he have wished for?"

Takuya frowned. "I'm not sure…" He trailed off, wondering if Tucker would be okay.

Andy looked worried.

"Did you figure something out, Andy?" Dorumon asked.

"... Maybe… I don't want to say anything until I know for sure though," Andy said. "Because… it's… or it should be… impossible, or…" Andy shook his head. "I think we should keep a close eye on Tucker at school tomorrow."

Takuya blinked, as did Dash.

"Okay… That might not be a bad idea." Takuya agreed.

"So we have to keep an eye on Foley? Great…" Dash sighed.

"It'll be easier for Takuya and I since we usually hang around him, Danny, and Sam, but… if he does wander off, you'll have to keep an eye on him for us," Andy said to Dash. "Maybe we should get some walkie talkies or something so we can stay in touch with each other."

Takuya held up his D-Tector. "Well, Dash and I can use our D-Tectors, and you have your D-Arc. All three of these things were once our phones, so we can use these if we have to."

Dash looked at his own D-Tector. "Hey, that's right."

"Uh… how do I use this to call you two then?" Andy asked, looking at his D-Arc.

"I think there's a call button on it?" Takuya suggested.

Andy looked at Takuya. "You don't know, do you?"

Dorumon chuckled a little. "Maybe you should just push buttons and see what happens?"

Takuya chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I know the button combination on my D-Tector for that, but a D-Arc is different from a D-Tector so I'm not sure how to help with that. Sorry…"

Andy sighed. "I'll play with it when we get back home, maybe I'll figure it out then."

"Sounds good," Dash said. "Until then, we'll keep an eye on Foley, and that genie lady ghost."

"Yeah, and until we do, nobody make a wish," Andy grumbled. "Genies are known for twisting your words."

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** Glad you liked it. :)

**Titanic X**

I loved this! :D Especially the ending. :) How it was easily resolved without violence. :)

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Well, to be fair, I doubt the idea that Danny is half ghost ever came to mind. It was either believe Danny had a ghost living inside him or… he _is_ the ghost, and that means he's dead. I'm pretty sure it's easy to see why they chose to believe the former.

**ZAFT:** It makes sense, since neither would want to admit their brother and cousin is dead. It would be hard on both of them, namely poor Andy.

**GirlFish****: ZAFT:** Okay…? Well, it _is_ possible to have a Digimon warn Takuya, but we will have to see as the story goes on.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yes, I have seen that movie, a long time ago. It had quite an interesting concept.

Oh? You think Bakemon isn't scary? ***Gives an evil laugh*** Well, unlike the Box Ghost, the Bakemon did trap and round up a lot of humans in the Digimon series.

**ZAFT:** Bakemon _are_ scary. To me at least. ***Shivers***

**DarkFoxKit:** And let's not forget their cousins the Soulmon~

**ZAFT:** ***Screams***

**DarkFoxKit:** Calm down, ZAFT, there aren't any Bakemon or Soulmon here. Or are there? :3

**ZAFT: **XD Anyway, we _might_ do the Demon Lords, but we will see.

**DarkFoxKit:** As of right now, we have no plans for the Demon Lords.


	13. Tucker's Jealousy

**DarkFoxKit: **What are you doing, Andy?

**Andy: **Playing on the Switch. What does it look like?

**ZAFT: **Andy, that is Fox's switch…** *Sweatdrop***

**Andy: **Yeah, so? I was made by Fox, so in a way, the Switch is mine as well.

**DarkFoxKit: **What are you even playing?** *looks at the Switch's screen* **Pokemon Sword?

**Andy: **Well, the DLC is coming soon, might as well get some preparations in.

**ZAFT: **Makes me wish I had the DLC. T-T

**DarkFoxKit: *Pats ZAFT's head* **We should get the readers to the chapter now. We've got things to do while Andy is playing his precious Switch.

**ZAFT: **Okay. Let's get to it. :)

* * *

**Chapter 13: Tucker's Jealousy**

The next day at school, Andy, Takuya, and Dorimon were trying to keep an eye on Tucker. But it wasn't easy, as he seemed to keep disappearing into thin air. Dash was trying to keep an eye on him too, but he seems to pop up at random wherever and whenever he liked. There were reports going on in school, about an invisible man holding a tray and getting food at the cafeteria that freaked everybody out. There was an incident with a tuba player during band practice, where suddenly purple soda got clogged in his throat that came out of the tuba he was playing, and was sent to the nurse's office. Then Mr. Lancer tried to get a drink of water from a water fountain, when the water suddenly splashed him in his face, then his belt 'conveniently' came off, and his pants fell down, showing his boxers to everyone around him.

"Okay, I'm about… 80% sure Tucker became a ghost somehow," Andy finally said after the Mr. Lancer incident.

"Why do you say that?" Takuya asked. "I'm not sensing anything ghostly. And it could be just a harmless ghost that is making mischief."

"Because I literally saw him go invisible several times today. I heard his voice when he cut in line at the school cafeteria during that 'spooky floating tray' incident. And Tucker has had it out for Timmy the Tuba player for a while, who else would pour purple soda down that particular tuba player's throat?" Andy questioned.

"I also smelled that familiar technology and meat smell on him," Dorimon whispered when he popped his head out slightly from Andy's backpack.

"...Okay, I suppose it _is_ possible Tucker gained ghost powers." Takuya admitted. "But _why_? _Why_ would he want ghost powers?" Then a thought crossed his mind. "Maybe… Tucker knows Phantom is inside Danny and wanted to have the same abilities Danny gets when Phantom takes control."

"Tucker did seem pretty envious of Danny lately, but I didn't take the time to notice that." Andy frowned. "But is he straight up a ghost or is a ghost possessing him? Honestly, I… don't know which one I prefer right now. If he _is_ a ghost, that means he's dead."

"I… can't tell which it is…" Takuya admitted. "I'm not a full Digimon."

"And I can't tell either." Dorimon added sadly. "I can only smell him."

"Great…" Andy sighed, rubbing his head, he was starting to get a headache from all this, and his nose was starting to get a little stuffy. "Okay, if I remember right, I think Danny told me Mom and Dad had some kind of Fenton Ghost Catcher in the lab to try to purify themselves from viral ghosts or something? Maybe it can expunge a ghost from a person's body as well?"

Takuya looked at Andy. "Are you feeling okay, Andy? You sound stuffed up."

Andy frowned as he pinched his nose a bit. "... And to top it all off, I'm probably also getting this stupid cold that's going around!"

Takuya groaned. He wasn't so sure this was a good idea. Andy was dealing with a possibly possessed/dead friend, and he was getting a cold too! _Poor Andy. He can't seem to get a break._

"Look, let's just find Tucker and get this issue sorted out before he does something else." Takuya said as he put a hand on Andy's shoulder. "And so we can get you home to some warm chicken noodle soup."

"Ugh, I wiiiiii- I wonder why there isn't any simple cure for the common cold, something that's been around since ancient times," Andy groaned, quickly stopping himself from saying 'I wish' in case that genie ghost was nearby.

Takuya chuckled. "There's no simple cure save for rest and some soup." He meant it in a teasing way, but he wasn't sure if Andy was up for teasing right now.

"There's no time for rest! What if there's a time limit or something? What if we only have a certain time before Tucker is permanently a ghost or that ghost takes over him completely?" Andy asked, suddenly getting all sorts of paranoid thoughts.

Takuya grabbed Andy's shoulders. "Just calm down! We'll get to him before that happens. We just need to remain calm and find him."

Andy sighed. "Y-yeah… yeah, you're right… sorry, didn't mean to lose my cool there."

Suddenly, their D-Tector and D-Arc beeped. Andy was able to find the 'call' button on his D-Arc last night, it was thankfully not hard to figure out. They both answered to see Dash's face on their screen.

_"__Hey, uh… your techno geek friend just went into Paulina's body… and her eyes are glowing blue… and she sounds like Foley. That is so wrong…"_ Dash groaned.

"Where are you?" Andy asked.

_"__Outside in the front of the school,"_ Dash replied. _"And you'd better hurry. I think things are getting a bit crazy out here."_

"Okay, we'll be there." Takuya said before the line went dead. He then looked at Andy. "Well, we found him. Let's go before things get out of hand."

Andy nodded before he and Takuya hurried out of the school.

Once outside of the Casper High building, they saw Paulina's eyes glowing green and looking quite angry at something nobody else could see.

"Tucker, you're turning the whole school upside down, how about giving it a break?" 'Paulina' said in a familiar male's voice.

Takuya and Andy came to a halt, each because they recognized the voice, save for the echoic effect.

"Hold on… Is that Danny, or Phantom?" Takuya asked, confused as to which one was talking.

"Why would it be Danny? It's clearly Phantom since he's inside Paulina's body," Andy pointed out.

"It's just that the voices sound so similar." Takuya explained. "I didn't think the voices were _that_ close in sound though."

"How about getting off my back and letting me have a little fun?" Tucker's voice came out of Paulina next, and her eyes were glowing blue.

Then Paulina's eyes shifted to green. "Because your fun is kind of mean, now get out of Paulina!"

"I was here first, you go!" 'Paulina' argued, her eyes going back to blue.

"No! You!" Phantom snapped.

"You! Babazita's genie gave me these powers and I'll use them how I want!" Tucker retorted.

"Then maybe I need to have this chat with Babazita," Phantom stated.

"Fine, but you and I aren't friends anymore Danny Fenton!" Tucker shouted before Paulina was in a daze and confused.

"H-huh? What?" Paulina looked around, seeing everyone was staring at her. "A-and… I NEVER WAS FRIENDS WITH YOU!"

Andy and Takuya looked at each other.

"Did… did Tucker just call Phantom… Danny?" Andy asked.

Takuya frowned. "I think it may be because Tucker knows Phantom is inside Danny and was talking to Danny, not Phantom." _At least, that is our suspicion anyway._

"But why would Tucker be yelling at Danny if he was arguing with Phantom? He should know they're not the same person… unless… he thinks they are?" Andy frowned.

"I think this just got more confusing for us…" Takuya groaned as he put a hand to his head, which was now aching with a headache. "It makes my head ache just thinking about it…"

"And it's making me feel dizzy," Andy groaned. "Or that could just be the cold…"

Everyone was talking to each other in concern about Paulina's mental health as Paulina herself quickly walked away. Dash approached the two, being the only other person who had an inkling as to what was going on.

Takuya saw Dash and waved. "Hey!" He waved the jock over.

"If I didn't have an idea of what was going on, which I don't know the full story still, I would think Paulina had a mental issue." Dash noted as he walked over to the two.

"Yeah… let's hope this blows over soon, or Paulina goes to a therapist or something," Takuya said.

"She would need one either way." Andy rolled his eyes. "So, about what happened back there… from what Takuya and I gathered, Tucker had very likely made some kind of wish, likely to be like Phantom I'm guessing, and that ghost genie we saw before had heard him make that wish, and either turned him into a ghost, which has some very dark and serious implications, or she put a ghost inside him to give him ghost powers. And what we witnessed just now was Phantom and Tucker arguing it out while overshadowing Paulina."

"They couldn't have been discreet about it?" Dorimon whispered, rolling his eyes, seeing how often he had to stay hidden from people.

"Dorimon has a point," Takuya noted, having heard the In-Training Digimon's words. "I don't think Tucker is aware of being discreet, or at least this ghost inside him is causing his mind to become clouded."

Dash looked uneasy, as he always did when ghosts were involved. "So… Foley is either possessed or is dead… and I thought things couldn't get any weirder or creepier."

"And yet we turn into Digimon." Takuya chuckled.

"Yeah, but that's like having a superpower. Ghosts are… dead people, people who were alive, but are dead now, and haunt stuff," Dash shivered.

"Please don't remind me, I'm starting to get the chills…" Andy shivered before he sneezed a little.

"Or that could be your cold." Takuya pointed out.

"Maybe you should go home… this cold weather isn't good for you," Dash suggested in concern.

"How can I go home? Tucker is out there acting like an invisible maniac, and that wishing ghost is still out there as well," Andy pointed out.

Takuya frowned. _I know Andy wants to take care of this ghost thing, but he still needs rest._ He put a hand on Andy's shoulder. "Look, why don't you just head home and rest? Dash and I can keep an eye out for Tucker. You need to rest up to get over the cold. You won't be of much help if you can't take care of yourself."

Andy frowned. "But Tucker needs me."

"You don't know where he went, he's likely flying somewhere right now," Takuya pointed out logically. "Don't worry, Dash and I will be able to sense him, and I can fly if I have to. But you need to go home and get some rest."

Andy looked up for a moment before remembering something Tucker said, he was about to suggest it to Takuya and Dash, but then he stopped. "... Alright, fine. I'll go home while you and Dash go look for Tucker."

Takuya smiled. "Good." He then frowned a bit. "Just be careful, please."

Andy nodded to them.

"Let's go, Dash!" Takuya said.

"Right behind ya!" Dash and Takuya ran down the street.

Andy watched and waited for them to get out of sight, before he spoke to the little Digimon in his backpack. "Ready for another trip to the flea market, Dorimon?"

Dorimon blinked. "I thought you were heading home because you're sick."

"I can survive long enough to find out more about this genie ghost, and how to cure Tucker of… ghostiness," Andy said. "Besides, this is for a friend. I'm not going to let a little cold stop me from helping him."

Dorimon sighed. "Okay, we'll go to the flea market." He then looked back up at Andy. "But I don't like it, you being so sneaky. I'll be keeping an eye on you though, if you start to get really sick, I don't care if we're in the public eye, I _will _digivolve and carry you back home myself."

"Heh, alright, alright, I'll be sure to not make you worry," Andy chuckled before he started making his way to the flea market.

When Andy got about halfway there, however, he saw Danny walking down the street, and was surprised to see Andy.

"Bro? What are you doing here?" Danny asked before he sniffled.

"I could ask you the same question. You look like you could use some chicken noodle soup," Andy pointed out, trying not to sniffle himself.

Danny caught on to Andy's sniffling though. "And I could say the same to you, bro. Do you have a cold?"

"You sound like you have one yourself." Andy pointed out.

Danny grumbled. "Look, I only came here to find something out. Now you should get home. I need to make a stop at a fountain in the park."

Andy blinked before he grabbed Danny's arm before Danny could walk away. "Hold on… as in the fountain people use to make wishes?"

Danny looked at his brother. "Um… yeah. Why do you want to know?"

"... Do you… know about that ghost genie that's flying around?" Andy asked. "You're not usually one to make wishes, bro."

Danny froze when he heard Andy's question. He tried to brush it off. "Ah… Ghost genies? Hah! Such things don't exist, bro!" However, he had to wonder how Andy knew. _How _did_ Andy know about that ghost genie?! I mean, he doesn't hang around us as much anymore, so there's no way he could know!_

"Danny… I was there when the Lunch Lady ghost attacked. I was there when I had that amulet that turned me into a ghost dragon. I saw that flying car, I saw Paulina turn into that giant anime abomination, I saw Dash turn into that giant lizard tree monster, I noticed Tucker literally disappearing into thin air, that's definitely not normal. And I saw that lady ghost everywhere when these strange incidents happened. I've heard from Dash that he only turned into that giant monster because he made a wish to. So… that became my conclusion," Andy informed. "Don't try to play dumb, Danny. I know you've noticed these things yourself as well."

Danny frowned. Andy had a good point. "Okay, you got me, bro." He sighed at that point. "That wishing ghost is why I am heading to the fountain."

"Then I'll come with you," Andy said.

"Um… are you sure…? It could get dangerous," Danny hesitantly asked.

"Yes, especially if it's dangerous. No way am I letting you go alone," Andy answered.

Danny sighed. "Okay, then come on. We have a ghost to catch."

* * *

Andy did ask Danny what he learned about the wishing ghost from Babazita, Danny explained to Andy that the ghost's name was Desiree, she was a harem girl who had been promised her heart's desire, her own kingdom, but she ended up getting banished by the sultan's jealous wife. She died of a broken heart, and old age. Ever since then, her spirit roamed around the Earth, granting people's wishes, but out of great personal cost. Andy supposed that after a while, it was easy to see why Desiree began twisting people's wishes.

Danny and Andy made their way to the fountain, hoping to catch Desiree with a wish. Dorimon was in Andy's backpack, ready to jump out if he needed to protect his partner. Danny held the Fenton Thermos in his hand, ready to use it to catch Desiree.

"So what better way to catch a wishing ghost than with a wishing well?" Danny sniffled, holding out a quarter.

"Maybe you can wish the cold away," Andy chuckled.

"Haha, very funny." Danny snarked back before flipping the quarter into the wishing fountain. But nothing happened, making Danny and Andy frown.

"Where is she?" Andy asked, confused now.

"I don't know… maybe she's not in the area anymore?" Danny frowned before he let out a sneeze.

Then a young business man stood beside them, he was wearing a black suit, and held a briefcase. He looked troubled, like he had been having a hard time with life. He sighed before he took out a quarter.

"I wish I had a million bucks, I could use those right now…" The young man sighed before he flipped the coin into the water.

Then, Dorimon began to growl as the same green mist rose from the fountain's waters.

"So you have wished it, so it shall be." A female voice purred as the smoke rose around the man.

"That's it! We needed to make the wish _out loud_!" Andy realized.

"Crap!" Danny ran towards the man before pushing him away from the green mist. "You need to get out of here!"

The man looked confused, but when he looked back, upon seeing the smoke becoming more monstrous, screamed. "Money isn't everything!" He then turned and ran for his life.

"Young intruder? You dare interrupt my spell bindings!?" The mist shouted angrily before turning into Desiree.

Andy ran up next to his brother. "Were you the one who gave Tucker Foley ghost powers?"

Desiree looked at Andy. "Why would you want to know? Of course I was!"

"Then we want you to take away those ghost powers pronto!" Danny demanded.

"I cannot," Desiree answered. "It was his wish, only he can take it back. But why would he? By noon tomorrow, your friend's fate will be sealed."

Andy paled at that._ That means Tucker will be a ghost forever, or the ghost possessing him will take over him permanently. Either way, it's not good!_

"But why?" Andy asked.

"His jealousy." Desiree replied with an evil smirk. "It will transform him into the most powerful ghost boy _in the world!_"

"Wait… what? Why would he be jealous?" Danny asked.

"Indeed…" Andy added, looking at Danny for a moment.

"Oh, he's incredibly jealous for reasons I'm sure you rather not say," Desiree replied. "Tomorrow his jealousy and frustration will cement into rage and rebellion, he will be complete."

Desiree began laughing maniacally before she began to fly away. Thinking fast, both brothers grabbed onto Desiree's tail before she could fly away.

"YOU CHANGE HIM BACK!" The twins yelled in unison.

"YOU dare to lay your hands on me?!" Desiree yelled as she looked back at the twins. "No man may lay a hand on me unless I wish it!"

Dorimon, sensing what his partner wanted, lifted his head from the backpack and shot out acid bubbles from his mouth. The bubbles popped on Desiree's tail, causing a burning sting. She let out a scream before she turned intangible to force the boys to let go of her. Angry now, Desiree turned her hand into a rope before using it to wrap it around Danny's waist and pick him up to throw him. Andy jumped quickly and caught Danny before he could hit a bench that would've seriously hurt him, though this did cause Danny to drop the Fenton Thermos.

"Danny…" Andy groaned after they both hit the floor. "Do you have any ghost weapons on you?"

Danny shook his head. "No, I didn't bring any…"

Andy groaned again before he took off his wrist ray, having decided to keep it on him in case of an attack by either a ghost or a Digimon. "Here, you can use this."

Danny took the wrist ray. "You have one of these?"

Desiree began to charge at the two.

"No time for questions, just use it!" Andy quickly said before he pulled out his Fenton Rod and extended it, he also kept this with him for emergencies.

Danny nodded and slipped the wrist ray on before aiming it and firing at Desiree directly. Desiree yelped as the green ray hit her back. She groaned before she grew her hand large and tried to grab Danny, but Andy ran up to her and smacked her in the side with the Fenton Rod. Hissing, Desiree's hand glowed pink and Andy gasped as he was suddenly being lifted from the ground by an invisible force.

"ANDY!" Danny shouted as he ran to help his brother, firing the wrist ray as he did so. Unseen by Danny and Desiree, Dorimon also helped out by letting out his Acid Bubbles attack again.

Desiree was quickly pushed back, and she screamed in agony from the Acid Bubbles. Andy thanked Danny before he ran up to Desiree and swung his Fenton Rod again, sending Desiree into the sky. Desiree had enough. She grew her body large before she created green bars all around the twins and Dorimon, trapping them. Danny tried to fire at the bars with the wrist ray while Andy tried to hit it with his Fenton Rod. Neither did anything.

"I can't break this!" Andy frowned, seeing the Fenton Rod only clanged uselessly against the glowing bars.

"Neither can I!" Danny growled in agreement. "This is ridiculous!"

Andy then noticed the Fenton Thermos was lying just outside of the cage they were in.

"You two can't do anything unless I wish it!" Desiree smirked.

Andy quickly got down on his knees while Danny was distracted. Danny looked to be debating with himself about something. Andy quickly put Dorimon down.

"You're small enough to squeeze through the bars, go out there, grab the Fenton Thermos and bring it back to me," Andy quietly instructed the little In-Training Digimon.

Dorimon nodded before sneaking out from between the bars and he snagged the Fenton Thermos by the strap with his mouth before hauling it back to the cage. He crept over, making Andy grin as he saw Dorimon had the Thermos with him.

Dorimon squeezed back through the cage bars, dragging through the thermos with him. Andy picked up his partner Digimon and gave Dorimon, who was now back in Andy's backpack, a small piece of chocolate as a reward while he himself picked up the Fenton Thermos.

"So you grant every wish you hear?" Andy spoke up, catching Danny's and Desiree's attention before taking the cap off of the Fenton Thermos. "Then in that case, I wish you would let yourself be sucked into this Fenton Thermos!"

"Nooo!" Desiree cried out as she realized one of the two boys had figured out a way to beat her. "I must obey…" She then began to get sucked into the Fenton Thermos. "You will pay for this! You will _PAY!_" With that done, Andy capped the thermos with a grin.

"Huh… You know, we really should've thought of this a few days ago…" Danny grumbled, seeing how easy it could've been to trap Desiree.

The prison around them dissipated after Desiree was captured, so they were free again.

"Well, that's one problem down, but we have no idea where Tucker is. He could be anywhere since he can fly." Andy frowned.

Danny sighed. "Well, we could probably find him tomorrow, I doubt he'll skip school." He sniffled a bit. "Ugh… Darn cold…"

Danny's nose started to tickle. "Ah… ah…"

"AH-CHOO!" Andy ended up sneezing instead, and Danny's own sneeze stopped. "Ugh, you're telling me? We should get home… maybe dump Desiree in the Ghost Zone or something, and get some soup."

Danny chuckled. "Sure thing, bro."

Despite growing apart since the accident, it was nice to be walking home with Danny again, even if they both had a cold.

* * *

It was already evening by the time the twins came back to Fenton Works. Takuya was standing there, arms crossed, and foot tapping.

"... Uh… h-hi, Takuya," Andy nervously greeted before he quickly hid the Fenton Thermos behind him.

"You told me you were going straight home." Takuya said in a scolding tone. "Why were you not at home when I got back?"

"Um… I had to find Danny?" Andy lied. But it was clear the older boy didn't believe him._ Jeez, why did I phrase it like a question?_

"Which he did!" Danny added, seeing that Andy was in trouble with their cousin.

Takuya frowned some more, but he let it slide because Andy _did_ technically find Danny. "Alright… Just be honest with me next time, will you?" He then waved the twins inside. "C'mon. I bet you two need some chicken noodle soup."

Andy and Danny nodded, wanting to get out of the cool air and into their nice warm house. Andy kept the Thermos behind him though.

Takuya led the twins to where he had made some chicken noodle soup, the kind from a can since he couldn't make any by scratch to save his life. "Here, this should help with your colds."

"Thanks… do you have any juice?" Andy requested.

Takuya smiled. "Over there, on the counter behind you. I got orange juice out since that seems to help more with colds."

"Thanks," Andy said before he discreetly put the Thermos in the backpack before taking Dorimon out and putting him on the table.

Once Andy and Danny got their juice, they began to enjoy their canned chicken noodle soup.

Takuya sat down with a sigh. "There was no sign of Tucker anywhere when I was out looking for him." He didn't add that Dash had been in on the search either because Danny was in the room with them.

"You were looking for Tucker?" Danny asked, surprised.

"Takuya and I found out about the ghost genie and Tucker having ghost powers at the same time," Andy explained. "He wanted me to come back home while he went to go look for Tucker."

"Which you didn't, even though you are getting a cold." Takuya reminded Andy, but not in a scolding manner like he had before. "Although I can't fault you for wanting to find Danny as well."

"Yeah, he does have a cold himself," Andy reminded.

Danny rolled his eyes, not wanting to say that he and Andy just met up and decided to stick together. "I think we'll find Tucker tomorrow at school, but… we should find him before noon."

That made Takuya raise an eyebrow. "Why before noon? Is there something going on at that time?"

Andy looked at his cousin, wondering if he should tell Takuya how he and Danny found out about that.

Danny looked down for a moment, he wasn't sure what to tell his cousin.

Andy looked at Danny, then back at Takuya, then sighed._ No, I'm not going to keep this from Takuya. It's already bad enough I'm keeping secrets from Danny and vice versa._

"Actually…" Andy spoke up. "Danny and I lured the ghost genie after finding out more about her from Babazita. Her name is Desiree, and she grants every wish she hears from people, but also twisting it as much as she can. We fought with her, and captured her in the Fenton Thermos. We tried to get her to take away Tucker's ghost powers, but she said that she can't, and Tucker will become a powerful ghost boy filled with rage and rebellion by noon tomorrow if we don't find a way to take away his ghost powers by then."

Takuya felt fury fill him, but that was not as strong as the fear that filled him when he heard about Tucker and the price for his powers. He took in a deep breath and calmed himself down before looking at his cousins. "I _should_ be mad at you two for doing something reckless like that, but that can wait because Tucker is in worse danger than we first thought."

"But we don't even know how his ghost powers work. Is he a ghost himself or does he have some kind of ghost inside him that Desiree put in him? I mean if it's the latter, we could probably use the Fenton Ghost Catcher to extract it from Tucker, but if Tucker_ is_ the ghost…" Andy frowned. "I'm not sure how that would work, it might really hurt Tucker."

Takuya frowned as well. "That is a problem…"

"Wait," Danny spoke up suddenly. "I think it can work."

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"I did see how the Ghost Catcher works," Danny answered. "Even if Tucker is a ghost, it would simply remove whatever ghostly stuff that's making him a ghost away from his body. I doubt Desiree could just turn someone into a ghost without using some kind of ghostly magic on them."

Takuya looked down in thought as he put a hand to his chin in thought as well. "That is a good point." He then looked back up. "So, if we were to use the Ghost Catcher on Tucker, how would we get him to come here?"

"We'll try talking to him, see if he will see reason," Andy said. "If not… then we'll have to try to get Tucker to chase us back here."

"He can fly, he'll easily outspeed us," Danny pointed out.

"Yes, I agree with you there. The only way to fight a ghost is maybe with another ghost," Andy replied, giving Danny a small, analyzing look._ Would Phantom suggest coming with us?_

Takuya gave a discreet glance at Danny as well. "Maybe that would work, if we have _another ghost_ with us." He made sure to emphasize that to Danny to get the message across.

Danny blinked for a moment, before thinking to himself. Andy, Takuya, and even Dorimon anxiously waited to hear what Danny would say, by now they were convinced their theory of Phantom living in Danny was most likely true. Though part of Andy wanted to use the Ghost Catcher on Danny to expunge Phantom out, he wasn't sure how Phantom would react if he did, and unlike with Tucker, Phantom didn't seem to be having any negative, so far at least, consequences on Danny.

"Well… maybe we might have some ghostly help tomorrow," Danny shrugged. "If we're lucky."

Takuya felt a smirk cross his face at that. "I don't doubt it." _It seems we may have Phantom's help after all._

* * *

After the brothers finished eating their chicken noodle soup, Andy handed Danny the thermos to let him handle putting Desiree back into the Ghost Portal, Andy also didn't want to look at the Fenton Ghost Catcher or he would be tempted to use it on Danny just to get Phantom out of him. Andy knew they needed Phantom for Tucker tomorrow anyways.

"You better get to bed, Andy, you're starting to look a little pale," Takuya said in worry.

"The cold can't seriously be getting worse, could it?" Andy frowned, sniffling more.

"Your stuffy nose says otherwise." Takuya pointed out.

"Maybe Dorimon should sleep with you then? I don't know if Digimon can get sick, but I'd rather not spread my cold to him," Andy suggested.

"I don't care, I'm staying with you," Dorimon stubbornly answered, clinging onto Andy's chest.

Takuya sighed. "Okay, fine. He can stay with you." He then looked back at Andy. "But he has to stay on your desk if he insists on it."

Andy nodded.

"By the way…" Takuya spoke up. "Maybe you could've cured your cold sooner before it started to get worse if you had come home like I told you to, instead of going out on a ghost hunt without me."

Andy frowned, seeing that his cousin hadn't exactly let that go.

"I'm not a little kid, you know." Andy pointed out.

"But _I'm _a year older." Takuya threw back.

"If I hadn't caught Desiree, we wouldn't have known that Tucker was going to be a ghost monster tomorrow until it was too late," Andy argued.

Takuya sighed as he held up his hands. "Okay, that _is_ a good point. Even though you didn't do as I asked, we still found out something important. I can't say I'm totally mad at you for not doing as I asked if that is taken into consideration. But try not to make a habit out of that."

"Right…" Andy sighed. "I'm going to go check on Jazz before I hit the hay. Goodnight, Takuya."

Takuya nodded before he turned and made his way to his room.

"Something other than the cold and Tucker is bothering you," Dorimon said after Takuya went into his room. "I can feel it."

"Yeah…" Andy admitted before he walked upstairs. "If Tucker is turning out this way because of a ghost… what if Phantom might one day do that to Danny?"

Dorimon frowned. "We don't know, because we can't see the future."

Andy sighed. "I know, but I can't help but worry about that anyway. We still don't know too much about Phantom, and why he's using Danny as a host."

"I think it's best to just wait and watch before we do anything hasty. For all we know, Danny and Phantom need each other to survive," Dorimon suggested.

"... You… may have a point there…" Andy frowned. _After all, Phantom only started appearing after the accident… maybe Phantom was caught up in it too, and fused with Danny. That could be the only reason why Danny is still alive, because of Phantom, and removing Phantom could end up killing Danny..._

"I can tell there's still something else bothering you," Dorimon noted.

"It's the same thing you were bothered with as well," Andy said quietly before he reached Jazz's door, he knocked on her door before he added. "I'm also a little jealous of Takuya and Dash."

Dorimon frowned at that. "Yes, but things like getting stronger takes time. I know I will get stronger if I keep training, and that includes you."

Andy gave a small nod before sniffling a bit.

"Come in…" Andy heard Jazz's voice say in a bit of a strain.

Andy opened the door, seeing Jazz looking quite pale, and had an ice bag on her head. Her hair was a bit tangled and all over the place.

"Heh… you've seen better days," Andy joked a little.

Jazz just gave a sniffle. "And you aren't looking so hot either."

"I just wanted to check on you. Danny was checking on Mom and Dad in the lab. How are you feeling?" Andy asked.

"My nose is runny, I feel like a mess, my throat hurts a little, I feel constantly cold, and I have no appetite," Jazz listed off. "But other than that, I feel awesome."

"I see you get pretty snarky when you're sick," Andy remarked.

Jazz just gave him a look. Andy couldn't help but give a goofy grin. "What? It's true!"

"Is that the only reason you came in here?" Jazz grumbled.

Andy paused for a moment, he wasn't sure how much of a help Jazz would be in her current state, but he decided to give it a shot. "Well… what if a friend or a relative have some kind of awesome talent, and you can't help but feel like they're leagues better than you because of it? How would one go about dealing with that kind of jealousy?"

Andy asked for both himself and Tucker, because even if they succeeded in curing Tucker, there was a chance his jealousy could rise again, and they would be back to square one.

Jazz blinked, surprised at what Andy was asking. "Well… people have different ways of handling jealousy. But the best advice I could give is that if you're feeling jealous, it's best to talk to that friend or relative about it. Or have someone you know and trust to remind you that you're special and full of your own talent that they could never have themselves. Instead of wasting your time and energy feeling jealous of someone who has something you don't, you should try to make yourself better with your own talent, or make your own talent if you don't feel like you have one. After all, working hard and gaining experience is the best way of getting good, right?"

Andy smiled a little at that. "I'll try to keep that in mind. Thanks, Jazz, even when you're sick, you still give pretty good advice."

Jazz smiled as well. "No problem, little brother." Then she sneezed.

Andy pinched his nose, not wanting to sneeze as well. "Well, I'll let you get some more sleep now. Goodnight, Jazz."

Jazz nodded before sniffling again. She then turned over in her bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Getting up the next morning was difficult for Danny and Andy. Neither of them felt good, they had a slight headache, their throat was itchy, their nose was running, and they just felt tired. But they pushed themselves out of bed, because they knew they needed to save Tucker first and foremost.

Takuya couldn't help but worry for his cousins when they headed to school, they didn't look good, and he wasn't sure how helpful Phantom would be using a sick body, or if Andy would be able to help much with how out of it he looked. Dorimon was a little worried too.

Still, he followed his cousins to school, deciding to keep an eye on them. Takuya looked at Danny and Andy. "You sure you're up for this?" The question was more directed at Andy since Takuya knew Danny would let Phantom take control when the time was right.

Andy let out a sneeze, facing away from Takuya when he did. "Y-yeah… yeah, I'll be fine."

"We better focus on finding Tuck," Danny said before he sneezed as well.

"But where are we going to look?" Takuya asked. "What would Tucker _do_?"

"I don't know…" Danny sighed. "Let's just… get to class and hope we find him there."

The school day went by as it normally did. But there was no sign of Tucker anywhere. He hadn't been in the morning class today. By the time Mr. Lancer's class let out, Danny, Takuya, and Andy were all rushing down the hallway. They were frantically trying to find Tucker. Then the bell rang again, it was time for the next class, but the boys ignored it. They knew by the time the next class ended, it would be noon, and it would be too late then.

The hallways were completely empty as the three boys were searching for their friend.

"It's almost noon and there's still no sign of Tucker." Danny said as he looked at the clock. Sure enough, it was 11:45 at that point.

"Did he not come today?" Takuya asked.

"Hang on, we're going about this all wrong," Andy suddenly said. "We need to remember that Tucker has ghost powers. Now think, what would a mischievous teenage boy like Tucker do with ghost powers in school? He's already pranked all the kids, what would the next step be?"

Takuya looked down in thought before he perked up. "Tucker is good with technology… so maybe… He would try to change his grades!" He then looked at Andy. "Is that something you think he would do?"

"Either that or go into the girl's locker room," Andy sniffled.

"Look," Danny pointed at a door that was labelled 'school records'. "We're closer to there, let's check that first."

When they got closer to the door, Danny's misty ghost sense went off, Takuya felt heat, and Dorimon shivered in Andy's backpack.

"Okay, he _has_ to be there," Andy said. "I doubt another ghost would be in the school records right now."

Danny then placed his hands on his stomach. "Ugh… I… think I need to… hit the bathroom…"

Andy and Takuya knew Danny would hide himself before he let Phantom take over, but not wanting Danny to be suspicious, Andy asked, "Do you really have to go now of all times?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. I think I'm going to… Ugh… hurl…"

"Eew, don't do it here! Hurry and get to the bathroom!" Takuya frantically said, looking grossed out, but also wanting Danny to hurry and get Phantom to take over.

Danny nodded and ran off to do just that. Takuya then looked at Andy. "I don't know if I should be grossed out, or impressed with how believable that excuse was."

"I just hope I don't actually hurl when we confront Tucker," Andy sighed. "And sorry, Dorimon, I can't have you digivolve for this. We need to be sneaky with your attacks, but no using Acid Bubbles, I don't want to actually melt Tucker's skin."

Dorimon nodded. "Okay."

Just then, a familiar ghost boy came up from the floor, surprising Takuya and Andy. The white haired boy's toxic green eyes were fixed on the two boys by the school records room.

"Whoa! Where did you come from?" Takuya asked, not having to pretend to sound shocked due to being startled by the ghost boy's sudden appearance.

Phantom gave a sheepish grin. "Ah… sorry, I was just… uh… checking out the school for any hostile ghosts, and… I can't help but notice that someone is turning into a ghost here. Do you two need my help?"

Takuya gave a nod. "Yeah. Our friend Tucker is turning into a ghost and we need ghostly help to take on another ghost. After all, my cousin and I are mere humans. We're not exactly good at fighting against a ghost."

"Yeah… if you're willing to help us, then try not to hurt Tucker too much. We want to lead him to FentonWorks, in the lab specifically. You know where that is, don't you?" Andy asked.

"Uh… yeah, I do," Phantom answered, looking a little nervous.

"Oh, and we need to do all this before noon or Tucker is gonna be a ghost forever," Andy added. "No pressure."

Phantom sighed. "Great… Simple enough…"

Phantom walked over to the door before he phased his hand through it, he unlocked the door with a CLICK, then he pushed it open. Takuya and Andy followed the ghost boy inside, and they saw Tucker there. Tucker was on a computer, and from what they could see, Tucker was changing his permanent record grades to all A's.

"Tucker… what are you doing?" Andy asked cautiously, catching Tucker's attention.

Tucker looked back at Andy with a smirk. "Changing my grades through 'academic enrichment'." He then grinned even more. "Want me to do yours and Danny's?"

_Admittedly, that is tempting…_ Andy frowned, remembering how some of his grades were either average or pretty low, he and Danny were not geniuses when it came to school, unlike their sister.

Before Andy could think of a safe answer, however, Phantom spoke up first. "No, that's cheating. And besides, you're in real danger."

Tucker lifted an eyebrow when he saw Phantom, before he looked at Andy and Takuya. "Did… you tell them?"

Phantom shook his head. "No!"

Takuya raised an eyebrow as he looked between Tucker and Phantom. _Tell us? Tell us what?_

Andy had the same question on his mind, but considering how accurate his theory was so far about Danny and Phantom, he decided it wasn't that important right now. "Uh… hey, listen Tucker, would you mind coming back to FentonWorks with us?"

"Why?" Tucker asked.

"I've heard that you've gotten some… upgrades lately," Andy said cautiously. "I just thought maybe you'd want to show them off in a nice, safe environment?"

Tucker seemed to actually be considering that, as he looked down in thought. For a brief moment, Andy felt hope rising in his chest at that. _Can we actually do this without setting him off?_

But before Tucker could answer, Phantom brought everything crashing down with his next comment. "Why would you want to do that when you're in danger, Tucker?"

Andy cringed at hearing that. _Oh, crap… Way to go Phantom..._

Tucker then started to give an inhumane growl, his skin changed to a neon green, his ears became pointed, his teeth became sharp, and his eyes turned red. Tucker was starting to look more like a monsterous ghost now.

Andy, Takuya, and Phantom backed away.

"H-hey, take it easy, you don't want to hurt your friends, right?" Phantom asked in concern.

Tucker gave a growl to Phantom. "That's right, they _are_ my friends, aren't they?" He then gave a look to Andy. "And I respect Andy, enough to let him have his body be used!"

With that, Tucker turned intangible and flew at Andy, who looked panicked. Takuya reacted, shoving Andy out of the way, only for Tucker to enter _his_ body instead.

"Takuya!" Both Phantom and Andy called out in worry.

Their voices sounded far away from Takuya.

_"__What is this?"_ Takuya heard Tucker asking in confusion._ "It's so bright… and hot!"_

Suddenly, Tucker felt this primal power, a power that was uncontrolled and yet tamed at the same time. He found himself surrounded by flames, and in the middle of the flames were three beings. One was Takuya, but he looked smaller and younger. The two other forms were not that visible from the flames, but they had _immense_ power. Beyond the three forms was a symbol that was red, and that symbol glowed brightly before the light erupted and spread forth, blocking Tucker's ghostly form from the three figures. It seemed as if the light was _pushing_ him back!

Then, suddenly, Takuya gasped as his eyes flashed a blue color before Tucker's ghostly body was ejected from his own human one. Takuya's eyes returned to their brown color as he stood there, panting at what had just occurred. But he seemed a bit dazed too, like he wasn't that aware of what was going on around him.

"What happened?!" Andy exclaimed in shock. He hadn't expected Tucker to get pushed out of Takuya's body like that.

Despite the confusion, Phantom took advantage of the situation before he grabbed onto Andy and turned him intangible. Tucker, shaking his head, glared at the dazed Takuya. "What are you?"

Then Tucker turned his attention on Phantom and Andy. Phantom quickly flew up through the ceiling. Tucker, deciding to leave Takuya alone after that experience, quickly went after the twins. Takuya was still recovering from his daze.

While carrying Andy, Phantom suddenly felt something hit his back. He let out a yell as he lost intangibility and fell into a chemistry classroom, which was thankfully empty.

"Ugh… Tucker's… getting more malevolent, more ghost-like…" Phantom commented.

Andy groaned as he pushed himself up from the floor, his human body couldn't take as much punishment as Phantom's could, and he was still fighting with a cold on top of that._ I'm guessing Takuya's spirits protected him back there. Great… meanwhile I'm vulnerable to being overshadowed._

"We need to-" Andy began to say before Tucker flew into the classroom. "Oh crap…"

Andy and Phantom scattered as Tucker began firing green energy balls at them, though he was mostly firing at Phantom. Andy ducked under a table while the two ghosts were going at it with each other. _I can't fight Tucker, I don't want to hurt him, but what can I do? I have to get him to get back to the lab…_

Phantom suddenly phased through the table and hid beside Andy. "I can't get through to him."

"Of course not, his jealousy seems to stem from you," Andy said. "... But maybe we can use that."

"How?" Phantom asked. "If he's jealous because of me, that means he wants to get rid of me!"

"Exactly, he's tunnel visioning on you," Andy agreed. "That means he's more likely to chase you blindly back to the lab in FentonWorks. You just have to bait him."

Phantom then gained a mischievous grin. "I think I know how to do that." He then flew out and knocked Tucker's hat off of his head before flying away. Phantom then grinned again as he hovered in front of Tucker while carrying Andy. "See ya, Sucker Phantom!" He gave a cheeky wave before he turned Andy and himself intangible and flew them through the floor.

"THAT'S TUCKER PHANTOM! TUCKER!" Tucker shouted as he dived down through the floor himself.

Phantom smirked as he was now in the girl's locker room. "This will distract him for sure."

"Oh… I didn't expect us to come _here_ of all places," Andy gulped.

"The girl's locker room will get his mind off of us for a little while." Phantom said as he looked at Andy. "This way we can get into a better position to attack from."

Phantom then phased them both into one of the lockers. Tucker came down into the locker room. "The girl's locker room… so this is what it's like in here!"

Phantom then came out of a locker while still holding onto Andy, with Andy holding a bra in his hands. Andy slammed the bra over Tucker's eyes before Phantom managed to grab Tucker's shirt with his free hand and fly out of the locker room. They were now in the gym, and Phantom threw Tucker through a basketball hoop. Tucker hit the floor face first with the bra landing on his butt.

Andy was trying very hard not to laugh at the scene.

However, Phantom glanced at the clock on the gym's wall and his face seemed to pale, which Andy noticed. "Um… Phantom? Is something wrong?"

"Only 5 minutes left until noon," Phantom said worriedly. "Better step this up a notch… HAH! YOU GOT NO GAME!"

This, of course, angered Tucker quite a bit. He got onto his feet before his body grew in size, becoming much more muscular, his teeth were bigger and sharper as well, and his eyes were fully red instead of just his irises.

"Jeez, he kind of looks like the hulk now…" Andy couldn't help but comment.

Tucker glared at Andy before he fired off a ghost ray at Phantom's hand, hitting it and forcing Andy to fall to the gym floor. Luckily, Andy wasn't that high up from the floor, so he landed on his feet, but wobbled a bit as he did so. Andy noticed, however, that his backpack had fallen off of him after the ghost ray was fired, and saw that Dorimon rolled out onto the floor, groaning a bit.

Andy turned to Tucker and gasped in fear when his mutated friend towered over him with a big smirk. Andy could only let out a scream as Tucker flew into his body.

Phantom saw that and gasped. However, the voice he heard was not his own.

"NO!" Turning, Phantom saw the same fire-armored person who had helped him against that large leaf lizard thing, back at the football field, and apparently can turn into BurningGreymon.

Andy fell to the floor, writhing around in agony as he was trying to fight against the ghost in his body. His struggles caused his D-Arc to fall out of his pocket, and Agunimon saw dark light glowing from its screen, and he could sense a sinister, dark energy data surrounding Dorimon, a similar type of energy he sensed before on DexDoruGreymon.

"Oh no…" The Warrior of Flame muttered to himself. "Not now…"

Andy stopped struggling, he stood up, and opened his eyes, his irises were now red, showing he was completely overshadowed. And dark fractal code surrounded Dorimon.

The code turned large, much larger than Dorumon would become. Phantom took notice of this sudden appearance of what appeared to be a cocoon of code. When the code dispersed, in their place was a horrifying looking creature.

The creature had cybernetic arms and legs, looking like it was a machine almost. Wires that sparked emerged from the tip of its tail, and its dark blue skin looked to be almost a cloth that was sown together. The wings had bolts sticking out of their top joints, and the head looked metallic in nature as well. Its eyes were glowing an eerie red. It stood beside the possessed Andy.

"Oh? Looks like Andy has a pet~" Tucker smirked, seeing that the creature stood loyally beside Andy.

Agunimon growled deeply from his throat, a sound no human could make. "You get out of that boy right now!" The tone in which he spoke sounded downright menacing in an attempt to scare Tucker, which didn't seem to work.

Phantom didn't know what to think, he didn't know where that cybernetic dragon creature came from, or why it was standing beside Andy, but he knew things just got a lot more complicated. Time was running out, and Phantom knew he had to do something fast.

* * *

**Titanic X****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, though do you have more to say than saying you like the chapter? It's a bit hard to respond when that's all you say. ^^'

**ZAFT:** Yeah… ^^' I will talk to her since she is my sister.

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yup. Andy's gotten more sass lately.

**ZAFT:** Well, I am glad you enjoyed it. It can be fun when there is conflict between characters. :)


	14. Resolving Jealousy

**ZAFT:** Here is chapter 14, and this is when things begin to kick off in a new direction. :)

**DarkFoxKit:** Feels like it's been a while since the last update, but I think the small break between is nice. Gives us time to recharge.

**ZAFT:** I can't argue there. Gives me time to work on other stories too. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** On a plus note, I'm trying out a new computer. :D

**ZAFT:** That's always nice to get. :)

* * *

**Chapter 14: Resolving Jealousy**

**"****DexDorugamon is a Ghost Digimon and a carrier of the X Antibody. It was experimented on in search of further digivolutions, and was said to, at the time of the experiment, resemble Dorumon's Champion form, Dorugamon. Since it keeps preying on the DigiCores of other Digimon, it is active despite its deceased condition, and is attempting to digivolve."**

Agunimon heard this in his head, knowing that it was his spirit giving him information on the newly digivolved Dorimon. It was obviously Champion form, but its power felt closer to Ultimate.

He looked back at Phantom. "So what's going on?" He decided to play dumb about the whole situation, just to give Phantom a bit of control here.

"I need to get that ghost in Andy to follow me," Phantom said, there wasn't enough time to give the full story right now.

Agunimon nodded. "Okay, simple enough." But a look at DexDorugamon made him wonder if that would even be possible. "But that thing beside him is going to be hard to deal with if that is the goal."

"Can you fight it?" Phantom asked.

"Yes, please, I'd like to see how well this pet faces against your fiery superhero," Tucker taunted. "I want to get rid of you myself."

Agunimon growled again, but not as deeply this time. "You are _seriously_ getting on my nerves." However, he had a few taunts of his own. A smirk played at his lips as one came to mind. "Or are you just chicken to fight Phantom yourself?"

"There's no way you'd catch me in Andy's body anyways, Sucker Phantom!" Phantom added.

'Andy' growled before his body floated.

"Pet! You take out that annoying armor guy! I'm going after Phantom myself!" 'Andy' ordered.

DexDorugamon's wings began to flap as he flew up before dive bombing at Agunimon. Agunimon's eyes widened before he was suddenly rammed into and tackled into the wall, leaving quite a hole.

Phantom frowned, but he had to get Tucker to the lab as quickly as possible, he silently wished Agunimon luck before he turned intangible and flew out of the school, with Tucker turning Andy's body intangible and flying after Phantom.

Now outside the school, Agunimon groaned as he sat up, some bits of brick falling from his armor. He could feel something wet and sticky running down from the back of his head, but he brushed it off. _I have to take out that Digimon, DexDorugamon, before he hurts someone!_

Agunimon got to his feet, but he was a bit unsteady at first before it faded. "Okay… Let's see if we can do this _without_ turning Dorimon into a Digi-Egg again."

Agunimon was about to attack, but he gasped when DexDorugamon was suddenly right in front of him. The Digimon was fast, and didn't plan on giving Agunimon time to breathe.

_"__Metal Cast."_ The way DexDorugamon said that creeped Agunimon out, his voice was low and monotonous

Agunimon let out a scream as he felt the claws trying to impale through his armor, it was clear that Dex was trying to rip out his heart or something. Agunimon had to do something fast.

At once, flames licked at his armor before the Warrior of Flame spun around. _"Pyro Tornado!"_ The flaming vortex forced Dex to back off, leaving Agunimon standing there panting once the flames dissipated.

Agunimon put a hand over his chest, feeling a hole in his armor from the impalement. Although DexDorugamon wasn't as powerful as DexDoruGreymon, he felt harder and creepier to fight. It didn't take Agunimon long to realize why. DexDoruGreymon was in constant agony and pain, screaming out how much he was hurting. While DexDorugamon, however, was completely calm and focused, he was analyzing Agunimon, waiting for the best opportunity to strike, like a predator.

It was this realization that made Agunimon's face grow pale. _Crap… If this is how DexDorugamon fights alone, then imagine if Andy was here!_ He shook his head. _No, I need to stay focused. But how can I beat DexDorugamon if he fights like this?_

Then Agunimon remembered how Andy fought. _That's right! Andy looks for weaknesses that he can exploit._ Eyeing DexDorugamon, Agunimon began to look for any weaknesses he himself could exploit. _Maybe there's something I can use against DexDorugamon here..._

It was difficult to find any weaknesses due to how guarded DexDorugamon was as he studied Agunimon. Then he flew up towards the ceiling, making Agunimon dread what the Digimon had in store for him. Then Dex started to dive bomb towards Agunimon again. Agunimon was bracing himself this time, but then Dex opened his metallic mouth.

_"__Cannonball."_ Like before, the words were low and monotonous. Dex shot out a huge iron sphere at Agunimon while he was dive bombing him.

Agunimon saw the iron sphere coming at him and he knew he had two options; he could either kick it back, or dodge it. _Dodging would be easier, but he may also be expecting me to kick it back. I have only one shot to make my choice._ With his mind racing, the Warrior of Flame tried to figure out what the best choice was and fast. _Maybe…_ _"Pyro Tornado!"_

Fire swirled around him as Agunimon launched his attack before using the momentum of the attack to kick the iron sphere back at Dex. However, he then followed that up with a fiery onslaught of his own. _"Pyro Punch!"_

Dex flew down, avoiding the iron sphere, but he did get hit by the Pyro Punch. Dex didn't let out a scream or anything, he was just flung back a few feet. Then Agunimon felt the impact of kicking a giant iron ball that was coming at him at fast speed. His left foot throbbed as he landed, making him hiss at the pain of it. _Okay, that was a _very_ stupid move on my part..._

Agunimon let out a cry when he was suddenly pinned to the ground by a clawed foot. Dex recovered rather quickly from the Pyro Punch. Dex then reached his claws on Agunimon's chest hole.

_"__Metal Cast."_

Agunimon almost screamed out again as the claws began to tear a larger hole in his chest armor, as well as trying to get at something in his chest. He could feel this thing pulsating quickly, but it wasn't his Spirits.

Then, before DexDorugamon could get any further, fractal code suddenly surrounded his larger form and Dex began to shrink down to a more recognizable size.

Agunimon watched in shock and relief when DexDorugamon had reverted back to Dorimon, who passed out after reverting back to his In-Training form.

Panting himself, Agunimon felt he could no longer hold his Digimon form and fractal code surrounded him as he reverted back to his human form of Takuya. Takuya groaned as he sat up, feeling his head aching, his foot was sore, and he had this ache in his chest. "Ow…"

Takuya slowly picked up the unconscious little Digimon, then he limped his way over to the D-Arc that had fallen out of Andy's pocket earlier and picked it up. "Jeez… I really hope that's not what you'll digivolve into later…"

Takuya put the D-Arc in his pocket, and he started to limp his way out of the gym, he _needed _to get to FentonWorks and see that everyone was okay.

* * *

_A few minutes earlier…_

Danny was flying outside, trying to get to FentonWorks quickly. It felt wrong and strange to have his brother chasing him down like this._ Well, my best friend turning into a ghost inside my brother's body chasing me… doesn't make it any less weird and wrong._

Looking back, he could see Andy's face was wearing a menacing glare, which was unlike the normally calm boy. 'Andy' was easily frustrated when Danny turned invisible.

"Where are you? WHERE!?" 'Andy' demanded, before a blue mist came out of his mouth when Danny reappeared behind him.

_Oh… I wonder if that's what I look like when my ghost sense activates…_ Danny wondered briefly. "What's the matter? Can't catch what you can't see?"

'Andy' flew at Danny to grab him, Danny quickly went intangible and flew around 'Andy'. Danny was glad to see they had made it to FentonWorks, but he began to worry when he didn't see 'Andy'.

"Where is he? I'm sure he would've followed me." Danny frowned before 'Andy' suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hey there, 'bro'~" 'Andy' smirked evilly at Danny.

"Uh… H-hey, Andy… err… Tucker." Danny stammered out. "Look, why don't we just talk this out? No need to overshadow my brother, right?"

'Andy' just smirked even more. "Oh, sure. I will just leave Andy's body so you can take me out!" This was said with sarcasm, which made Danny nervous. Then 'Andy' glared at Danny. "Of course I won't! I know you want to remove me from the picture! So I refuse to leave Andy's body! If you want to remove me, then you have to remove Andy as well!"

Suddenly, 'Andy' grabbed Danny and turned intangible, he began to dive down through FentonWorks. Jazz was walking down the hall to get something to eat, she had her blanket wrapped around her, when the two brothers suddenly fell from the ceiling, right in front of her, and through the ground in almost in the blink of an eye. Jazz stared ahead of her for a few seconds, before she walked backwards, came back into her room, then slowly closed the door.

'Andy' pinned Danny down into the lab floor, both of them turning solid again.

"Are you planning to throw me into the Ghost Zone then?" Danny asked.

'Andy' sneered at that. "I wasn't going to, but that is a _great_ idea!" He looked at the Ghost Portal as he turned to face it.

Danny looked at the lock, seeing he only had ten seconds left. "I'm only going to have one shot at this…" He muttered under his breath as he channeled his ecto energy into his hands.

Then, out of nowhere, Danny felt a tickle in his nose. "Ah-ACHOO!" He sneezed _right on_ 'Andy'! _Ugh… great. Now Andy is going to get sick _for sure_._

Tucker, in Andy's body, let go of Danny. "Hey, cover your mouth!"

That moment of distraction gave Danny the opportunity he needed to shove Andy's body right into the Fenton Ghost Catcher. This caused both Tucker and the ghost possessing Tucker to come out of Andy. Andy and Tucker were in a daze, though Tucker recovered faster due to being the one who had possessed Andy. He blinked opened his eyes, and was shocked to see the ghost that was supposedly him floating just above him. The ghost that was Tucker was big, nasty, snarling, and looked ready to eat them with the way it was drooling from its sharp teeth.

Tucker looked up, staring in shock as he regained his senses. "Is that… _me_?" He was stunned. _Is _that_ what I was becoming?_

Suddenly the ghost was sucked into the Fenton Thermos. Danny was holding it, and was sweating a little. "No, it's not you, Tuck, not anymore."

As soon as the ghost was in the thermos, Danny put the cap on the thermos. As soon as that was taken care of, Danny and Tucker kneeled down to Andy, who was still in a daze.

"Is… is he… okay?" Tucker asked in worry and regret.

Danny checked his brother over, Andy didn't even seem to be aware of them. "I think… other than a few scratches and bruises, he should be fine."

Danny then stood up and walked behind Andy, just in case, before he reverted back to his human form with a flash of light.

Tucker sighed. "I'm really sorry, Danny… I owe you, Andy, and Takuya an apology for attacking you like I did. I mean I was jealous, but that's no excuse for trying to throw you into the Ghost Zone or overshadowing Andy to do it."

Danny sniffled a bit. "Don't worry about it. You were under the genie's spell, and it was broken."

"Yeah, but that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't jealous." Tucker said sadly.

"Nor if I had been less of a show-off of my… talents." Danny admitted. "That _was_ kind of my own fault…"

"Heeeey… did I miss something?" Andy groaned, rubbing his very dizzy head.

Danny and Tucker looked back at Andy, surprised that he was awake.

"Bro? Are you okay?" Danny asked in concern. "How do you feel?"

"Not very good… sore… and nauseous…" Andy groaned. "Why is my face a little face?"

"Ah… let's uh… let's get you in bed, bro, you've had a long day," Danny quickly said.

"Wait… is Tucker all fixed?" Andy asked, still somewhat in a daze.

Danny looked at Tucker before looking back at Andy and speaking. "Yeah, he's back to normal. Thanks to Phantom's help and the Fenton Ghost Catcher."

Tucker then looked at Andy. "Andy, I'm sorry for overshadowing you like that. I was just caught up in my own jealousy, and I didn't think about the consequences of my actions towards you."

"It's cool, dude, it happens," Andy replied. "Except magic and evil ghost spells aren't usually involved."

Tucker frowned. "Yeah, I know that, but I still feel bad about it." He then rubbed the back of his head. "And I don't think Takuya will be too happy when he hears I tried to overshadow him." Then, Tucker remembered something.

"Hold on. When I tried to overshadow Takuya, I remember something sort of… blocked me from getting to him to do that, and it was like a wall of fire." Tucker noted here. He then looked at Andy, who had recovered from the daze. "And I remember you having some kind of big 'pet' back at the gym. I mean I didn't question it at the time because I was more focused on D- that ghost boy… but what _was_ that thing?"

Andy blinked at Tucker. "What are you talking about? What big pet?"

Tucker blinked, surprised Andy didn't remember that until he himself remembered that victims of overshadowing didn't remember anything about that time. "Oh, right. Uh… never mind."

"Maybe it was just coincidence? I mean these weird non-ghost monsters show up at random as much as ghosts do," Danny suggested with a shrug. "It sure was creepy looking though. I guess it didn't notice you."

Andy felt lost, he did remember Tucker coming at him, but that was it. He hated missing a big piece of the story._ Not that Danny or Tucker seem willing to tell me… maybe Takuya might know what happened? Or maybe Dorimon?_

Andy reached for his backpack, only to realize it was gone. "... Where's my backpack? Where's D- my stuffed animal?"

Danny remembered Andy had that stuffed animal he loved so much. "O-oh! I think your backpack fell off at school when Tucker took over your body."

"... WHAT-" Andy started to shout before he was cut off by a coughing fit, the shout was bad for his itchy throat.

"H-hey! Relax! Takuya's still at the school, so he will bring it home, I'm sure." Danny tried to assure his brother.

"Y-yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine," Tucker also tried to reassure. "Come on… let's get you upstairs, I don't think you should be standing right now."

Then Tucker started sniffling a bit as Andy leaned on Danny. "Dude… I think you got me sick with your little sneeze."

Danny chuckled. "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

Andy frowned. "When did you even sneeze on-"

Andy rubbed his face, feeling a bit of mucus on it. "OH! Danny! That's gross!"

Danny smiled sheepishly. "Ehehe… Sorry, bro…"

* * *

Takuya hated that he had to nearly limp all the way to FentonWorks. Dorimon still hadn't woken up yet. The boy had never been so glad to see the big neon sign that pointed at the building of FentonWorks.

As Takuya limped to the stairs, he grimaced at the effort he would have to make to get up the steps with his injured foot. _I'm _glad_ my injuries are not as severe in my human form…_ He thought to himself._ Really shouldn't have kicked a literal cannonball like that..._

After some effort to get up the stairs, which earned Takuya a few muttered swears due to the pain of his foot, he managed to get to the door and open it.

"Ugh… _never_ do that again…" Takuya muttered once he got inside and shut the door. He had to lean against it for a while just so his foot would stop aching.

"Takuya?" Takuya perked up at hearing Andy. "You have Dorimon… I'm glad. Are you… okay?"

Andy came closer to Takuya, frowning when he saw his cousin limping. "What happened to your foot?"

"I'll tell you when we get back upstairs." Takuya assured him. "But you may not like what I went through."

"There you are, cuz," Danny noted, walking over to Takuya himself. "Are you… okay?"

Tucker was watching Takuya silently.

"I'm fine…" Takuya replied to Danny. "Just… tripped badly while trying to get home. Sure, my foot hurts, but I'm fine otherwise. I just landed on it funny." However, Takuya took note of how Tucker was looking at him as well. _What's Tucker looking at me like that for?_

"Hey, uh… if you and Andy need to talk alone, feel free to," Tucker suggested. "I have something I need to talk with Danny about in private anyways."

Takuya frowned, but nodded. "Okay. I understand."

Tucker then turned and left with Danny to talk in private in Danny's room upstairs, leaving Andy and Takuya alone in the living room.

"Here…" Takuya said, giving Andy Dorimon. "He's exhausted, but I think he'll be fine after a goodnight rest."

"Thanks, but what happened to him? And to you?" Andy asked, frowning as he hugged Dorimon close to his chest.

Takuya sighed here. "When Tucker overshadowed you, your D-Arc reacted with a dark light from the screen, and Dorimon 'dark digivolved' I think it was. He reacted to the negative emotions from Tucker taking over your body, and I had to fight him when he reached the Champion stage. It was called DexDorugamon, and well… it was one tough Digimon." He then looked at his foot. "I made the mistake of kicking a literal cannon ball back at him too…"

Andy frowned before he paled a little. _So what Tucker meant by a 'big pet', he must've met Dorimon… when he turned into this… DexDorugamon._ "Wait… he dark digivolved? But why would he do that because Tucker took over my body?"

"I don't know…" Takuya sighed. "I just know what I saw. But, my best guess is, because he sensed the negative energy over your D-Arc, that was what caused it." He shrugged. "That's just my best guess. I can't explain it better than that."

Takuya took the D-Arc out of his pocket and handed it back to Andy.

Andy took the D-Arc with his right hand and looked it over. "... I hope I didn't break it or something. I don't want Dorimon to digivolve into something dangerous. I'm surprised he gave you such a hard time, I mean, you were able to match DexDoruGreymon pretty okay, didn't you?"

"Yes, but that was only one time. Plus, he was more in pain than anything. Here, he was focused and not in any pain. This time, he was like a predator, and that is saying something." Takuya admitted here. "In fact, Dorimon fought like you in that battle. He was observing me, looking for any weaknesses." A shudder escaped Takuya. "If you had been there, I'm not so sure I would have held my own so well."

"... If I had been there, I would've tried to stop him," Andy pointed out.

"Well, what I mean is, if that is how well Dorimon could fight on his own, I would hate to be your enemy when he is teamed up with you." Takuya clarified.

"Right…" Andy was mixed on that, he was flattered to hear how well he and Dorimon could do once Dorimon is able to digivolve into his more proper Champion form, but at the same time he didn't like that the one time Dorimon did become his Champion form, it was used against his cousin. "I'm going to need to figure out a defense against overshadowing. It would be horrible if it happened again. … Unlike you, I don't have a defense for it."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. That _is_ a problem…"

"And here's another problem you'll need to look out for," Andy suddenly added.

"What?" Takuya frowned.

"Tucker is going to be keeping a closer eye on you now, maybe even Danny and Sam if he decides to tell them what he saw when he tried to overshadow you," Andy warned.

Takuya paled at hearing that. "Wait… _what_?!" He was shocked. "Tucker _saw_ my Spirits when he tried to overshadow me?!" _Oh crap! This is _not_ good!_

"I don't know if he saw your Spirits, he just mentioned that something blocked him from overshadowing you, like it was a big wall of fire," Andy informed.

"Great… Now I have to work _twice_ as hard to keep my secret…" Takuya groaned.

"Meanwhile I have to explain about this 'big pet'. Well, at least not remembering what happened actually came in handy," Andy chuckled. "Danny made the excuse for me, but from now on I have to be more careful with Dorimon, especially when he digivolves into bigger forms. And… I need to study how this D-Arc works. I don't want it turning Dorimon into an evil monster again."

Takuya nodded. "Good idea." He then saw Andy sniffle again. "And you can do that while you're in bed resting. At least then you can hide it under the covers and do that while Danny is with you."

Andy groaned and put his forehead on Dorimon's back. "I hate this stupid cold…"

* * *

Danny sat down on his bed while Tucker sat at his computer desk.

"So what's wrong, Tuck? You seemed nervous around Takuya," Danny asked. "I know he'll be mad about the overshadowing, but I'm sure he won't stay mad at you for long."

"It's not that." Tucker finally said after a moment of silence. "It has to do with _when_ I tried to overshadow him."

Danny frowned. "You did say you were blocked by a wall of fire… that's… unusual, I guess?"

"It _is_ unusual! You may not overshadow a lot of people, Danny, but I did… I overshadowed a lot of people while I had my ghost powers, and while many of them had different souls and minds, none of them had such a way to kick me out. Especially not literal fire! I was actually _burning_, Danny!" Tucker rambled on.

Now Danny was concerned, that wasn't something he could explain with simple logic. "So… what, do you think Takuya might've been already overshadowed by a fire ghost or something?"

Tucker frowned. "I'm not sure _what_ it was. All I know is that there were _three_ figures in that fire, one of which was Takuya. The other two were acting like they were protecting him. Then, there was a light and I was pushed out, literally!"

Danny furrowed his eyebrows at that.

"I'm… not entirely sure that Takuya is all human anymore, Danny," Tucker finally said. "I don't think he had ghosts inside him protecting him, they didn't feel like ghosts. I should know, I had my own ghost sense by that point. They felt… different…"

"Different how?" Danny asked, now worried for his cousin. "Is it hurting him?"

"No, at least, not that I could tell anyway." Tucker admitted. "But these beings _were_ mad that I tried to overshadow Takuya. I think they might be… I don't know, _part_ of him or something! The only thing I could tell about them is that they're… digital, somehow… like actual data."

Danny blinked, before he remembered seeing data wrapping around a few beings before, this included Agunimon, Dash before he turned into Petaldramon, and that mysterious data cocoon that showed up before that creepy cybernetic fox dragon thing showed up beside Andy.

"Tuck, I don't think there are just ghosts out there if what you are saying is correct." Danny finally said. "Remember what happened with Dash at the football game, and that armor guy? Both had data come surrounding them, and I mean ribbons of it. Ghosts don't have that happen to them."

"But then, what _are_ these creatures?" Tucker asked finally.

"When I'm in ghost form, I noticed these creatures are made of data, but I just wasn't sure if that was accurate or not because it just seemed so… weird, you know? You wouldn't think data could exist in the real world, yet here they are," Danny remarked, starting to go into thinking mode. "If they are digital beings though… maybe we could call them digital creatures? Or digital monsters?"

"Well, if we have to call them 'digital monsters', that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue very well, does it?" Tucker pointed out. "We could shorten it to maybe, I don't know, D-monsters?"

"D-monsters work, I guess," Danny shrugged.

"Or maybe Digimonster? Digimon?" Tucker questioned.

"... Nah, that sounds stupid," Danny said.

Tucker chuckled. "Then D-monster it is!"

"Okay, now let's get back to Takuya for a moment," Danny replied. "Do you think he might be a D-monster himself? Or have… parts of D-monsters in him somehow?"

Tucker frowned at that point. "I would have to say it is more like he has the parts inside him. I sensed he was still human, but the parts were not exactly… all there. Like they were… It's hard to describe to be honest." He shrugged here. "The only way you'd see it is to overshadow Takuya yourself, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Danny shook his head. He didn't like using his overshadowing abilities very much. It was cool when he first discovered it, but he came to realize that controlling people like a meat puppet was not only wrong, it was incredibly creepy. Danny resolved to only use it if he felt like he had to.

"It would be hazardous to my health to try," Danny waved off. "I'll just have to take your word for it. … But you know… I think Andy might know, or at least suspect something about Takuya. They _have_ been hanging around each other a lot lately."

Tucker blinked at that. "You're right. Those two are more like peas in a pod than you and Andy are lately, and you two are twins!"

"Don't remind me… I haven't exactly been… fair to Andy," Danny sighed. "I was just… too scared to let him know the truth. I mean… what if Andy wouldn't want me around anymore if he saw I had become half ghost due to the accident? What person would want a brother who's now a freak of nature like me? Am I even dead or alive? Am I human or ghost? I don't even know!"

"Dude, just calm down." Tucker said as he put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "It's normal to want to protect your brother from such a thought. But if Andy _did_ find out, he would accept you. I mean, you two are brothers, twins even! I don't think he would look at you as a freak."

"... I don't know, Tuck… I mean… you should've seen how he reacted when he found out you had ghost powers," Danny sighed. "He said that… you were either dead, or had a ghost possessing you. Being a ghost… does have a very dark implication… and if Andy does suspect anything, he's more likely to believe I have a ghost inside me or something rather than _being_ half ghost."

Tucker sighed. "Look, either way, if Andy suspects anything about Takuya or if he knows his secret, then we will just have to keep an eye on both. Your brother because he is in on this secret of Takuya's, and Takuya because of what I saw when I tried to overshadow him."

Danny nodded. "Maybe… maybe if Takuya's secret is anything like mine… maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to tell Andy if he took Takuya's secret as well as he did."

Tucker smiled. "That's the way to look at it."

Then both boys let out a sneeze.

"... On another plus note… we get to miss a few days of school to recover from this event," Tucker added.

* * *

_The next day…_

Danny and Andy were in their beds, wrapped up with three blankets. Dorimon was snuggled up to Andy under his chest, hoping to keep his partner warm. Like with Andy, Dorimon didn't recall his time as DexDorugamon, but he did apologize constantly to Takuya. Like every time Dorimon saw Takuya, and if nobody else but Andy was around, he'd start apologizing again.

As it was, Takuya was stuck at home too due to his foot being hurt, but it was just a minor sprain. He was able to move around with the help of crutches, but it was still a pain to do so.

Due to the entire family being sick or nearly incapacitated, Sam decided to pay them a visit to help them out a bit. Tucker was at home sick as well, but his parents were healthy enough to take care of him. Sam brought in some medicine to help Jack and Maddie recover quicker. Due to their insistence on it being a ghost virus, Sam got them to take the medicine by telling them it was 'ghost medicine'. Sam also made some chicken noodle soup for Jazz. After she brought it to Jazz, who wasn't quite as sick as the boys were since she actually took proper care of herself unlike her parents, she still believed she was sick due to the 'hallucination' she saw yesterday.

Sam brought in two bowls of warm chicken noodle soup to the twins, who sat up from their beds, still wrapped around their blankets, and had ice packs on their heads.

"Jeez… do you guys have to share everything?" Sam sarcastically asked as she put down a tray of the two bowls of chicken noodle soup.

"Are you sure you should be here, Sam? You could get sick again," Danny asked in concern, sniffling.

"Nah, my immune system can kick this stuff to the curve since it got rid of the cold already. That and I also took a few vaccines before coming here," Sam reassured.

Takuya limped over to the twins' room, using his crutches. "Good to see you're better, Sam." He gave a look to the twins. "Unlike my cousins who didn't take care of themselves."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, I know, these two knuckleheads would rather dive into a frozen lake than stay at home and get bed rest."

Takuya chuckled as well. "Yeah, but these two knuckleheads are _my_ knuckleheads, and I would do anything for them."

"And I have no regrets," Danny pouted before sneezing. "... Okay… maybe a little."

"Hey, Takuya, can you come over here for a moment?" Andy requested. "I promise I won't sneeze or cough on you."

Takuya blinked, but limped over to Andy. "Sure. What's up?"

Andy lifted Dorimon up a little before Dorimon whispered. "Hey, Takuya… sorry about attacking you. I'm really, really sorry. I'm sorry it happened. I'm sorry."

Takuya sighed before whispering back. "It's okay. I already told you that. Things happen. I'm fine, so don't worry." He patted the little Digimon fondly. "You just worry about your partner and making sure he stays in bed."

Dorimon gave a small purring noise before sinking back into Andy's chest.

"Little guy can hold quite a bit of guilt," Andy whispered.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, but he will get over it with time." He said this in a whisper as well. Then he stood up. "I'd better let you get some rest. Don't want to get sick myself~"

Andy groaned. "Lucky…"

* * *

_After about a week… that Thursday night..._

Andy and Takuya were rushing through the dark streets. Dorimon looked up from the backpack, looking a little bruised up.

"We're never going to make it!" Andy panted as he was lagging a bit behind his cousin.

"Just keep running!" Takuya shouted back, trying to keep Andy right behind him.

Andy was currently in his hazmat suit, and it had some scratches on it. "You… may… have to… go on… without me… that last… battle took a lot out… of me…!"

Takuya shook his head. "No way! We're going to make it together, even if I have to carry you myself!" His outfit was torn a bit along the bottom, and one pant leg had a scratch across the knee.

"Come on, Andy, you can do it… just a little bit longer… I can see it!" Dorimon called out in encouragement.

They could see FentonWorks just up ahead.

"Come on, once we get to the door, we're home free!" Takuya urged.

Andy panted more, feeling his lungs burning, but he put all his determination into his legs to make it to the final stretch.

Then… Amity's clock let out a loud banging sound that sounded like a metallic _BONG_.

Takuya's mind was now filled with colorful languages. Andy paled.

"... We're dead," Andy groaned.

"Literally or figuratively? Takuya grumbled.

"Take your pick," Andy sighed.

"Uh… I wish you luck," Dorimon said before burying himself into Andy's backpack.

Danny suddenly appeared right next to them, which caused all three boys to yelp and flinch away from each other.

"Danny… how… where… Don't do that!" Takuya exclaimed as he tried to calm his racing heart. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"You two scared the living daylights out of me!" Danny pointed back.

"You were the one who appeared out of nowhere!" Andy argued.

They were standing in front of FentonWorks' door, and it opened while they were arguing about who scared whom. They all stopped when they noticed the door opened, and slowly turned to see Jack and Maddie, hands crossed, tapping their foot, with a stern expression on their faces.

"You're late again, boys." Jack said in a stern tone.

Takuya flinched at his uncle's tone while Danny just groaned in response. "Aw, poop!" Then Danny was hit on the back of his head with literal bird poop.

Andy and Takuya stepped a few feet away from the boy who got bird pooped on.

Maddie sighed, rubbing her face. "Danny, go get cleaned up. When you're done, I want all three of you boys on the couch. We need to have a talk about this."

Andy sighed, he knew this would become a problem eventually. Ever since they changed their training schedule to evening, they had been coming home later than their curfew time. It was too easy for him, Takuya, Dorumon, and Dash to lose track of time, because the training was lasting longer due to their stamina becoming better, and the fact that none of them could wear a watch without it becoming covered up, either by the hazmat gloves or the evolutions, none of them could keep track of time.

After Danny got the bird crap off his head, and Andy was out of his hazmat suit, all three boys were in the living room sitting on the couch.

"This is becoming a problem, you three." Maddie said sternly as she looked at her twin boys and her nephew. "You are constantly late coming home,"

"You're shirking from your chores." Jack added as he looked out from whatever it was that he was inventing.

"Your grades are slipping," Maddie continued.

"You're shirking from your chores." Jack mentioned again.

"You already said chores," Danny spoke up.

"I know, but when you three don't do them, I get stuck with them," Jack said. "Trust me… that's a lot of chores to do."

"We're sorry, it's just… we've been doing a lot of stuff lately, and we usually end up losing track of time," Andy tried to explain.

"And just what are you two doing that causes you to lose track of time?" Maddie asked as she looked at Andy and Takuya.

"We're… hanging out with a friend." Takuya said, which was the truth, just not the whole truth. "We like to go to his house and play all sorts of video games."

Andy sighed, and rubbed his head._ It's not the worst excuse ever, but that just makes us sound really irresponsible._

"And you, Danny? What is your excuse?" Maddie asked.

"I have a lot of stuff on my plate lately," Danny answered. "You and Dad have no idea what it's like to be a kid today."

"C'mon Danny, that's the oldest excuse in the book." Maddie said in a disapproving tone. "There's nothing that you're going through that your father and I didn't go through when we were your age."

Danny suddenly flinched on the couch, which caused Takuya and Andy to flinch as well, both of them looking at Danny as he quickly hid his left arm behind his back.

Danny sighed a little. "I beg to differ."

"Can't help but agree…" Andy grumbled.

"Same…" Takuya added.

Jazz, who had been sitting on an armchair nearby and was reading one of her psychology books, closed her book. She decided to take matters into her own hands. "Mom, Dad, listen. The reason why they feel you can't relate to them is because you two never take the time to tell them about your childhood."

"Jazz, don't," Andy hissed.

"Have either of you even told them how you met, what school you went to?" Jazz kept going.

Takuya felt like smacking his face at that point. _Doesn't she know I am only _one year_ younger than her?! It's like she treats me like a kid!_

"Jazz!" Danny hissed as well.

"Or maybe where you went to college?" Jazz added.

Maddie and Jack were already in thinking mode.

"Jazz, what are you doing?" Andy hissed over at his sister. "Don't try to use psychology on Mom and Dad, it will only end badly!"

Then Jack had an idea. "You know, Jasmine, that's a _great_ idea!"

"It is?" Jazz asked, confused now.

"What is?" Maddie questioned.

_No… no… no…._ Andy inwardly groaned.

Jack held up an invitation that said '20th college Reunion University of Wisconsin at Madison'. "You kids can come with your mother and I to our college reunion."

Takuya blinked. "Um… wait, you want _us_ to come with you?"

"Of course! I was just thinking about it when I received this in the mail today." Jack smiled. "It'll give you kids a chance to see more of the world, and even meet one of my oldest college friends!"

"Wait, are we going all the way to Wisconsin!?" Jazz yelled. "But what about school? What about all my homework? And my projects?"

"Your mother and I can write you kids a permission slip," Jack waved off. "Besides, this is a great opportunity. You kids get to learn about our college days, and while we drive, I get to blather on about ghosts!"

"You see what happens when you try to meddle?" Andy sighed to Jazz, already sounding defeated.

* * *

Danny and Andy were in their room, packing since they would be leaving out tomorrow morning. Maddie was going to call the school about their absences. Andy had Dorimon on the bed. Danny looked over at Andy for a moment, seeming to be thinking about something.

"So… uh… why were you and Takuya late coming home?" Danny asked.

Andy was looking through his closet to pack some extra clothes and pajamas for the trip. "We… were doing a school project, or at least we were supposed to, while at another friend's house, but they got caught up in playing video games. But what's your excuse for coming home late?"

Danny blinked, unsure of how to answer, but he gave it his best shot. "I was out… with Tucker and Sam. We all were… helping the… birds that fell out of their nests." _Lame excuse!_

Andy looked back at his brother and raised an eyebrow at that. "... Did… did it really take you all afternoon and evening to help these baby birds? Maybe you were pooped on by their parents for taking so long."

Danny pouted at that. "Oh, the irony…"

Andy couldn't help but grin at that. Dorimon snickered silently from inside Andy's suitcase, his giggles hidden by the clothes.

"Yes, quite the irony," Andy chuckled. "Shall I pack you some extra wipes in case you get hit by more?"

"No," Danny grumbled.

"Suit yourself, bro~" Andy grinned.

Dorimon had to bury his face under Andy's packed shirts to hide his burst of laughter, lest Danny find out about him.

Danny sighed a little. "Hey… uh, bro? Do you know what's been going on with Takuya?"

"Hmm?" Andy blinked, looking back at Danny. "What do you mean?"

"I just… can't help but notice that Takuya's just… been acting a little weird. Sometimes I would see something feral in his eyes, and he lets out this heat that makes me feel uncomfortable," Danny explained.

Andy was surprised to hear that. _I didn't know Danny noticed these things about Takuya. Then again, it's possible Phantom is sensitive to a Digimon's aura._ However, Andy was a bit worried now too. _This doesn't look good if Danny is aware of this stuff. We'll have to be extra careful now._

"I was… just wondering if maybe you might know something, since you do hang out with him a lot," Danny finished.

Andy thought for a moment, he didn't really like hiding this from Danny, but at the same time, it wasn't his secret to tell, at least the secret about Takuya himself. And there was a part of Andy that was still bitter about Danny keeping a secret from him.

"I couldn't say… he just seems like the same old Takuya to me," Andy waved.

Danny frowned. _I was sure Andy would be willing to tell me. Well, at least, I hoped he would. I guess that was hope was for nothing then._ "Yeah, okay, bro. I guess I was just seeing things then…"

The two brothers were quiet after that, just packing up their things for the road trip.

* * *

_The next day, on the road to Wisconsin_.

Andy, Danny, Jazz, and Takuya found themselves inside a tank that was labeled as an RV. Andy had Dorimon in his arms. Maddie and Jack sat at the front with Jack driving.

Takuya found himself squished between Danny and Jazz, the latter of whom was miffed about going on the trip. "How is it that when you three mess up, I somehow get stuck in the Fenton Ghost RV for four days?"

"That's the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle, everything in this vehicle is a ghost's worst nightmare," Jack announced proudly.

"You were the one who suggested the whole 'share your childhood' thing to them, Jazz," Andy pointed out.

Jazz grumbled under her breath as Danny sighed. "Ugh… I think I need to get some fresh air." He was feeling a bit hot being stuck next to Takuya, who was, as he had told Andy, giving off a slight heat. Danny reached for a button to open the window, making Jazz give him a warning.

"Don't touch any unknown buttons!" Jazz warned as Danny's finger hovered over the first button he saw.

But it was already too late, Danny pushed one of the buttons on the window, thinking it would roll down the window, when suddenly a bunch of weapons came out of the RV, and opened the back window. Looking out, the kids saw a poor goose getting frozen in ice, a tree getting blasted by a laser, some poor driver getting hit by a laser as well, giving him a smoking face, and Jazz got hit in the face with some green goop.

Andy and Danny looked at Jazz as she just gave Danny an angry glare through the goop.

"I'll get you for this," Jazz grumbled.

Takuya, feeling bad for Jazz, took out a washcloth and handed it to her.

Jazz took the washcloth without as much as a 'thank you', which told Takuya she was mad. _Yep, if she doesn't say 'thank you', then she's mad..._

Not that Takuya could blame her, she was not happy about missing school, and having to be cramped in this ghost assault vehicle. Takuya did look over at Danny though, who was talking to Andy. Takuya wondered if Phantom felt any fear while being inside Danny inside a vehicle designed to obliterate him in many different ways.

However, the thought was not answered, leaving Takuya to sigh to himself. _So much for a pleasant trip..._

The trip was long, 4 days long. Whenever the Fentons made a stop, Takuya and Andy would sneak away from the rest of them to have Dorimon digivolve and get some exercise, the poor Digimon was not used to having to pretend to be a stuffed toy for 4 days straight.

At one point, Danny almost followed them, but was called back to help with the Fenton RV, as in filling it with gas.

They usually stopped to rest sleep somewhere, but it was mostly in the RV itself, which wasn't the best sleeping arrangement, since Jack took up most of the room with his large body. Andy was glad to be sleeping on the far right while Jack was on the far left, especially since he was holding a teddy bear.

Takuya was more in between Andy and Danny, while Jazz was on Danny's other side and Maddie was between Jazz and Jack. Once again, Danny felt a bit uncomfortable because of Takuya's slightly higher body temperature that was from his Spirits, but it wasn't too bad.

On the 4th night, Jack parked the RV at a truck resting place. Once again, the family were sleeping inside the RV.

"Alright, let's get some sleep everyone, I want the family to be bright eyed and bushy tailed when we meet Masters tomorrow," Jack announced, looking excited.

Takuya blinked, not sure what his uncle was talking about.

Jazz looked at Jack. "Hold on, you mean Masters, as in Vlad Masters, who was named 'Billionaire of the Year' by Affluence Magazine?"

"That's the same guy." Jack smiled.

"We're going to see someone like _him_?" Andy asked, surprised.

"Yup. Vladdy and I were the best of friends in college," Jack answered. "We were quite popular in college as well. In fact, me, your mother, and Vlad were the only people who took up the paranormal science during our college days. So we had the lab all to ourselves. We were actually building a prototype portal that would open up the Ghost Zone like the Fenton Ghost Portal we have in our basement lab now. Only this one was much smaller, think of it as like the model version."

"So what happened?" Danny asked curiously.

Takuya was not sure he wanted to hear what happened next, so he kept his mouth shut and tried to cover his ears. Something was telling him to not listen.

"Well, things were going relatively well, until the hands of fate stuck their fingers into Vlad's eyes," Jack explained. "Vlad was standing in front of the portal, analyzing it, while Maddie and I went to check the calculations and turn on the portal."

"I noticed the calculations weren't right," Maddie spoke up, remembering this part of the story. "But Jack was too excited to stop even after I warned him."

Jack chuckled sheepishly. "Heh… yeah, well… I guess I just wanted to see what would happen. So I yelled out 'banzai!' and turned on the portal with the remote control."

Andy and Danny both frowned, remembering that their dad told them Vlad was standing in front of the prototype portal when Jack turned it on.

Takuya had by now buried his head under his pillow. He wanted to get some sleep, _not_ hear a horror story before bed.

"The portal sort of worked," Jack sheepishly continued. "Green ecto energy began to form in it, before it suddenly all came blasting out right into Vlad's face. Maddie and I were worried about Vlad after he got blasted, his hair was black, but it was white after that blast. Then, when Vlad turned to us, we gasped in horror. His eyes were glowing blue, and his face was covered with acne. We later found out he was diagnosed with Ecto Acne, he was put in the hospital for years, killing his social life. Vlad and I hadn't spoken to each other since that day… but, after all these years, I'm sure he's finally forgiven me."

Andy frowned at hearing that. "If he has forgiven you, then why is this the first time we are hearing of him? I mean, wouldn't he have called you or something?"

"I like to think that Vlad sent that invitation as a way to reconcile, or surprise us. After all, why would he send me the invite if he hadn't forgiven me, right?" Jack optimistically said.

Andy and Danny looked at each other, both unsure about that statement.

"Anyways, it's time to get some sleep. Goodnight, kids!" Jack announced before he quickly fell asleep.

Andy looked at Dorimon, and began to rub his fur, feeling it sooth him a little. _What did that ghost portal do to Vlad? What did this 'Ecto Acne' do to him? He was apparently hospitalized for years. Would he have turned out like Danny? … Maybe not, Vlad's accident sounded smaller in scale than Danny's. Maybe I'm just thinking too much into this..._

Sighing, Andy decided to try and get some sleep for tomorrow.

* * *

_I found myself walking down a dark hallway. It was large and fancy looking. I looked down to see a red carpet, and I looked up to see it looked like some kind of castle wall. It was creepy though, there weren't any lights. I didn't know what I was doing here. I kept walking, wondering where anyone was. I didn't even have Dorimon with me, which unsettled me even more._

_Then I stopped when I saw some kind of dark blue creature, with a white underbelly. This creature had bat-like wings on its head, and yellow eyes that reminded me of Dorimon's eyes. They had a little stubby tail, and were standing on all fours._

_I was confused as I saw the small creature. _Is this a Digimon?_ I wondered in my mind before I saw fractal code surround the small creature, only to disperse and show a form in shadows, one that looked intimidating._

_I gasped as this large shadow with what appeared to be 8 wings leering down on me. I quickly ran away, sensing an ill aura around it. I was sure it only had ill intentions for me. I kept running, not even bothering to look back before I hit something that made me fall on my butt._

_I shook my head before looking up to see what I had slammed into. I was surprised to see Agunimon was standing there. I was about to say something in relief when I noticed something was off about Agunimon. He looked spaced out, and just stood there like a statue, he didn't even seem to notice me._

_I tried to get Agunimon's attention, only to notice that in addition to being spaced out, he was shaking ever so slightly. It was like he wasn't even there, his mind was on something else._

_"__Agunimon!" I shouted, trying to get his attention. "Snap out of it!"_

_I gasped when I was suddenly pulled through the floor, and hit the ground hard. I groaned a little before looking up, seeing an unknown ghost floating before me. This ghost… I couldn't see their face, they were shrouded in shadows, but I could see their red glowing eyes, the sharp fanged grin, and I think they're wearing a cape from the way the cloth was wavering on them as they floated. The hair, or maybe horns, looked menacing._

_I was shaking as I stared at the creepy-looking vampire like ghost above me. A hand reached down towards me, making me get to my feet and run for my life. I didn't get very far, my body was grabbed by an invisible force and I was being taken back towards the vampire ghost. Then suddenly, I saw Dorumon, in his Rookie form, tackled the ghost. I gasped as I fell to the floor again._

_"__Dorumon!" I called out in worry._

_"__You are in the way," The ghost hissed in annoyance before blasting Dorumon with a pink-red ectoblast._

_I heard Dorumon crying out in pain as he was blasted away. I reached out a hand._

_"__Dorumon!" I got to my feet to run towards him, but I was suddenly grabbed from the back of my shirt roughly, almost choking me._

_"__You're not going anywhere except with me," The vampire ghost stated._

_I had never felt so scared and hopeless in my life._

_"__Let him go!" I heard someone else shouting._

_Suddenly, Phantom came up from the ground and punched the other ghost, but the other ghost didn't let me go. The vampire ghost smirked when he saw Phantom._

_"__You'll have to try harder than that if you want this precious boy back alive~" The vampire ghost sneered._

_Phantom charged at the vampire ghost, only to be grabbed by the throat by the other ghost's hand. Then Phantom let out a scream of agony as he was being electrocuted._

_"__Calm down and think before you go charging headfirst into battle," The vampire ghost scolded lightly before he threw the weakened Phantom to the side._

_The vampire ghost looked at me before he reached his other hand towards me._

_"__No! Get away! Let me go!" I shouted and began struggling as hard as I could to get out of the ghost's grasp._

* * *

"Let me go!" Andy shouted as he struggled around in his sleep.

Takuya groaned as he heard Andy's shout, only to have his eyes snap open when he saw Andy squirming around. He reached out and shook Andy's shoulder. "Andy, wake up!"

Danny heard Takuya moving around and looked back sleepily before he saw Andy moving around in his sleep. His eyes widened as he saw that and reached out to his brother. "Wake up, bro!"

Dorimon was discreetly chewing on Andy's sleeve, pulling on it gently himself.

Andy suddenly opened his eyes and let out a gasp. Danny, Dorimon, and Takuya stopped as they let Andy breathe after having woken up from the nightmare. It took Andy a few seconds to realize he was back in the RV, and not about to be strangled by some weird vampire ghost.

Takuya and Danny were looking at Andy in a worried manner while Dorimon was slightly nudging Andy to get a pat of reassurance.

"Andy, are you okay?" Danny asked in concern.

Andy blinked for a moment before nodding. "Y-yeah… yeah, I'm fine… I just had a nightmare is all."

Andy picked up Dorimon and hugged him to his chest, wanting some of the comfort.

Dorimon gave a slight purr that only Andy could feel, which was relieving to his partner. Takuya frowned at that point.

"What kind of nightmare?" Takuya asked, not sure what could possibly have scared his cousin so bad.

"I'm… not really sure… I was in some kind of dark castle corridor, and this weird bat-like creature showed up, then turned into some kind of dark looking figure with 8 wings. Then I saw… uh… that armored creature that we sometimes see," Andy explained. "He looked to be frozen, like his mind was somewhere far away. Then I was suddenly grabbed by a shadowy scary looking vampire ghost, and he blasted that Phantom ghost kid away before he reached towards me."

Takuya frowned, as did Danny, but both for different reasons. Takuya frowned because that sounded like Andy had seen him in his evolutions, and Danny because he was mentioned fighting this ghost and Andy seemed to be in danger in this dream.

"Okay… Look, bro, it's just a dream." Danny said, trying to reassure Andy. "And dreams can't hurt you."

"... Right… it was only a dream," Andy agreed, though a part of him was unsure about that. "S-sorry for waking you guys up like that."

Takuya gave a wave. "No harm done." _I wonder what that dream means though. The mention of the 8-winged figure reminds me of Seraphimon. Does this mean Andy saw him? I don't know if that is the case though._

Jazz, Maddie, and Jack hadn't woken up from Andy's little episode, so the boys just got settled into their sleeping bags and tried to fall back asleep again.

* * *

The next morning, Jack drove the Fenton RV through Wisconsin. Andy, Danny, and Takuya looked out through the window, seeing a lot of farms as they were passing by. There was a lot of land to roam around if they wanted to. Jack finally parked the RV in front of a huge castle-like mansion.

The family exited the RV, and made their way to the main entrance, where a man with white hair pulled back in a ponytail at the back of his neck came out of the shadows. He had blue eyes, and wore a black suit with a white shirt under the top. He had a smile on his face as he saw the Fenton family.

"Jack…" Vlad greeted before he suddenly became more genuine. "And Maddie, you've never looked lovelier. Please, come on in."

Vlad ushered everyone except Jack into the entrance of his castle mansion. Jack didn't seem bothered by it, and just smiled. "Vladdy my man, it's great to see-"

Jack hit the door that was suddenly closed on him. "Uh… hello?"

Andy looked around inside the castle. The entire place was covered with green and gold, there were also pictures of people wearing cheese hats, and some kind of football team._ Wow, someone's a huge fan._

Jazz was less impressed as she looked around, feeling the scene was too gaudy for her. "What is with the green and gold colors? If you're a billionaire, why didn't you hire an interior designer?"

"Jazz, hello? Look at all this stuff, it's obvious he's a Packer's fanatic," Danny spoke up. "I mean if I had billions of dollars, I'd probably spend all my money on NASA merchandise, and maybe an actual rocket ship too."

"You would," Andy rolled his eyes.

Vlad chuckled. "Oh, 'fanatic' is such a negative word, but you're right, dear boy."

Takuya sighed. It seemed like everyone here had an obsession lately. From his aunt and uncle, to which it was obvious, to Danny with his heroics, and now to this man, Vlad Masters and the Packers stuff. "And it's a wonder he doesn't own the team…"

"I would've bought the team, but the Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay and they won't sell them to me," Vlad grumbled before he looked at Maddie, who was standing beside him. "One of two things that my wealth has of yet been able to acquire."

Maddie gave a nervous smile.

Takuya grimaced at seeing this man flirting with his aunt. _Okay, if Aunt Maddie was not married, that would be fine, but because she _is_ married, that is a bit creepy if not disturbing..._

"Is he hitting on Mom?" Danny whispered to Takuya and his siblings.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "Considering the road trip we took to get here, as long as this guy has working toilets and Mom says no, I don't really care."

"It's still creepy though," Andy muttered.

Maddie then gave a response. "I'd… uh… better let Jack in…" She hurried towards the door.

Danny looked over and saw a football sitting on a stand and walked over. "Wow! Cool!" It looked quite valuable.

"Indeed," Vlad replied as he walked over to the football himself. "This football was autographed by the legendary Ray Nitschke himself. It's my most prized possession."

Vlad picked up the football, smiling at it proudly.

"How much are you into American sports, Takuya?" Andy asked his cousin.

"I haven't paid much attention save for baseball and soccer." Takuya replied honestly. "Baseball is more popular in Japan, and soccer because I played it a bit in middle school."

"Heads up, V-Man!" Jack's voice suddenly shouted.

Before Vlad could even react, he was all but tackled by Jack into the floor. Everyone cringed at that.

"I see you've still got the old moves!" Jack smiled while he was on top of Vlad before he stood up.

Angered, Vlad stood up as well before he yanked the football out of Jack's hands. "GIVE ME THAT!"

Then Vlad stomped over to the stand before carefully placing the football back onto it, then he turned back to Jack. "I never had any old moves! All those years in the hospital robbed me of that!"

Everyone blinked in confusion, before Andy leaned to his cousin and whispered. "Someone is mad…"

"Can't disagree there…" Takuya whispered back.

It was obvious that Vlad never actually forgave Jack, but Vlad quickly calmed himself and gave a smile. "Yes, well, it did give me some time to chart out a course for my life, helped me make some decisions that made me very wealthy, very quickly. And it never would've happened without you, Jack."

Andy, Danny, and Takuya, sensing the tense atmosphere, all backed away. Jack didn't seem to notice, and just smiled proudly. Jazz rolled her eyes at Jack. Maddie, also noticing the atmosphere, quickly spoke up. "Um… yeah, maybe we should go…"

But Vlad was quick to dismiss that idea. "No, no, you should stay with me! After all, that's the whole reason I'm throwing the reunion here at my castle!" He put an arm around Jack's shoulders as he directed Jack's attention to a picture on the wall. "Previously home to the legendary Wisconsin Dairy King, just so I could reconnect with you, Jack. I _insist_ you stay."

"Oh, I don't know, we do have a really cool RV," Jack said, seeming proud at the fact they could stay in the RV overnight.

"Let's stay here," Jazz quickly said while looking like she was sneezing.

Andy rolled his eyes as Danny spoke. "Smooth, Jazz."

Takuya just sighed as he shook his head.

Vlad had a secret weapon though. "You know, Jack, the Dairy King's ghost could haunt these very halls~"

As if those were the magic words, Jack smiled. "I'll get the bags!"

And Jack was gone in a flash while Vlad gave a sinister looking grin.

* * *

After being shown to their rooms, Andy snuck into Takuya's room, holding Dorimon. He made sure nobody else followed him, before he put Dorimon down so Dorimon could stretch out his legs.

"Ugh, I was so stiff! I hate not moving for such a long time," Dorimon grumbled.

"Well, I wasn't about to leave you back home, and no one save for Takuya can know you are alive, remember?" Andy pointed out as Dorimon nodded.

"I remember…" The little In-Training Digimon sighed. "But still, that doesn't make this any easier."

"I know… hopefully now that we're off the road, you can move around a little bit more," Andy chuckled. "With how big this place is, it shouldn't be hard to keep you hidden."

Dorimon nodded. "This place has a great running place, look at how long those hallways are!"

Andy had to agree with Dorimon there, the hallways looked endless, which creeped him out, and reminded him of something. The boy turned his attention to Takuya. "Hey, so how are you holding up?"

Takuya looked back at Andy. "After being cramped in that RV for four days, I feel like I just want to evolve and let some energy out." He then chuckled. "Like I would do that here though. Not sure how Vlad would like it if he found some of his stuff smashed up because of it."

"Heh, yeah, I guess it would feel nice to release some pent up energy," Andy chuckled. "But… I'm also worried. Didn't Vlad seem… off to you? Like his smiles were… fake… I mean the look he gave Dad was unsettling."

Takuys shuddered at that memory. "Yeah. I think something _is_ off about Vlad, but I'm not sure what it is yet." He then looked down at his D-Tector. "And yet I'm not sensing anything like a ghost or a Digimon. Maybe this Vlad guy is just… normal. I mean, he seems like a fairly decent person aside from holding a grudge against Uncle Jack."

"Hmm… was he genuine about reconnecting with Dad?" Andy asked. "I wondered about that…"

Takuya frowned here. "I can't say for certain. It could be he is, or… I don't know. Maybe we're just thinking too much into this." But there was a sliver of doubt in Takuya's voice. _Or Andy could be on to something..._

"Maybe we could do with some fresh air," Andy suggested. "This castle just gives me the creeps, and I'm not sure why. Besides, it'll be safer for Dorimon to digivolve and get some exercise outside than in here."

"Yes, I like that idea!" Dorimon agreed.

Takuya chuckled. "So you're saying we explore the castle then?" There was a grin on his face.

"No, I'm saying we go outside. Though I guess that would be exploring the castle to find the door out of here," Andy remarked. "... Just hope there isn't an actual ghost here, or this will turn into a real horror movie really quickly."

Takuya nodded. "Sure. Let's see if we can find that door." He then gave a mischievous grin. "Or the evil teddy bears will come get you~"

"Oh shut up!" Andy grabbed the pillow on Takuya's bed and threw it at him.

"Hey, it's just a joke!" Takuya laughed as he dodged the pillow. He then picked up his D-Tector. "Let's go. Dorimon needs to get some exercise."

Dorimon cheered. "Yay! Outside, outside, outside~" He did a little dance in place before leaping onto Takuya's head.

"Looks like you got a fancy hat to go with your goggles, cuz~" Andy laughed.

Takuya rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "C'mon. I don't want my 'fancy hat' to get any more energetic."

The two boys laughed as they left Takuya's room, and nearly ran into Danny.

Danny jumped as he saw his cousin and brother coming out of Takuya's room, surprised to see Andy was in there. "Whoa!"

"Jeez! Why do we keep running into each other?" Andy groaned after recovering from the sudden heart attack.

Danny looked at Andy. "Any particular reason you and Takuya are headed out of his room? And why do you have Andy's toy on your head, cuz?" He was curious now, as Takuya had Andy's stuffed animal on his head. "It… kinda looks cute on you though."

Andy had a hand over his mouth as he was laughing while Takuya turned a little red.

"I… just wanted to put it on my head is all," Takuya mumbled.

"And anyways, we just wanted some fresh air. The castle just kind of gives me the creeps," Andy answered after recovering from the laugh.

"It does?" Danny asked, getting an idea in his mind. _Maybe Andy and Takuya would like to explore the place with me._

"Yeah," Andy answered. "What about you? Why are you out of your room?"

Danny gave his brother and cousin a grin. "I just wanted to explore the place. Creepy castle at night? It's like a horror film come to life."

Andy deadpanned at his brother. "Yes, that's exactly why I don't like this place."

"Come on, bro, why do you always hate horror movies? They're fun," Danny replied.

"Because, oh I don't know, I don't like being scared? I'm also a bit squeamish around a lot of blood," Andy grumbled.

"You're into biology! How can you be squeamish around blood?" Danny pointed out.

"Just because I'm into biology doesn't mean I like seeing a lot of blood outside of someone's body," Andy rolled his eyes.

Takuya shook his head at the twins' antics. "Okay, we don't need to argue here." He gently got between the brothers, staying there in case the argument got underway again. "C'mon Andy. I think getting outside will do us some good."

"Awww, are you two not going to explore with me?" Danny whined.

"Maybe later tonight, bro. Does that sound good to you?" Andy asked.

Danny grinned. "It does." He then looked at the small 'toy' on Takuya's head again. "And don't lose that 'hat', cuz~"

Takuya groaned as he tried to bury his face in his shirt to hide his blush.

"I should take a picture of Dorimon on your head~" Andy smirked.

Takuya now felt like smacking his twin cousins upside their heads, but he refrained from doing that. Instead, he had a different idea. _Maybe Andy and I can get some training in while we are outside._

* * *

When Andy and Takuya finally found the front door, and pushed it open, they were both happy to greet the sun, and the fresh farm air.

"Wow… It's so clean out here." Takuya said as he breathed in the air. "Reminds me of when I was in the Digital World too, what with how clean it is."

"I really wish I could've joined you on your adventure in the Digital World. It sounded like a fun place when you weren't being harrassed by corrupted Digimon," Andy sighed.

Takuya shook his head. "Andy, I don't think you would have had a fun time. My friends and I had difficulty just trying to relax while there because of being attacked."

"The Digital World is actually quite relaxing now though, if you could go there, it'd be a great vacation spot~" Dorimon smiled.

Takuya smiled as well. "Heh. I guess you're right. Things _have_ no doubt been peaceful there with the Celestials ruling it."

"Though I still wonder how I even got here in the first place, and why I was in so much pain," Dorimon wondered.

"A mystery we will solve later, for now, let's enjoy our little vacation in Wisconsin," Andy gestured. "We've got a lot of land to run around in. I also hope we get to try out some of the famous Wisconsin cheese for dinner."

Takuya looked at Andy. "Yeah? Sounds good to me!" He then looked at Dorimon. "Why don't you go and run around? This is the best place to do so~"

"YES!" Dorimon hopped down from Takuya's head and immediately began running around.

"Don't go too far!" Andy called after the In-Training Digimon.

Dorimon didn't really hear Andy, but he knew he couldn't go too far because then he wouldn't be able to get back to his partner if something happened.

Takuya chuckled as he shook his head. "That little guy sure likes to run."

"I can't really blame him, poor guy's been cooped up in the RV just as long as we have, but he wasn't even allowed to move much," Andy sighed, shaking his own head.

"Yeah, but now he can run to his heart's content." Takuya pointed out. He then looked at his D-Tector before he pocketed it. "I think we can keep an eye on him while he runs, to make sure he doesn't go too far."

"Are you going to spirit evolve and run around yourself?" Andy asked. "I'll bet it'll feel really good~"

Takuya looked down in thought before a grin crossed his face...

Things were silent for a bit before a shout of euphoria echoed across the landscape, revealing Andy on Agunimon's back. The Warrior of Flame was carrying his cousin to show just what it was like to be a Digimon. Andy could see the landscape moving faster than a human could run, but not as fast as a vehicle. At the same time, the boy could feel the power of Agunimon's movements, giving a slight show of how strong a Digimon could be.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Andy shouted.

Agunimon looked back at Andy with a grin. "I know, right?" _And this can show Andy just what it is like._

The Legendary Warrior kept running, only to meet up with Dorimon, who looked excited to see Agunimon with Andy. Dorimon grinned widely."You decided to join me?"

"Let's run across the field together." Andy smiled before he held up his D-Arc.

Dorimon digivolved into Dorumon, his legs feeling much longer and freer now.

Agunimon smiled as well when he saw that. "You ready?" He was very eager to make this a race. "First one across wins."

"You are on!" Dorumon smiled.

Andy looked at his cousin. "I think Dorumon has an edge here~" The teasing tone caused Agunimon to sigh a bit and give the boy a slight bump on the shoulder with his other fist. It wouldn't hurt either.

"So you say," The Warrior of Flame muttered before he smiled again as he looked up. "Okay, Ready… set… GO!"

With that, he shot off, Andy clinging to his back and a big grin on the boy's face.

Dorumon was surprisingly fast for a Rookie level Digimon, he could also jump really far, likely using his wings to be able to glide a bit while in the air. While Agunimon was fast, Dorumon was able to keep up. The two of them were nearby each other as they raced across the large field. Some of the farmers, who were outside doing stuff with their crops, suddenly saw blurs of a red armor man with a boy on his shoulders, and a purple bi-pedal fox creature jumping over them, before they nearly disappeared out of sight at the speed they were going. The farmers all blinked, looked at each other, then shrugged. "Kids."

The end of the field was clearly the castle, and the two Digimon were closing in on it. Agunimon had the feeling Dorumon was planning something, but he didn't pay it much heed. This was all just for fun, it was not a real competition, so he didn't mind if he won or lost.

They were getting closer to the castle, Agunimon was still in the lead. Dorumon moved just behind Agunimon before he shot out several small iron balls from his mouth that went just in front of Agunimon, they were about the size of large marbles. Agunimon didn't notice until the very last second when he tripped over the little iron ball marbles. Andy quickly jumped off of the Legendary Warrior before he could fall face first into the muddy ground. Leaving Dorumon to jump over him and cross the border finish line.

Agunimon groaned as he began to recover from his small 'trip' so to speak. "Ugh… I should have guessed that would happen…" However, he still had a smile on his face. "I guess that means you win, Dorumon."

"Hehe." Dorumon smiled proudly as he walked back over to Agunimon. "As Andy had taught me, it's important to have a plan, even when you're not in battle."

"That was pretty clever, Dorumon." Andy grinned as he walked over to the two Digimon.

Agunimon got to his feet with a grunt and brushed off his armor, clearing the dust and dirt off his form. "Yeah. I wasn't thinking about that." He walked over as well.

"Though it probably would've been a bad thing if you did try to use any of your fire attacks," Andy chuckled sheepishly. "Wouldn't want to accidentally set someone's crops on fire."

Agunimon rolled his eyes at the teasing regarding his element. "Yeah, I get it. I'm the Warrior of Flame and I can set stuff ablaze. No need to tease me about it."

"Maybe I could be the Warrior of Iron!" Dorumon puffed his chest out.

Agunimon chuckled at that. "Maybe. But there already is a Warrior of Steel." He then grinned at Dorumon. "But you are _fast_. I was surprised you could keep pace with me."

"Dorumon and I have done a lot of sneaking around and running during our training sessions, so I suppose it's only natural we'd get faster due to it, I mean I was able to jump off of you while you were losing your balance. I would not have been able to do that prior to our training sessions," Andy noted.

Agunimon looked at Andy in thought. "I suppose that is a good point." He had noticed that too, when Andy had jumped off of his back while he had fallen for the iron ball tactic.

"Yeah, if I wasn't confident Andy would've been fine, I wouldn't have tripped you up back there," Dorumon explained.

Then Agunimon sensed something, it wasn't a ghost, but he did sense something familiar. Dorumon looked up, and seemed to be sniffing the air.

"What is it, you two?" Andy asked, noticing their sudden attention to something.

"I think I smell a Digimon," Dorumon answered.

Agunimon nodded. "Yeah. I'm sensing it too. But it feels… familiar in a way. I don't know how though…"

Andy frowned. "A Digimon? But I don't see any rampaging digital monsters running around."

"It's small," Dorumon explained. "Likely in the In-Training or Rookie level like me."

Agunimon began to look around for any sign of it. "But I don't see anything. Where is it?"

Dorumon started to move, following his nose. Andy and Agunimon decided to follow Dorumon to see if he would find the Digimon. They were going towards the castle, however.

"Wait… you can't go into the castle as you are, Dorumon," Andy spoke up.

Dorumon perked up. "You mean I have to devolve back to my In-Training form?" He looked himself over. "I guess you do have a point. I don't want anyone to panic."

"But if there is a Digimon in there, we might need him in this form," Agunimon spoke up. "I'll have to revert myself, but Dorumon might be able to stay hidden if he has to. The castle is big."

Andy nodded. "That's a good point."

Agunimon was surrounded by fractal code before he reverted to his human form of Takuya. "Don't worry, Dorumon can find some good hiding spots, I'm sure."

"Alright. We should know when someone's coming anyways," Andy remarked. "Dorumon's got a great sense of smell and hearing."

Dorumon nodded. "Okay, come on, that Digimon is in that castle somewhere."

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** You will see.

**DarkFoxKit:** Andy got overshadowed in the original story too. I just wanted more to happen here.

**Luna Lillyth****:** **ZAFT:** Then you will enjoy this next chapter~! ***Evil laugh***

**Irusha the Kitsune****: ZAFT:** Andy will, but you will see when. ;)

**DarkFoxKit:** Andy will have to explain what to Danny? Dorimon? Well, not exactly as you can see.

**Guest****: ZAFT:** To make this easier, I will ask you to use a consistent anon user name so reviews can be replied to in a more personal manner. Just 'Guest' doesn't work out much. In terms of the story, I am glad you like the twist. :)

**DarkFoxKit:** 'Guest' is what Fanfiction defaults to if people write reviews without an account, and don't put in a name.

**ZAFT:** I know, but it doesn't seem that personal to me, and it makes the review response seem impersonal. But, if they want to use it, it's fine.

**DarkFoxKit:** As for the review itself, let's just say that Andy and his partner are linked in a way. The D-Arc shows what happens to the link when something happens to one or the other. I thought that would be an interesting way to connect between a human and Digimon partner, as opposed to someone like Takuya or Dash who become their Digimon.

**ZAFT:** And it is a good idea. :)


	15. Castle of Vlad Masters

**ZAFT:** A day late, but it's coming up now. At least we are within a day when we miss the usual update day.

**DarkFoxKit:** We sort of forgot to update yesterday. It might happen a few times. Especially since I've been doing a lot of different things lately.

**ZAFT:** Yeah, that can happen in life. :P But it's fine. I wonder where Andy is. He playing your Switch again?

**DarkFoxKit:** No, my Switch has been untouched for a while. Maybe he's hiding.

**ZAFT:** Hmmm… ***Pokes around behind a wall*** Where are you, Andy~?

**DarkFoxKit:** Hey… where is my PSP? I have a few Digimon games in ther- … I'm going to go find Andy now.

**ZAFT:** Uh… okay? My guess is Andy stole your PSP…

**DarkFoxKit:** This is why having a half ghost character in one's house is troublesome! They could literally be anywhere!

**ZAFT:** Maybe bring in a Digimon next time to sense Andy or Danny. XD

**DarkFoxKit:** Wait a second… Andy doesn't have ghost powers in this story, so how did he take my PSP?

**ZAFT:** Danny…

**DarkFoxKit:** BOY! You have some explaining to do!** *Marches off***

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Castle of Vlad Masters**

Andy couldn't help but feel nervous as Dorumon was leading him and Takuya through the castle. The castle was not only huge, but it was creepy. Any minute now, Andy felt like something or someone was going to come out and grab him.

Takuya looked around, trying to spot the Digimon that Dorumon was smelling. But it wasn't easy, as he was not in his Digimon form, so that meant he had only regular human eyesight. "I can't see anything that looks like a Digimon here."

"Just keep going, Dorumon is still sniffing them out," Andy said quietly.

"Why are you talking quietly?" Takuya asked.

"So we don't alert anyone we're here with a bi-pedal fox creature," Andy answered back.

Takuya nodded. "Okay, good point." He then returned his gaze to the front and Dorumon, trying to seek out the Digimon.

Dorumon led them through a corridor, a corridor that was now starting to seem more and more familiar to Andy. Then, Dorumon stopped in front of a couple of large, red doors.

"I think that leads into the master bedroom, likely where Vlad sleeps," Andy whispered, suddenly getting a bad feeling.

Takuya had that same bad feeling, and he had a feral look in his eyes again. "I don't like this though. Why is Dorumon smelling that Digimon from here?"

"Maybe it snuck in there?" Dorumon guessed.

"Or… maybe Vlad is keeping a Digimon of his own…" Andy added with his own guess. "Surely I can't be the only one with a Digimon partner, right?"

"That is a pretty big 'what if', Andy." Takuya deadpanned. "The odds of that are one in who knows how many?"

"I know it's really unlikely, but… we should still accept it as a possibility," Andy said. "Remember how Vlad grinned when Dad agreed to stay overnight? That wasn't a happy grin, that was a sinister 'I have a plan to kill you in your sleep' grin."

Takuya remembered that grin well. "Okay, I'll accept that. That grin gave me the chills." He shuddered at that.

"What should we do?" Dorumon asked. "That Digimon is definitely in there, but… I don't think we should just go barging in, especially if that Vlad guy is in there too."

Takuya looked at Andy, since he was the unofficial tactician of their group. "What do you think, Andy?"

Andy thought for a moment. "I think our best bet is to wait. The Digimon isn't doing anything wrong right now, so we don't have the right to barge in on Vlad's bedroom. If the Digimon is harmless, we can leave it alone. If not… we'll just keep an eye on it."

Takuya nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a reasonable plan." He then looked at Dorumon. "I think that Andy's plan has merit. So, that means you have to revert to your In-Training form now."

"Andy? Is that you?" A voice suddenly called from the other side of the corridor.

This caused all three of them to jump in alarm, Takuya and Andy covered up Dorumon with their bodies as much as they could, before looking to the voice who called them. It was Danny.

"Danny! B-bro… uh… what are you doing here?" Andy nervously asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Danny retorted. "Why are you in front of Mr. Masters' room? Didn't you say we were going to explore the castle later tonight?"

"Ah… yeah, I did say that. I guess Takuya got a little too excited after we came back inside, hehe, shame on you cuz," Andy quickly said.

Takuya gave Andy a glare. "Yeah… Shame on me…" He could not help but grumble at that point.

"So we'll just go back to our rooms until it's dinner time, then we can go exploring together," Andy added.

"... Wait," Danny said, causing both of them to tense up. "Takuya… where's your cute plushy hat? Don't tell me you lost it."

"Uh… we were going to go back and find it." Takuya lied. "I didn't mean to lose your stuffed toy, Andy."

Andy frowned, now he had to act angry. "Yeah, how could you do that? Now he's lost out there alone, getting all muddy and stuff."

"Andy and I will look for his toy. You can go back to your room." Takuya said. "We will meet you there once we find it."

Takuya and Andy were walking backwards, and together as they were trying to keep Dorumon hidden. Danny looked at that, raising an eyebrow.

"Why are you two walking like that?" Danny asked.

"Because… because why not? It's a big castle, it'll be fun to try out different ways of walking," Andy answered.

Danny kept his eyebrow raised, but he didn't question it. It just seemed weird to him. "Okay… I'll let you two do that then… while I head back to my room."

"Great, see you later, Danny!" Takuya smiled as he and Andy pushed Dorumon back a little.

Danny blinked, wondering what all that was about._ Yeah, my brother and my cousin are _definitely_ hiding something._

* * *

Dinner in the dining hall had quite the tense atmosphere. Vlad was constantly trying to hit on Maddie, while giving Jack the death glare, though Jack never noticed and kept blabbering on about ghosts and his newest invention. Jazz tried to remain invisible behind her book. Danny, Takuya, Andy, and Dorimon who was on Andy's lap, kept a close eye on Vlad himself. Danny to a lesser extent, he was mostly looking at Takuya and Andy.

Now that dinner was over, however, the boys got together after everyone else went to their rooms to sleep for the night. Andy had Dorimon on his head now instead of Takuya, since they were sticking with the story that Takuya lost Dorimon, so Andy had to act like he didn't trust Takuya enough to hold Dorimon, even on his head.

"I still can't believe you don't trust me!" Takuya whined, making it look like he was pouting at Andy's 'distrust' of him.

"Well, maybe after we come back home I can trust you again, but not until then, we found him almost buried under some crops!" Andy pretended to snap. "It took me hours to scrub all that mud off his fur."

"Okay, I'm sorry!" Takuya said as he held up his hands in surrender. "I won't lose your toy again!"

Danny sighed. "Okay, enough arguing. You got your plush toy back, bro, so no harm done, right?"

"For now," Andy grumbled. "You better be glad I'm not Jazz, cuz."

Danny chuckled sheepishly before clearing his throat. "Alright, well, how about we start exploring now? I brought a flashlight with me in case the castle lights were going to stay off for the night."

Takuya nodded. "Good idea. We don't want to get lost in the dark here, what with how big this place is and all."

"I, for one, hope we find something interesting." Danny smiled.

"You would," Andy grumbled. "I just hope we don't get cut up by a living knight statue or something."

Takuya grimaced at that reference. "That is something I do _not_ want to think about…"

Danny gave his cousin a teasing grin. "What? Are you scared of a possible 'knight ghost'?"

"Hey, I'd be scared of anything that could possibly get us killed," Andy huffed.

Danny shook his head. "Come on, let's go. The worst we'll likely get is we get haunted by a cheese ghost."

The three of them began walking down the corridor. Danny turned on his flashlight since it was dark, and none of the lights were on. Andy was glad he had Dorimon on his head, he felt a little bit safer with his partner nearby.

Takuya looked uneasy, but he didn't say anything. _Something about this is creeping me out_.

Danny looked a little creeped out too, but he was more excited than anything. "This place looks creepier at night."

"No kidding…" Andy agreed._ Why does this look familiar?_

Takuya, Andy, and Danny continued on down the hall, each wary, or in Danny's case, somewhat excited.

"Hey…" Andy noticed something glowing up ahead. "What's that?"

All at once, a blue mist in Danny's mouth came out, Takuya felt sudden heat, and Dorimon shivered. The glowing thing Andy saw were three old looking bird ghosts, and they were following Jack, who was wearing his PJs over his hazmat suit, likely looking for the bathroom.

Takuya looked unsure of what to do. He had to do something to save his uncle and fast. On one hand, he could evolve and take out the ghostly birds, but that would put him at risk of having his secret exposed. On the other, he could fight as a human, but that would mean he was at a disadvantage. _Then again, Andy and Dorumon are at a disadvantage against other Digimon right now, so I guess it's not all that different._

"Uh…" Danny looked at Andy and Takuya. "Quick, we need to warn Dad!"

Without thinking about it, Danny ran towards Jack and the three birds, waving his flashlight around like a maniac. Andy ran after Danny.

"Make noises to scare them," Andy whispered to Danny.

The two brothers started making a lot of noises, which surprisingly didn't wake up Jack from his groggy walk to the bathroom, but it did cause the three birds to turn around, looking spooked.

"Vhat the heck is that!?" One of them asked in shock in some kind of accent.

Takuya ran at the birds as well, his Fenton Rod out and extended. "Your wake-up call!" He swung his rod at the three birdbrains.

The three birds all screamed before they turned transparent and flew through the walls and ceiling.

"... Wow, that was… way easier than I thought," Andy noted.

"Something isn't right…" Danny noted. "Hey, uh, you two stay here, I'm going to make sure Dad makes it to the bathroom."

Takuya and Andy looked at each other before Takuya glanced back at Andy. "Are you sure? I mean, what if those ghosts show up? Can you handle them on your own?" _Sure, I know he can, but Andy and I can't have Danny suspicious that we are trying to figure out his secret._

"Yeah, don't worry," Danny reassured them.

Andy and Takuya waited as Danny followed Jack down the hallway until they were out of sight.

"... Danny had the flashlight… now it's really dark…" Andy noted.

"Do you think I should evolve?" Takuya asked. "I mean, I have better eyesight as a Digimon. Or maybe Dorimon should digivolve himself, just so we have someone who can see in this darkness better."

"Yeah, good idea," Andy agreed. "Dorimon?"

"Yes!" Dorimon jumped down from Andy's head.

Dorimon digivolved into Dorumon. The fractal code was enough to light up the area briefly before the digivolution ended.

Takuya smiled. "Now we have an edge to an extent. With Dorumon here, he can see things better than us humans."

Dorumon looked around for a moment, before his head snapped up at the ceiling. "Quick, hide!"

Dorumon quickly ran somewhere, taking that urgency, Takuya and Andy quickly ran to find a place to hide. Andy couldn't see where Takuya or Dorumon went, but he managed to find a door to another room, opened it, and went into it to hide before he peeked through the door to see what had Dorumon spooked.

Takuya had found another room to hide in as well, and was also looking out, trying to find what had Dorumon hiding now. He was also tense because he was not sure if it was a ghost or a Digimon. It didn't take long for Takuya to sense a ghost, but this particular ghost felt incredibly strong, like it almost burned his chest strong.

Suddenly, a pale blue skinned man came down through the ceiling, wearing a white suit with a cape that had red under it, he looked muscular, his canine teeth were unnaturally sharp, his eyes were a pupiless blood red, and his black hair was in an unusual shape almost like horns, but at the same time not. It was like all of his hair was shaped into the two prongs of horns.

Takuya gulped as he kept himself hidden, he really hoped he wouldn't have to tangle with that ghost. Andy was hiding as well, watching in anticipation.

_That ghost… it looks like the ghost from my nightmare the other night!_ Andy paled.

The ghost grinned as he floated over to someone else who just appeared in the corridor, which, to Andy and Takuya's surprise, was Phantom himself. Phantom didn't notice the other ghost, until he turned around.

"What the… who are you?" Phantom questioned.

"I believe a better question is why are you here, boy?" The other ghost questioned. "This isn't your usual haunting place. In fact, I have every right to erase your existence for intruding in my home without my permission."

While this was going on, Takuya suddenly tensed up as he felt the heat that signified a Digimon nearby. It was close, _very_ close. Takuya slowly closed to the door, wanting to see if the Digimon he was sensing was somewhere in this room.

Looking around, Takuya tried to see the Digimon, but it was too dark for mere human eyesight. _Great… I can't see a thing… Maybe I should evolve, just to be safe._

Takuya reached for his D-Tector and was about to summon his fractal code, but then he stopped._ No… with that powerful ghost out there, it would be too dangerous to alert where I am. Unless this Digimon attacks me first, I should wait and see what happens._

He put his D-Tector away and got out the Fenton Rod instead. "Okay… where is this Digimon…?"

While Takuya was searching for the unknown Digimon, Andy kept watching the interaction between the two ghosts. Phantom tried to punch the other ghost, but the other ghost easily caught his fist, which surprised Phantom, before the ghost tossed Phantom aside.

"So you're Danny Phantom, right?" The ghost questioned.

Danny_ Phantom?_ Andy frowned, hearing Phantom's first name for the first time._ That… really adds to my suspicion that Phantom and Danny do have some kind of mutual relationship with each other._

"You… know who I am?" Phantom, or was it Danny, asked.

"Of course. You're the ghost boy who uses his powers for good and all that." The vampiric-looking ghost mocked. "How quaint."

The bigger ghost smirked as he got in close to the ghost kid's face. "Aren't you going to shove me into your ridiculous thermos?"

Phantom backed away, looking intimidated by this stronger ghost. "I… I don't want to fight you."

"No, no you don't," The ghost stated before he fired a pinkish red ecto blast at the ghost kid.

Phantom yelped as he was blasted right through the door Andy was hiding in. Andy jumped out of the way in time before Phantom could crash into him. However, this was only the beginning of the chaos that ensued. The other ghost flew through the room's walls, chasing after Phantom. Phantom quickly fired his own ecto blasts at the ghost, who just summoned a pinkish red energy wall in front of him that absorbed the ecto blast like they were nothing.

Andy was not sure if he should run or stay, but he knew he had to remain hidden, so he didn't emerge from where he was crouched down. However, he could hear the banter between the two ghosts.

"An ectoplasmic energy blast? So year one." The vampire-like ghost yawned as he continued to block Phantom's ecto-rays, or so Andy assumed. The battle he could hear, which unnerved him greatly.

Andy quietly peeked up from where he was, and saw the vampire-like ghost smirking at Phantom, who was looking quite scared now.

"Tell me, child, can you do_ this _yet?" The other ghost questioned before suddenly three more of the vampire-like ghosts appeared around Phantom, who was shocked.

Phantom looked around. "No, no, I can't! How are _you_ doing this?!"

Andy watched, feeling a bit worried and scared now. _Oh… crap… If _this_ is what a stronger ghost can do, what does that say about the _really_ powerful ones? And what would happen if Phantom gets obliterated? Would Danny go too?_

"Years of practice," All of the clones including the original said at the same time. "Which you have no time for."

_Dorumon, where are you!?_ Andy mentally called out before taking out his Fenton Rod.

Just as the clones moved in to beat up Phantom, Andy ran over to them and slammed two of the clones hard with the Fenton Rod, hard enough to cause them to disappear in a flash of pinkish red light.

Andy stood in front of Phantom, his Fenton Rod held off to the side. "You stay away from him!" His green eyes were locked onto the other two vampire-like ghost's red ones.

"What's this?" The ghost looked at Andy in surprise. "What are you doing, boy? Why are you interfering between two ghosts? Don't you know how dangerous that is?"

"He's right, Andy! You shouldn't be here!" Phantom hissed from behind Andy.

Andy looked back at Phantom before grabbed in his gloved hand. "You're right, then let's get the heck out of here!"

Phantom turned himself and Andy intangible, both of them flying out of the room, with Andy carried off by Phantom in the process.

The other ghost, however, took chase after the two boys. He looked more amused than anything.

"Really? Do you really think you can escape from me?" The ghost laughed.

Suddenly there was another of the vampire ghost that appeared right in front of Phantom, who stopped quickly, nearly giving Andy whiplash.

"Yikes!" Phantom yelped.

"Geez! How many clones can this ghost make?!" Andy grumbled.

The clone fired an ecto ray at Phantom, who gave a yell of pain as he was hit back, letting go of Andy, who hit the floor pretty hard._ Darn it! Takuya, Dorumon, I could really use your help right now!_

Speaking of Takuya, he heard some noises coming from outside the room he was in. Just as he was about to go check it, he saw something move in the corner of his eye.

Looking back, he saw what looked to be a form in shadow. It was small and looked like Patamon in outline, but he was not sure.

"Come out! Whoever you are!" Takuya demanded.

Then Takuya heard little footsteps approaching him. Takuya braced himself before he saw something small that was under him. Looking down, Takuya was surprised to see what looked like a Patamon, but it looked dark blue instead of orange, and its eyes were yellow instead of blue, but Takuya thought maybe the Patamon looked that way only because of the darkness in the room.

"Um… Patamon?" Takuya asked uncertainty.

'Patamon' looked up at Takuya before giving a smile. "Takuya! How long has it been? I didn't think I'd see you again after you and the others left!"

Takuya nodded, but he kept his guard up. "It's been over four years. But what are _you_ doing here?"

"Only 4 years? It felt like over a millenia to me," 'Patamon' remarked. "Well, I'm here because I fell into this world. Mapapama must be worried sick about me by now."

Takuya gave a slight chuckle at that. "Yeah, that does sound like Bokomon." He could clearly recall how Bokomon had treated Patamon over their time in the Digital World. "Hey, what happened to your little cloth thing around your waist?"

'Patamon' looked down at his bare waist. "I think it fell off when I came to this world. So, Takuya, what are you doing here? Weren't you back in Japan or something?"

"I… came back here on a student exchange program." Takuya replied, not sure why Patamon was asking about that. Something felt off, but he didn't say anything on it.

"A student exchange program, huh? How interesting," 'Patamon' noted. "Did… any of the others come with you?"

"No…" Takuya said, becoming a bit skeptical now. "They remained behind…"

"Mm-hmm…" 'Patamon' looked thoughtful for a moment.

Suddenly there was a shout outside, and blasting noises. Takuya frowned, now worried for Andy, Dorumon, and Danny.

"Look, as nice as it is to see you again, I need to help my cousins." Takuya said suddenly. "It sounds like they are in trouble out there."

Takuya opened the door and looked out, he gasped when he saw Andy on the floor, and Phantom struggling just to keep up with four vampire-looking ghosts that all looked exactly the same.

_The heck!? Is this guy a quadruplet or something!?_ Takuya questioned, very confused now.

One of the clones was aiming down at Andy, he rolled on his back and blocked the clone's hands with his Fenton Rod, while the three others punched Phantom into a wall and blasted him with a pinkish red ecto blast. The clone that was on top of Andy, slapped the rod out of the boy's hand and picked him up by the shirt.

Just as Takuya was about to get out his Fenton Rod, he saw a familiar Rookie Digimon coming at the vampire-like ghost clone holding Andy. Dorumon slammed into the clone hard, making it vanish in a flash of pinkish red light. He caught Andy by the back of his shirt, and set Andy down, using his wings to fly as he did so, or rather hover.

Phantom hit the ground hard, his jumpsuit looking torn. He could barely keep his eyes open any longer. The three clones fused together into one, and the ghost was about to finish the defenseless Phantom off when Andy threw his Fenton Rod right into the ghost's back, causing the ghost to go flying a few feet from the sudden impact of the rod.

The ghost managed to regain his flight and looked back over at Andy, only to see Dorumon beside Andy, trying to look bigger than he was by puffing up his fur.

"You…" The ghost glared as he looked at the Digimon and Andy.

Takuya quickly came in with his own Fenton Rod.

"He's not alone, either!" Takuya said as he spun the rod a few times before holding it in both hands.

"How annoying," The ghost hissed. "You children have no idea what you're getting yourselves into."

The ghost lifted up both of his hands and blasted Takuya, Dorumon, and Andy with the pinkish red ecto blast. Dorumon managed to block most of the attack with his body from Andy, but it still hurt both of them, sending all three of them back a few feet.

Takuya groaned as he regained his senses. "Okay… this guy is _strong_…"

Dorumon managed to get back onto his feet, he growled before he jumped at the ghost, he punched the little Rookie back to Andy's side on the floor.

"D-Dorumon…" Andy groaned, trying to push himself up, because he was the weakest of the group, the ecto blast did a lot of damage to him.

Dorumon looked over at Andy before he struggled back up to his feet again, facing the ghost. _"Metal Cannon!"_

The iron balls were launched at the ghost, who just turned intangible and allowed the attack to pass through him with a smirk. "How quaint. Such a weak attack won't do much to a ghost of my power."

Takuya got back on his feet, then he ran at the ghost himself. The ghost just shot Takuya back with another weak ecto-blast, causing Takuya to fall further back.

"Takuya, stop…" Andy begged.

Dorumon jumped at the ghost again.

"No! You're going to get hurt!" Andy called out.

Just like before, the ghost slapped Dorumon back again.

"It's pointless, why do you keep trying to fight?" The ghost hissed in annoyance.

There was a sudden flash of light behind the ghost, that caught his attention. The ghost looked back for a moment, and was surprised at something.

Takuya got back up, confused as to what the ghost was surprised at. "W-what's going on…?"

The ghost looked back at them for a moment, before he held up a blacked gloved hand, then he gave a snap of his finger.

_"__Purple Haze."_

The entire area was suddenly covered in dark purple fog, and it made Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya start choking on it. It burned their lungs.

Takuya knew he had a short amount of time before he passed out because of how strong this fog was in choking them. _Crap… I_ need_ to get us out of here, but can I risk evolving? No… I may get discovered… But it could be our only chance. What do I _do_?!_

Unfortunately, Takuya couldn't evolve now even if he wanted to, his body was too weak to even move to get to his D-Tector. Andy and Dorumon had already passed out. Takuya was lying on the floor, struggling to remain awake. The last thing he saw was a black ring of energy appearing on the other ghost's torso.

Things then went black for Takuya as he finally lost consciousness.

* * *

"No! Get away!"

Andy shot open his eyes when he heard the voice of his brother crying out, and he jolted up from his position, only to see he was on a large, soft bed, and to his right, he could see Danny on the other large bed, before grabbing the blanket that was on top of him. Danny looked just as confused as Andy felt.

"Andy?" Danny blinked.

"Danny?" Andy asked.

"What happened to you?" They both asked each other at the same time.

Andy frowned. "There was a creepy vampire-like ghost that attacked." He then put a hand to his head in confusion. "Um… Or so I think… Could have been an odd dream or something."

Andy quickly looked around on his bed, and was relieved to see Dorimon was sleeping right next to his pillow.

Danny frowned himself. "... I… remember that happening too actually… was it really all a dream though? We both had the same dream."

"It's… not that unusual, we are twins after all, we sometimes have the same dream," Andy pointed out._ But it certainly felt real… When did we even fall asleep? When did we change into our pajamas?_

Andy then remembered their cousin. "Wait… I think I remember Takuya in that dream too… Where is he?"

"Uh… if that was all a dream, he's probably sleeping in his own room… we could go check just to be sure," Danny offered. "His room is right across from ours."

Andy got up from his bed and left his and Danny's room to go and check on Takuya in his own room across the hall. Andy opened Takuya's door, and sure enough, the older boy was asleep, in his pajamas. Seeing that Takuya was okay, Andy silently closed Takuya's door, and headed back into his and Danny's room. Danny had only gotten out of his bed.

"Sorry about that… I might've panicked a little bit," Andy admitted sheepishly.

Danny chuckled. "That's okay."

Andy walked over to Danny, and checked him over just in case, he wasn't sure if it was a dream or not, or if any of Phantom's injuries would carry over to Danny.

"Um… bro, I'm fine," Danny assured.

"Just… wanted to be sure…" Andy said hesitantly.

Danny frowned a little. "Why? I mean… I… never got caught up in the crossfire between Phantom and that other ghost like you and Takuya did."

Andy sighed. "I still wanted to be sure. For all I know, you could've gotten hurt after we were knocked out, assuming it wasn't a dream."

"... If it wasn't a dream, then wouldn't that mean that big scary ghost is still out there right now?" Danny asked, looking a little frightened with the idea.

"What is this about a ghost?" A voice asked as the form of Vlad Masters came out of the shadows. "I was surprised to see the two of you and your cousin on the floor of my castle, knocked out."

Andy couldn't help but feel uneasy when the man had suddenly walked in.

"You found us knocked out?" Danny asked.

"I think you three may have passed out from exhaustion. There weren't any injuries on you," Vlad answered.

Andy wasn't entirely sure if that was the truth, but he did notice he didn't have any injuries on him, which was strange since he was sure he had quite a few from tussling with that ghost in the corridor. "Yeah. I think that may have done it. We _were_ cramped into our RV for a long time."

"Y-yeah…" Danny agreed with Andy, though he did share in Andy's doubts. "Must've been from the long car ride… we're sorry for the scare."

"Oh, what's a little scare between friends, son?" Vlad asked as he smiled. "Sleep tight, little badger, little fox!"

Danny and Andy blinked at those nicknames, but they just shrugged as Vlad left their room.

"He seems nice," Danny said as they got back into their beds.

"Yeah… but sometimes those are the people you have to watch out for," Andy warned as he laid in his bed, arms curling around Dorimon.

Danny chuckled. "Relax, bro. He's one of Dad's college chums. He can't be that bad, can he?"

"Never ask that question, bro," Andy groaned. "You're just tempting fate now."

Danny chuckled again as he rolled over in bed and fell asleep. Soft snores were heard from Danny's bed, making Andy sigh as he looked back at Dorimon. He gave his partner Digimon a few pats before he too fell asleep.

* * *

_Night of the reunion_

The day of the college reunion came and by the time it began to get dark, people started to show up. It was clear Vlad was making this a big shindig, as _a lot_ of people were coming in. Danny and Andy wore matching black suits, neither were very comfortable in them, but Maddie insisted they look formal for the reunion, even though Maddie and Jack kept their hazmat suits on. Takuya wore his own suit which was more of a deep red color, and had a light blue carnation on it. The boy reached up and itched at it a bit. _This thing is like a monkey suit._

Danny sighed as he came out of the theater room. "Looks like Jazz won't be joining us, she's going to stay in the theater room until the reunion get together party is over."

"Maybe I should join her," Andy huffed, Dorimon was on his head. "At least there's nothing against having a furry animal plush on your head. I mean if they're going to allow cheese hats, at least they're lenient on the hats."

"Only you would be glad for that, cuz." Takuya chuckled.

Andy gave his cousin a slight smack on the arm. "Shut up."

"I'm sort of jealous, I'd like a cute animal hat of my own," Danny pouted. "It would lighten up this formal attire I'm wearing."

Takuya chuckled. "Well, we'll see if we can't find you one one of these days." _It just may not be for a _long_ while, if at all. I can't help but wonder if Andy is going to be the only one with a Digimon partner, at least, if that is the case._

"Come on, let's get to the party then. Maybe we'll find someone else our age to mingle with, and try out some cheese recipes," Andy suggested, hoping to look at the bright side of things.

"They do have some pretty good cheese recipes," Danny agreed.

"All you two want to talk about is cheese? And I thought _I_ had issues with my burgers." Takuya joked with a grin. He then waved his cousins to follow him. "C'mon. Don't want to keep your cheese tastes waiting~"

"You might like those cheeses if they were on a burger~" Andy smirked.

Takuya rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, okay… C'mon, you cheese hounds."

When the boys joined up with Maddie and Jack, they walked into the large room where the reunion party was taking place. Everyone there was around Maddie and Jack's age, some were older, some were younger. Most of them looked like they just wanted to party silly, while others looked more sophisticated, like this one asian lady with long, ponytail black hair, wearing a light green suit, trying out one of the finger foods on a plate.

Jack was pleased to see her, as his face lit up like a Christmas light. "Hey, Harrie!"

The woman, whom Jack called 'Harrie', quickly spat out the finger food she was eating. She looked annoyed and disgusted, but she approached with a professional neutral look on her face.

"Jack… Maddie… how nice," Harrie said.

Jack smiled as he put his hand around the twins' shoulders. "Boys, meet Harriet Chin, she might be a big shot reporter for the Milwaukee Journal now, but back in our college days she was known as 'Harrie'. Harriet Chin, get it?"

Andy groaned at that comment. _That sounds like a bad pun, and in more ways than one._

Maddie sighed at that, knowing how hard that must have been for Harriet in college. "I'm really sorry about that, Harriet."

Harriet didn't seem too bothered though, she just crossed her arms. "Sweetie, you married him, you should be."

It sounded harsh, but seeing how the two ladies smiled at each other, they knew there was no harm done in that bit of teasing.

Then a song started to play and Jack was eager to go and dance. "Hey, it's our song! C'mon, let's pogo!" He grabbed Maddie's arm and began to bounce away, leaving Andy, Danny, Takuya, and Harriet to stare after.

"Okay… does anyone else think that was weird?" Andy asked, blinking in what he was sure was a mixture of shock and confusion.

"This is normal for them," Harriet sighed. "At least it is for Jack."

* * *

After about an hour into the reunion party, Danny, Andy, and Takuya found out they were the only children there, either that or the other kids were in the theater room with Jazz. They were a little bored. The cuisines weren't that good as most of them were just tasteless finger food. Even Dorimon, when Andy had snuck him some food, had had a disgusted look on his face at the tasteless food.

"You think that a billionaire would be able to get some better food…" The In-Training Digimon muttered to Andy from under a table cloth at the table where the boys sat currently.

"I think that's the problem… most high class people think small, tasteless food is the best kind of food because of how fancy and expensive it is," Andy explained with a sigh. "At least yesterday's dinner was better than this… stuff."

Danny was trying out one of the finger food, before gulping it down. "... Uh… yeah… I think I'll wait until dinner to eat."

Takuya didn't look too happy either. "Make that two of us, Danny." He then looked around. "And I noticed that aside from us three, Jazz is the only other kid here. Or so I'm assuming."

"The others must've been smart and stayed in the theater room," Andy grumbled.

Another man bounced by them, not seeming bothered or cared that three kids were just sitting at a table looking bored.

"I see you three are looking much better," A familiar voice suddenly said, catching their attention, it was Vlad Masters.

"Oh… Uh… yeah. We are." Takuya replied as he looked up at Vlad. "I still don't know what caused us to pass out, but thanks for asking." _Although I actually _do_ remember that crazy purple fog… whatever that was._

"So… I was wondering if you two twins could do me a huge favor," Vlad said, giving a friendly smile. "Would you help me out, Daniel and Andrew?"

The friendly smile put the boys more at ease with Vlad, the smile seemed more genuine towards them.

"Oh sure, Mr. Masters, but call me Danny, 'Daniel' sounds too formal," Danny answered with a smile of his own.

"Yeah, I prefer Andy over 'Andrew' myself," Andy added.

Takuya frowned a bit, wondering why Vlad hadn't asked him the same question.

"Yes, yes, of course." Vlad corrected himself. "Now, could you two go and head to my lab, second door on the right in the basement? There is a present I have for your father."

"Okay," Danny agreed, standing up.

"Yeah, I'll go too," Andy stated, getting up as well._ Anything is better than this boring party of old college people pogo dancing._

"What about me?" Takuya asked.

"We'll be back before long, cuz, just watch the… punch bowl for us," Andy said.

Takuya pouted as the twins left to head for the lab, though he did notice Vlad glancing over at Jack and Maddie.

* * *

Danny and Andy were down in the basement, where Vlad's lab was. Dorimon stayed on Andy's head.

"I'm kind of surprised this guy even has a lab, why would he need a lab for?" Andy wondered as the brothers walked around, looking for the present Vlad wanted them to get.

Danny looked around as well. "That's odd, I'm not seeing any present here." His eyes swept over the lab, trying to find the present in question.

Andy was looking around too, only to see what looked like a framed picture on a table. It was missing a piece, like part of it had been ripped out. It was of their mom and Vlad, or whom Andy assumed had to be Vlad; the other man in the picture with her had black hair, not white.

"... What happened to Dad's picture?" Andy wondered as he picked up the framed picture. "Did Vlad hate Dad that much that he ripped it out…?"

"Wait…" Danny approached Andy and looked at the picture himself, then he took out a small ripped piece of paper from his suit's chest pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Andy asked.

"I… uh… found it," Danny quickly said before he put the torn paper into the photo to see it was a perfect fit, the torn paper, as it turned out, was Jack's face.

Andy felt his face pale at seeing that. _Something is _very_ wrong here… But what is it? Why does Vlad have a picture missing Dad's face?_

Danny paled as well, but he seemed to be more informed of the situation. "No way… _he_ sent those ghosts…?"

"What?" Andy looked at his brother, hearing the comment.

Dorimon suddenly shivered on Andy's head while the blue mist came out of Danny's mouth at the same time. Both brothers quickly turned around to see two green, floating octopuses, leering down on them.

"Uh oh…" Andy gulped. "I don't like the way those things are looking down at us…"

Andy didn't bring his Fenton Rod with him due to wearing a suit, and also because he didn't expect to have to fight with ghosts, especially with his parents here.

"Move, Andy!" Danny quickly yelled.

Andy dove to the side as one of the ecto-puses tried to grab him, but missed. Danny jumped backwards, barely landing on his feet, narrowly avoiding the same fate.

Andy grabbed onto Dorimon. "Use Acid Bubbles, quickly."

Dorimon shot out pink bubbles at the one octopus that was coming right at him. The bubbles popped into the ghost's red eyes, and caused it to scream out in pain.

The ecto-pus faded away, leaving Andy and Dorimon to glance over at where Danny was, only to see Danny fire off what appeared to be an ecto-ray, but Andy couldn't be too sure. The green energy blast hit the other ecto-pus right in the mouth, causing it to cry out before exploding into green goop.

"Bro…?" Andy asked. "Did you just… fire off an ecto-ray?"

"No! No, of course not! I just used the wrist ray gun Mom made me wear… it uh… exploded after I used it though, must've had the setting on too high or something," Danny quickly explained.

Andy frowned to himself, but he didn't push the issue. _Yeah, sure. That_ could_ have happened, or it could have been Phantom reacting_._ Well, whatever the cause, it sure saved Danny's bacon back there._

"How did you defeat that other ecto-pus?" Danny asked.

"Ecto-pus?" Andy raised an eyebrow.

"That's… what I decided to call those ghost octopuses, I mean they're made of ectoplasm, and they're octopuses… ecto-puses." Danny grinned a little.

"Right… anyways, I just grabbed a vial with acid in it, and threw it at the… ecto-pus's eyes, it didn't like that too much," Andy answered. While not the truth, it was not exactly something that couldn't be disproven either, considering all the vials around in the lab.

"How did those ghosts get in here?" Andy wondered as he put a hand to his chin in thought. Dorimon was back on his head, acting like a stuffed animal hat again.

"I don't know…" Danny frowned as he gave a worried look. "Those two ghosts…"

Andy looked at Danny. "What?"

"I've seen them before," Danny hesitantly admitted. "I was just wondering why they're here now."

"And they're not alone, pup!" A familiar voice suddenly said before Danny was suddenly hit by some kind of blue energy beam that caused him to slam into Andy, making both brothers hit the wall. Dorimon fell to the floor.

Andy and Danny both gasped at seeing Skulker, both brothers had a bad experience with the ghost hunter. Dorimon was on the floor, but he was growling a little. Not enough for Danny to notice, but Dorimon was ready to strike if he had to.

Andy looked nervous now. _Okay… This is getting to be too much! How can Dorimon and I fight off Skulker if Danny is here?! Of all the times… Gah! Darn it! Mom and Dad wouldn't let us bring weapons to this thing, and now I can't fight back!_

"Move!" Danny quickly said.

Both brothers scrambled away from another energy beam attack by Skulker.

"What are you doing here!?" Danny demanded.

"How did you get in here!?" Andy added.

"How did you get back into your ecto suit!?" Danny added.

"All excellent questions." Skulker purred as he crouched down like a predator hunting his prey. The sight reminded Andy of the look Takuya would get in his eyes, and he remembered their cousin was still at the reunion upstairs. _But maybe..._

Skulker slid some kind of black cube on the floor towards Danny, the cube quickly grew in size and trapped Danny inside it, with only his head sticking out from it.

"W-what is this!?" Danny frowned.

Andy saw Skulker was tossing another cube at him, but he reacted quickly and ran away from it before it could get close to him. Thinking fast, Andy pulled out his D-Arc from his pocket and frantically pushed the call button to try to get Takuya on. "Come on, come on, come on, pick up!"

There was a beep, and then Andy heard his cousin's voice. _"Andy? What's going on? Did you find the present?"_

Skulker turned to Dorimon, and was about to fire at him. Seeing this, Andy ran over to Dorimon and picked him up with his free hand, barely avoiding another energy beam attack. Takuya heard the blasts, however, and immediately became worried.

_"__Andy… was that an ecto-blast? Because if it was, then I am on my way!"_ Takuya said; he was actually headed down there now, as he had stood up as soon as he had heard the blasting noises.

"Yes, please hurry!" Andy frantically said before hanging up.

Skulker fired missiles this time, the lab was too small for the missiles to chase Andy effectively, but when the missiles hit the walls and exploded, it did cause Andy and Dorimon to go flying. Both hit the steel walls.

"Andy! Stop firing at my brother, Skulker!" Danny shouted angrily, struggling to try to get out of the cube.

"Why? He is just as much the prey as you are." Skulker replied with a laugh. "And I like it when my prey is interesting."

Dorimon got to his feet, he knew he had to keep himself a secret from Danny, but he couldn't just stand by and let Andy get hurt by this ghost hunter. His secret wasn't important enough to cost Andy his life. Just when Dorimon was about to digivolve, Takuya suddenly came running into the lab, his hands gripping onto a Fenton Rod, and he slammed Skulker with it with a loud CLANG! It was enough force to send Skulker into a wall.

"T-Takuya?" Danny blinked in shock at the sudden appearance of his cousin.

"Ugh… hey, cuz… glad you could make it," Andy groaned a little, rubbing his head as he managed to get back on his feet.

"So, the hunter ghost is back?" Takuya asked as he eyed Skulker. "I remember you wanted Andy for some reason. Why are you back here?"

"You are all troublesome," Skulker remarked before he held up his robotic arm, and a glowing green blade came out.

"Uh… the glowing blade is new…" Danny commented.

Skulker seemed to take delight in Danny's comment, as he smiled widely. "You like it? I've had some upgrades!"

Takuya wasn't sure if he should smack his face at that or take the chance to attack Skulker while his attention was on Danny. _Okay…? Not sure what to think of that._

Skulker then looked at Takuya and smirked evilly. "Now then… perhaps I should skin you."

Takuya got himself ready to battle with the Fenton Rod. Andy frowned as he wished he had his Fenton Rod with him.

"ENOUGH!" A familiar voice suddenly boomed, stopping Skulker from advancing on Takuya. "I didn't free you to skin the boys, Skulker! Your work is only half done, but I can take care of the rest myself. You are dismissed."

Skulker looked surprised. "Well…" His arm then beeped, indicating he still had Tucker's PDA attached. "I… have to go and check out a book on a gorilla… _again_!" He turned intangible as he flew away, thanks to the partial control the PDA had over his suit. "And I _will_ remove this infernal device one day!"

Everyone looked at the man who had walked into the lab, it was Vlad Masters.

"What is going on?" Danny asked. "Skulker… the ecto-pusses… I don't understand."

"It was him," Andy suddenly spoke up, frowning. "He was the one who sent those ghosts here."

Takuay frowned at that. "Why would you send ghosts here?" _I know this guy has a grudge against Uncle Jack, but this is taking it too far!_

"They are my employees," Vlad stated calmly. "But you are half right, Andrew, I did send those ghosts here, but I also sent them to Amity Park in order to test your father's skill. But instead, I find something even more surprising."

Before any of the boys could speak up, a familiar little bat mammal Digimon flew up on top of Vlad's head. Familiar to Takuya anyways. Dorimon blinked in shock, seeing the Digimon for the first time.

Now that they were in a well-lit lab, Takuya could get a clear view of the little Rookie Digimon, and it was _not_ Patamon like he had first thought. No, the Digimon was dark blue where there would be orange, and had yellow eyes instead of blue.

"Wait… _who_ are you?" Takuya asked, confused now. "You're not…" He trailed off, trying to keep himself from saying anything else, but he had a feeling things were about to get worse.

"Sorry, Takuya, I guess I wasn't the Patamon you were looking for," The dark blue Patamon look-alike chuckled.

"W-what is that thing?" Danny asked, surprised seeing that it was talking. "Is that a D-monster?"

"A what?" Andy blinked, surprised at what Danny just called the creature.

Vlad blinked as well before he chuckled. "You have it all wrong, Daniel. This isn't a D-monster. _He_ is a 'Digimon'."

"... Digimon!?" Danny frowned. "... D-monster still sounds cooler…"

Vlad rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, regardless how it sounds to you, Daniel, the proper term is Digimon, or Digital Monster. This is Tsukaimon, and…"

Vlad took out a familiar looking device from his pocket. "He is my partner."

Andy, Dorimon, and Takuya stared in shock at the device, it was a D-Arc like Andy's, only this one was a blood red color with the screen border being black, having black buttons, and a black strap on the top of it.

Takuya felt his face paling as he also felt his Spirits urging him to evolve, but it would give away his own secret. _Crap, crap, crap! This is _so_ not good! _Vlad_ has a Digimon partner like Andy?! How is this possible?!_

"What is that?" Danny asked, the only one who was out of the loop here. "What do you mean that Suk… Tok… ke… mon… is your partner?"

"Tsukaimon, Daniel, at least try to get the name right," Vlad sighed. "I'm surprised that you don't know. After all, your brother has-"

"Wait!" Andy suddenly spoke up before Vlad could reveal Dorimon to Danny. "What are you doing? Why did you get Skulker to trap Danny and tried to trap me?"

Vlad then looked at Andy. "I'm surprised you are asking that, Andrew. You seem to be the smarter one after all. But, since you asked, I will humor you."

Andy frowned, he mostly asked because he didn't want Vlad revealing Dorimon to Danny, but if things went south, Danny may have to find out anyways, but he did want to hear what Vlad had to say.

"One more thing. How does Tsukaimon know about me?" Takuya added with a growl, trying to keep the feral look out of his eyes. "I mean, he just met me last night!"

While Takuya had Vlad talking, Andy crouched down to Dorimon and whispered something to him. Dorimon gave an unsure look, but nodded, and he slowly started moving towards the cube Danny was in.

"Really, must we keep having interruptions today?" Vlad questioned.

"It's simple, Takuya," Tsukaimon spoke up. "I _am_ Patamon, or at least, I was."

Hearing that sent chills down Takuya's spine in dread. He remembered Ophanimon mentioning how Seraphimon had gone missing, but now he had an idea why. _Seraphimon was somehow corrupted! That would explain why he suddenly went missing! Or maybe someone else did the corruption. Maybe Cherubimon? I don't know, but whatever the cause, at least I know where Seraphimon went now._

Dorimon was at the cube that had Danny trapped, he started to sniff it a bit before he bit into it with his teeth. The cube released an electric shock, forcing Dorimon to let go of it. Danny blinked, hearing a little squeak near him. Andy quickly raced over to Dorimon and picked him up in concern.

"I wouldn't try that, Andrew," Vlad chuckled. "I made sure Skulker made it so even metal eaters wouldn't be able to touch it. That box Daniel is in neutralizes all ecto and digital powers."

Danny gritted his teeth._ That explains why I can't use any of my powers! … Wait, metal eater? Who tried to eat this cube?_

Andy frowned as he heard that as well. _That would explain why Dorimon couldn't bite into it to free Danny._

"Let me out of here!" Danny shouted.

"Why? So you can go back to stumbling around, desperately trying to get control of your ghost powers?" Vlad asked, which made Danny freeze. "Powers, by the way, that I've had for 20 years."

A black ring of energy suddenly appeared on Vlad's torso, then it split horizontally, changing him. The man had turned into the vampire-like ghost the four of them had seen the other night. Andy and Takuya's minds were at a total blank from shock, while Danny was surprised and horrified.

_WHAT?!_ Takuya was shocked. He had total surprise and horror on his face. _This is _Vlad?! _Fuck..._

Andy just stared, his mouth dropping open. Dorimon stared as well, not sure what to make of this, but he knew something very clearly; they were all royally screwed.

Tsukaimon seemed perfectly comfortable on top of Vlad's horn-like hair, since he was lying in the half circle middle of the hair, but he somehow looked even more menacing sitting there.

"Y-you!" Danny shouted out in shock. "W-why…?"

"Why what?" The ghost, now revealed to be Vlad, asked. "Why would I come after you? Why do I have ghost powers? Or why do I have a Digimon partner?" He seemed to be enjoying mocking Danny at that point. "Because I can answer all three questions if you'd like."

"All of them! And why you were attacking us!" Danny snapped, getting angry now.

"I have these ghost powers because of your idiot father, Daniel, that lab accident cost me everything, including my humanity!" Vlad hissed.

"I came to this world… and I found Vlad. Something clicked between the two of us, his D-Arc appeared, and now we are bonded together," Tsukaimon answered the Digimon partner part briefly.

"And I want you, Daniel, because you are similar to me." Vlad finished, giving a sinister grin to Danny.

While that was going on, Takuya gave a glance at Andy, wondering if Andy wanted him to sneak out and evolve. But Andy wasn't paying Takuya any attention, his mind was in too much shock, trying to work things out with what he was seeing and hearing.

_Vlad and Danny are… similar? That ghost that attacked us last night… that lab accident Vlad had in college… could it be? He… has a ghost inside him too? That ghost just… shifted from him? Is that how it works?_ Andy wondered._ He said he had those powers for 20 years… he looks so evil, his mind is so twisted, he wants to kill Dad… did… did living with a ghost inside him for 20 years corrupt him? Could the same thing happen to Danny?_ Andy was starting to freak out a little.

Takuya, seeing Andy was starting to look a little freaked out, decided to take matters into his own hands and began to inch towards the door. _If I can just get out of this lab and out of sight, then maybe..._

"I have experience on both the ghost powers, and having a Digimon partner. So I have experience, children," Vlad spoke up, looking at both Danny and Andy. "There is so much I could teach both of you, and so much you could do with these powers and a Digimon partner, and all you both have to do is renounce your idiot father."

Danny had no idea what Vlad was talking about with the Digimon partner, but his eyes were starting to look towards the plush animal Andy kept carrying with him a few times.

"No," Andy suddenly said, finally snapping out of his shock. "We would never renounce our dad to take you up on your twisted offer."

"Yeah, because dude, you're one crazed up fruitloop." Danny added, agreeing with Andy. "_That_ is never going to happen."

"Yes, well, when your father is out of the way, we'll see how you feel." Vlad smirked before he turned himself and Tsukaimon intangible and flew up into the ceiling.

Andy's eyes widened in horror before he quickly turned to Takuya. "STOP HIM! HURRY!"

Takuya, who had not yet made it to the door, looked to Andy. He had heard Vlad's words and gave a nod. "Right!" With that, he was out of the lab and running towards where the reunion was.

Andy quickly looked at the cube Danny was in, putting Dorimon down next to him. "There's got to be a button or something to turn this thing off!"

"Yeah, but where?" Danny grumbled. However, now was the perfect time to ask a question. "What did Vlad mean by offering to train you with a Digimon partner? What is going on, bro?"

"What did he mean by you training with your ghost powers, bro?" Andy shot back, not in the mood for this right now.

"Okay, fair point. But where is the button on this thing? Can't you find it, bro? We need to go help Dad!" Danny frantically said.

"I know! I'm trying!" Andy frowned before he noticed a silver button, he tried to press it, but he just got electrocuted. "Ack!"

"Andy! You okay, bro?" Danny asked in worry and concern.

"Ugh… Yeah. But I can't touch that button to release you. It shocks anyone who tries apparently." Andy grumbled as he shook his hand to rid it of the tingly feeling it had.

"So now what do we do?" Danny frowned.

Andy kicked the cube in frustration.

Danny sighed for a moment, before he looked at his brother again. "... Andy… I know you're not stupid… do you… know what's been going on with me?"

"Why are you asking me that now?" Andy questioned.

Danny sighed here. "Because I'm concerned, bro. I don't want you to be making assumptions. A lot of what Vlad said must've rang some alarming bells for you at least."

Andy frowned before he sighed as well. "I… suspected you might have some kind of relationship with Phantom. After the accident, maybe it caused both of you to fuse, and now you're kind of reliant on each other to survive. You and Phantom switch places whenever you need Phantom to fight, or whenever Phantom lets you take over for day to day life."

Danny couldn't believe how close, and yet so far, off the mark his brother was. "Wow. That sounded so plausible and yet is so far off the mark." He then shook his head. "Andy, Phantom and I are not sharing a body. I _am_ Phantom, and Phantom _is_ me."

Andy blinked at that before he stared at Danny. "What…? What do you mean Phantom _is_ you? Phantom is clearly a ghost, Danny. If you're saying you are Phantom, then that would imply you're a ghost."

"I am," Danny confirmed.

Andy's eyes widened. "Y-you can't be, Danny! That would mean you're dead! You… you aren't dead… are you…?"

"_Half_-dead." Danny corrected. "The accident didn't kill me. I am still alive. I just… have ghostly abilities, that's all."

Andy's eyes widened again. "Like… superpowers?"

Danny gave a bit of a grin. "You could think of it like that."

"Wait… how can you be half dead? Are you a zombie?" Andy frowned. "You can't be half dead, you're either dead or you're not."

"I don't know…" Danny admitted. "I can't tell whether I'm alive or not sometimes either. I just know that is what the ghosts have been calling me, the Halfa. But I'm not a zombie, Andy, that much I know. I mean I don't want to eat your brains or anything."

Andy blinked, before shaking his head. "... Okay… you are a walking contradiction now. And I'm guessing Vlad is the same then…"_ Since he apparently lived with it for 20 years, at least I know it's not killing Danny. Though becoming twisted after a while is still up for debate. Mom and Dad always taught us ghosts were naturally hostile after all..._

Looking around, Andy tried to find something that would help him free Danny without touching the button.

"But what about you?" Danny suddenly asked. "I told you my secret… so now it's your turn, bro."

Andy looked back at Danny and sighed._ I can at least tell him about Dorimon. Takuya's secret is his own, so Danny will have to ask him if he wants to know Takuya's secret. I know I can trust Danny with Dorimon at least._

"Okay… Dorimon, say hello," Andy instructed.

Dorimon hopped up onto the cube so Danny could see him. "Hello!"

Danny blinked. "So… this is _not_ a stuffed animal, but _your_ Digimon Partner?"

"Yep~" Dorimon sang. "I have been with Andy since that prom school dance you had."

Danny blinked. "Wait, what?"

Andy then took out his D-Arc, revealing the silver device. "He's right. That big dragon thing that attacked the dance was Dorimon, but he was more in pain than anything at that time. He was supposed to be sent to me as my partner, or so we think anyways, but someone got to him first and made him go crazy."

"... So that creepy mechanical fox dragon that suddenly appeared when Tucker took over your body… that was your partner?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, that was him. I guess he got corrupted when Tucker possessed my body," Andy answered.

"Did I really look that scary?" Dorimon frowned.

"Yeah, you kinda did." Danny admitted. "But it was not your fault, as none of us knew that would happen." He added quickly, seeing the little Digimon looking a bit upset.

"Hey, I got it, I know how I can release you from this box!" Andy smiled. "Dorimon, shoot out your metal beads at the button!"

Dorimon nodded and hopped onto Andy's head before opening his mouth and aiming at the button. _"Metal Drop!"_ The small beads were shot out at the button and they pelted it quickly. The button was pressed down, and the box faded down into being a small cube again.

"Nothing like having a Digimon to help you out." Andy smiled.

Danny chuckled as well before his ghost sense went off. He looked up, as did Andy, as a ghost came in. He had green skin, white hair, and wore royal garb. In his hands was a staff that was gold and had a top like a scoop of ice cream. This was the Dairy King himself.

"It looks like you boys didn't need my help there," The Dairy King chuckled.

"Oh hey, you're the Dairy King," Andy noted, seeing how he looked exactly like he did in the painting, only his skin was green.

"Oh great, are you going to cover us in cheese or something?" Danny frowned.

"Oh no. Some of us ghosts just want to be left alone there, don'tcha know?" The Dairy King replied. "Not all ghosts are evil, don'tcha know?"

Andy and Danny remembered Poindexter, and seeing how while he was misguided, he never intended any harm.

"Yeah, he's right," Andy realized.

"Hey, will you help us fight Vlad?" Danny asked suddenly, making Andy look back at his brother in surprise.

"I'm the Dairy King kiddo. Kings don't fight, they send others to fight for them." The Dairy King said apologetically. "But if you boys can get out of a scrape like that, don'tcha know, you can handle this fight yourselves. After all, if Digimon and ghosts can come together and work with each other, anything is possible. Oh, and try the gouda while you're here, it's dairy fresh!"

The Dairy King flew up through the ceiling, making the boys smile a bit.

"JACK!" They both heard Maddie yell out.

Andy and Danny looked at each other before nodding.

"Going ghost!" Danny announced as a bright white ring appeared on his torso, which split horizontally, changing him into Phantom.

It was the first time Andy saw Danny transform right in front of him, and he was very impressed. "Dang, that looked cool. Dorimon, it's your turn."

Dorimon jumped down from Andy's head. "Here we go!"

The D-Arc glowed brightly as fractal code surrounded the little In-Training. "Dorimon digivolve to… Dorumon!"

The fractal code dispersed, revealing Dorumon to Danny, who was also impressed. "Wow… So that's what he can do? Impressive. But I feel like I've seen him before."

"You probably did when we fought with Vlad the other night," Andy stated. "Now come on, let's go save Dad! Takuya probably needs help as well."

Danny nodded, remembering Andy's words to their cousin. "Okay, let's go, bro!"

The ghost boy, the Rookie Digimon, and the Digidestined boy all ran out of the lab and hurried to where the screams were taking place.

* * *

Speaking of where the screams were taking place, Takuya had already evolved and was now trying to stop his possessed uncle. As it was, Agunimon was forced to not rely on his full strength, lest he hurt Jack severely.

'Jack' was laughing like a maniac, his eyes red due to Vlad inside him. He slapped another man into a wall. "If you live to tell the tale, be sure to remember that big fat Jack Fenton did this to you!"

Agunimon took the chance to act, darting forwards and tackling 'Jack' as quickly as he could to spare yet another person from being smacked around by the man. He could sense someone was overshadowing his uncle, but that was all he knew. However, as soon as the two landed on the floor, Agunimon pinning 'Jack' down, two glowing red eyes met feral blue. Just looking at the eyes of 'Jack' made chills run down the Digimon's spine.

"So, I see that a Digimon was bold enough to crash the party, eh?" 'Jack' grinned. "Don't think that you can hold me down."

Agunimon suddenly felt something burning his stomach despite his armor, he looked down to see 'Jack' was blasting out the pinkish red ecto blast at his stomach. His armor wasn't able to keep him fully protected from the attack, and Agunimon was forced to let 'Jack' go from the pain.

"Oh? Didn't you know? Digimon and ghosts are each other's weaknesses," 'Jack' informed. "While I might be vulnerable to your attacks, so too are you vulnerable to mine."

Agunimon winced at the pain from where he had been hit, his hand on his stomach area. A hiss of pain escaped him, but he kept his icy blue gaze on 'Jack'. _So much for fighting close range…_ Agunimon thought in dismay.

"But are you sure I'm the one you should be fighting?" 'Jack" grinned.

Agunimon paused briefly, wondering what 'Jack' meant.

_"__Dark Twister!"_

Agunimon yelped when he was suddenly wrapped up in a tornado of dark energy.

On sheer instinct, the Warrior of Flame had fire erupt from his form as he spun around in the opposite direction the tornado was spinning, the fire canceling out the dark energy. Agunimon panted as he looked up. He saw Tsukaimon flying above him.

"Seems the Warrior of Flame is stronger than I thought," Tsukaimon noted. "I may not be able to take him on as a Rookie level, Plasmius."

Agunimon felt rage fill his body as he looked up at Tsukaimon. "What are you _doing_ here?! Can't you stay out of this fight?!"

"Why would he? He is my partner, you attack me, he attacks you~" 'Jack' chuckled.

Then Vlad flew out of Jack's body, holding the man with one of his hands, before he took out his D-Arc from his suit's pocket. The D-Arc's screen glowed on Tsukaimon's body while the words, "DIGIVOLUTION" came on screen. Tsukaimon's body was wrapped up with fractal code.

Agunimon felt a gasp escape him as he saw this. "Oh no…"

"Tsukaimon digivolve to… Devidramon!"

When the fractal code dispersed, there was a black, demon looking dragon-like creature standing before Agunimon, it had leather, bat-like wings with holes, it had a tail with a spike at the tip, its arms were long, and its hands had huge, crimson red claws. It had two pairs of red eyes, and sharp, nasty looking teeth.

Agunimon tensed as he saw this. Safe to say, he was wary now. Still, he knew he could beat this thing, as it was a Champion level, which he was the equivalent of. "So you got stronger, huh? It won't do much against me." To emphasize the point, Agunimon stood up and slammed both of his fists together, fire coming into view around his hands. _"Pyro Punch!"_

Devidramon raised his claws before coating them with dark energy. _"Touch of Evil!"_

Agunimon's Pyro Punch and Devidramon's Touch of Evil ended up cancelling each other out. Devidramon kept deflecting Agunimon's Pyro Punches with its own melee claws.

"I should probably warn you that a tamer raised Digimon is often stronger than a wild Digimon," Vlad informed. "Have fun with that. Or maybe I should help dispose of you annoying fire gnat."

Agunimon was forced to jump back before the Touch of Evil could hit him. "How could you help _him?_"

Vlad dropped Jack onto the floor, who was unconscious from the possession earlier. "Simple…"

Vlad shot a plasma blast at Agunimon, knocking him into the floor, before Devidramon landed on top of his back, pinning him to the floor. Devidramon lifted his sharp claws. _"Crimson Claw."_

Agunimon grunted as the claws slashed across his back. His armor did a better job of protecting him this time, as it was against digital attacks. However, it still hurt. _Andy… where are you?_

"You know it would be a shame if I had to kill you, Takuya," Devidramon spoke up, surprising Agunimon as he thought Devidramon was mindless. "I did actually like you."

Devidramon stopped clawing at Agunimon's armor before he pushed Agunimon, turning him around so Agunimon was facing directly into Devidramon's four eyes. _"Red Eyes."_

Suddenly, Agunimon felt his body freeze up. It was like he had no control. No matter what he did, his body refused to move at his mental command. He was still able to breathe yes, but he could not move, or even speak because his whole body was paralyzed now.

"I won't kill you, you would be much more useful to me alive than Digital Data," Devidramon stated, which sent chills down Agunimon's spine.

_Andy… help me!_ Agunimon pleaded in his mind. He had _never_ felt so scared in his life, not even when he fought against Lucemon!

Suddenly a black and white blur flew past Agunimon, and he heard Vlad yelping in shock. Then he heard something else that was so relieving he thought he would pass out from relief.

_"__Metal Cannon!"_

Devidramon was thrown off of Agunimon by being suddenly pelted by iron balls. A few seconds after Devidramon was off of Agunimon, he saw Dorumon jumping across him, then Andy came by, kneeling down to Agunimon.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay, Ta- Agunimon?" Andy asked in concern.

"If you call being paralyzed fine, then I'm just great." Agunimon remarked with a snarky response.

"You're paralyzed?" Andy frowned before he looked over at Devidramon.

Dorumon was growling at Devidramon as he stood in front of Agunimon and Andy. Dorumon's forehead gem glowed before Andy looked at his D-Arc, as a holographic version of Devidramon appeared.

"Devidramon is a Dark Dragon Digimon. It is known and feared as the "Many-eyed Demon". As a demon beast that was summoned from the Dark Area by the messenger of darkness, Devimon, there are no other Digimon as evil as it is," Andy read. "Wow, scary."

"Yeah… And it used some kind of paralysis technique on me." Agunimon explained. "I can't move. Don't look into its eyes, whatever you do."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Andy stated.

"How interesting… I didn't think there was another person with a Digimon partner in this town. I guess Ophanimon decided to take matters into her own hands again, that meddling fool," Devidramon hissed in annoyance.

Agunimon hated being paralyzed, as he would be unable to help protect Andy.

"We're limited on what we can do," Andy warned. "I didn't bring my pen or notepad with me. So I guess we'll have to be a little more creative. Phantom will keep Vlad's ghost distracted while we deal with his Digimon partner."

Dorumon nodded. "Right, Andy."

Behind the two, Agunimon lay there, completely helpless. However, it was ironic in a way too, since now _Andy_ was the one protecting _him._ _Heh… I guess this is Andy's time to shine then…_ A smile crossed his face as he saw this.

"Don't interfere with me, boy!" Devidramon roared.

"Why? You attacked a friend of mine!" Andy shot back. _Well, more like my cousin but he doesn't need to know that..._

_"__Crimson Claw!"_ Devidramon reached out his arm at Dorumon and Andy.

Andy and Dorumon scrambled out of the way while the claw pierced into the ground. Andy and Dorumon ran behind Devidramon while he was trying to get his claw out of the ground. Andy grabbed onto his D-Arc and a card.

The card spun around before two fingers caught it, Andy looking up from the shadows. He held up his silver and dark blue D-Arc, the side with the slot facing down towards his head while the card in his other hand was below it. He slid the card through the slot, and pulled the two, D-Arc and card, apart, the D-Arc from to the right and the card to the left. _"Digimodify! Fridgimon's Icy Breath Activate!"_

_"__Icy Breath!"_ Dorumon shot out white frosty mist at the Devidramon as it turned around, freezing its face, forcing its eyes to shut.

"Now it can't paralyze us, go in for the attack!" Andy quickly instructed.

Dorumon nodded and rushed in. A metal coat was forming on his head. _"Hyper Dash Metal!"_

With a strong tackle to the stomach, Dorumon knocked Devidramon onto the floor. A small fractal code ring appeared around Devidramon's waist. Thinking fast, Andy held out his D-Arc before scanning the fractal code with the card slot. Devidramon's form didn't change despite the fractal code being scanned, but a new card appeared on the card slot of the D-Arc. Andy took out the card, seeing four pairs of red eyes in darkness in the picture, it was labelled 'Red Eyes'.

Devidramon was angry now, he slapped Dorumon away as he got back to his feet.

Agunimon gritted his teeth as he tried to move his body, but he could only twitch his right hand's fingers a bit. However, it gave him some hope that this would wear off soon. _I just hope it's not too late..._

Dorumon landed on the ground with a grunt, but got back onto his feet easily. The blow had done some damage, but it was not enough to knock him down for the count.

"What is your main goal anyways?" Andy asked. "Surely you're not here just because of Vlad, are you? You came into this world for a different reason, right?"

Agunimon blinked, he hadn't thought of that. Tsukaimon only mentioned teaming up with Vlad, but he never said why he came to this world in the first place.

"I see you're a clever one, aren't you?" Devidramon remarked. "It is true that I came here for my own reasons. But why would I tell you that? To me, you are just someone who is in the way."

Andy felt his left eye twitch. "I'm not that insignificant!"

"Please, your weak little Digimon can't even Digivolve past the Rookie stage, that already indicates how weak you are. A Digimon partner is only as good as their human partner," Devidramon snickered.

Andy and Dorumon both frowned at that. Andy's self confidence was breaking from this Digimon's words. Devidramon had a point, Dorumon had been with him for almost a month now, and he still hadn't been able to digivolve past the Rookie stage, at least not without outside influence like Tucker possessing him.

Agunimon could feel his heart racing as he saw Andy's face gain a sort of tormented look. He felt fury rush through his form, but he was unable to move still. _Damn it!_

Devidramon raised his wings before he began to float in the air, with a sadistic grin, he called out his attack. _"Demonic Gale!"_

Devidramon suddenly flew past Andy and Dorumon at high speed, both of them screamed out in sudden pain as Andy's suit was being ripped up by the air itself, and Dorumon's fur was being cut off as well. Both of them fell to the floor in pain. Andy had several cuts on his skin.

"ANDY!" Agunimon shouted. He tried to move again, and found he was able to, even if it was minimal. His right hand was now able to move, but anymore than that and his body screamed in pain. "C'mon… Move, damn it…"

"Oof!" Agunimon heard a thud beside him.

Moving his head a little, Agunimon could see a familiar black and white figure lying beside him. It was Phantom, he looked like he got beaten up a little, but he managed to push himself back up. Phantom looked over at Agunimon and frowned a little.

"You… you're a Digimon, aren't you?" Phantom asked the Legendary Warrior of Flame.

Agunimon blinked, surprised Phantom hadn't asked that from the beginning. "Yeah, I am. Although I'm surprised you never asked that when we first met."

"Yeah, well, I didn't really have the time to ask before," Phantom said before he saw Andy and Dorumon. "Oh… no!"

Phantom hurried over to the injured boy. "Andy, are you alright? Dorumon?"

"I'm fine… just got a lot of cuts…" Andy groaned. "Where's Vlad…?"

Agunimon was confused that Phantom and Andy were working so well together now, and that Phantom knew of Dorumon. _What happened while I was fighting Vlad?_

Dorumon shook himself, groaning. "Devidramon is strong…"

Phantom looked up, seeing the dark dragon Digimon.

"That's what Tsukaimon turned into?" Phantom asked.

"Yeah," Andy answered.

Vlad phased into the room and frowned before standing beside Devidramon. "We don't have to keep fighting, Daniel, Andrew. You two should think about the things I could teach you, the doors I could open for you. Once you get your own Digimon partner, Daniel, you and I, Vlad Plasmius, could rule together!"

Andy frowned. "No way!"

"Yeah, I won't listen to a crazed up fruitloop." Phantom added. "Your money can't buy Mo- Maddie, it can't buy the Packers, and it can't buy us!"

Phantom fired a ghost ray at Vlad, who cancelled it out with an ecto barrier.

Devidramon's claws were coated in dark energy. _"Touch of Evil!"_

The claws were coming towards Phantom.

"Dorumon!" Andy yelled.

Dorumon jumped at the arm with his mouth open and bit down hard on the arm, forcing Devidramon to stop reaching for Phantom due to the pain.

Agunimon knew he had to help, but the paralysis was still affecting him. For once, he could understand how Andy felt when seeing more powerful enemies fighting. "Darn it… Why won't this wear off faster…?"

Vlad fired a ghost ray at Dorumon, who let out a scream in pain from the ghost ray as he let go of Devidramon's arm and fell to the ground. Andy scrambled over to Dorumon, seeing his partner was hurt. Dorumon hissed, but forced himself back onto his feet.

"Again… why do you keep getting back up to fight a hopeless battle?" Vlad questioned.

"Because partners don't quit…" Dorumon hissed back.

Hearing that, Agunimon felt he had to keep trying to move. Dorumon was right.

Phantom stood in front of Andy and Dorumon, glaring at both Vlad and Devidramon. Phantom fired his own ghost ray at Devidramon, but Vlad created an ecto shield in front of Devidramon.

"You see, when ghost and Digimon work together, they can become an unstoppable force." Vlad smirked.

Behind the battlers, Agunimon finally managed to get his body to move, despite the pain in it. He pushed himself to his feet, despite his muscles screaming at him to stop. "You may be right…"

Vlad fired another ghost ray at Phantom, while Devidramon used his Touch of Evil to stretch out his claws at Andy and Dorumon. Phantom managed to create an ecto barrier around all three of them, causing the ghost ray to dissipate upon impact with the shield, and the claws to bounce off.

Taking his chance, Agunimon rushed at Devidramon before he lashed out with a brutal round kick to the other Digimon's face. Agunimon moved beside the barrier that protected Andy, Phantom, and Dorumon, but he was panting heavily.

"Agunimon, stop, you're in no condition to fight!" Andy spoke up in worry.

"Dorumon had a point though…" Agunimon replied. "Even if I am in no shape to fight, it is still my duty as a Legendary Warrior to protect, and I will do just that."

Phantom gave a look of awe and concern for Agunimon when he said that. However, before they could do anything, there was a sudden crash. A familiar looking silver and green vehicle had just crashed through the wall, and was charging towards Vlad. Phantom quickly grabbed onto Andy and Dorumon before dissipating the barrier and flew up before the Assault Vehicle could run them over. Agunimon managed to jump out of the way in time before it ran _him_ over.

However, the act of doing that caused Agunimon to collapse to his hands and knees, the exhaustion making him pant even more now. Sweat was running down the exposed parts of his face and he felt dizzy.

Agunimon could hear the Assault Vehicle firing several different weapons at both Vlad and Devidramon. The weapons did some damage, but it mostly annoyed the two of them. Devidramon hissed before fractal code surrounded him, though instead of digivolving to the next level, he degenerated back to Tsukaimon.

_What is he doing?_ The Warrior of Flame thought.

"You know, this is getting a bit too noisy," Vlad hissed before he fired a ghost ray at the Assault Vehicle's tires, causing it to go out of control.

The Assault Vehicle crashed into another wall and out of the room. Vlad landed beside Tsukaimon before he summoned his black rings, changing back into a human. "Tsukaimon, I do believe it's time to show these boys what they're potentially missing out on, hmm?"

"Yes, let's do it." Tsukaimon smirked as Vlad took out his D-Arc.

"Huh? What's going on?" Phantom asked as he put Dorumon and Andy down.

Then all their minds were shocked into silence when they saw what happened next.

Vlad held up his D-Arc before light covered his body, holding the D-Arc close to his chest. He and Tsukaimon then drifted on top of one another as they both became data.

_"__Tsukaimon...Bio-merge to…"_

A form appeared in black shadow before 10 bat-like wings came out of the shadows. The shadows seemed to become silver armor that had green accents, along with yellow and red parts to it as well. A clawed hand was in front of the form's face as two faces appeared over it, that of Devidramon and another form that had a goatlike face. Then the hand was removed as it showed a face that was covered by armor, and the symbol on it was an X-like mark. The form landed, flaring its 10 wings and speaking its name. _"ShadowSerpahimon!"_

"What…" Phantom started.

"The…" Andy added.

"HELL!?" Both of them shouted at the same time in pure and utter shock.

Not too far away from them, Agunimon was in pure shock. He hadn't expected to see _that_ form again since… well, _ever_! He was shaking now, and his breath was coming in quick and shallow.

Dorumon glared as his gem glowed. Andy snapped out of his shock when he heard his D-Arc beeping, he looked at it, seeing a holographic screen appearing.

"ShadowSeraphimon is a Seraph Digimon. It has ten bat wings and wields power directed toward evil," Andy read. "Not much is known about it though…"

"Andy… be _very_ careful…" Agunimon finally said, his voice hoarse with pure fright. "This guy is _super_ strong… He's a Mega Form level."

At that, Andy paled, and so did Dorumon.

_I… I remember now… this guy… was in my nightmare!_ Andy realized.

"Did Vlad just… fuse with his Digimon partner?" Phantom asked in shock before he looked at Andy and Dorumon. "Can't you two do that?"

"No! We can't!" Andy groaned.

"We didn't even know it was possible to do that…" Dorumon said, his eyes glued to ShadowSeraphimon's form.

"This is what you could achieve, if you would just work with me, Daniel. Same goes for you, Andrew," ShadowSeraphimon stated in a deep voice. "Human and Digimon can merge to become one. Ghost and Digimon can work together. With this, the barrier between our worlds does not need to stay up anymore."

Agunimon was shocked when he heard that. _The barrier between worlds, what did that mean? Did he mean the barrier between this world and the Digital One or did he mean more?_

Dorumon shivered at the sight of ShadowSeraphimon. "We can't possibly win against someone like that…"

Maddie, Jack, and Harriet all came out of the RV, they were looking disoriented, but they looked up at the dark angel Digimon in shock.

"Is that… a ghost?" Maddie asked. "It doesn't look like a ghost."

Andy looked over at Maddie for a moment, before remembering something about Vlad. He put his hand on Phantom's shoulder before he whispered. "Listen… there are times when fighting won't help us. We are clearly outmatched right now. It would be best to… make negotiations with Vlad."

"How could we negotiate anything with this… Digimon, human, halfa hybrid thing?" Phantom asked frantically.

"Calm down. Remember, Vlad still likes Mom. We know who he is, but our family doesn't," Andy informed. "Show you don't care about your secret being exposed, because he clearly has more to lose if you expose him than if he exposes you."

Phantom remembered that and gave his brother a look. "You sure, bro?"

Andy nodded. "At this point, we don't have much to lose."

ShadowSeraphimon looked over at Maddie before he reached out a hand. Maddie yelped before her body was lifted from the ground and she was brought to ShadowSeraphimon's hands.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Maddie shouted.

Agunimon saw his aunt in ShadowSeraphimon's hands and felt himself getting to his feet. He knew there was a chance he could get hurt or worse, but he had to do something. He rushed at ShadowSeraphimon, intending on catching the evil Digimon by surprise. _Just don't pay attention to me… Stay focused on my aunt please..._

"Never again, woman," ShadowSeraphimon said to Maddie.

Phantom and Andy looked at Agunimon for a moment before they looked at each other and nodded. Phantom picked up Andy. Dorumon looked back at them before he started running forward as Phantom flew with Andy towards ShadowSeraphimon. ShadowSeraphimon turned to the two boys who were coming at him.

"Andy!?" Maddie asked in shock, seeing a ghost was carrying her son towards the fallen angel Digimon.

From behind, Agunimon jumped up and pushed off the wall in his rush at ShadowSeraphimon. "Let her go!" He drew back a fist and thrust it forwards towards the fallen angel Digimon's back.

The punch caused a bit of a shockwave back at Agunimon, ShadowSeraphimon looked like he barely even felt it. However, as he turned to Agunimon, Dorumon jumped and tackled ShadowSeraphimon's leg. ShadowSeraphimon kicked the little Rookie Digimon away, but it was enough for Andy and Phantom to reach Maddie. Andy grabbed onto his mother with a hug. Before Maddie could even ask, Phantom turned them both intangible before pulling Maddie away from ShadowSeraphimon's hold.

Seeing that, Agunimon knew he was safe to use his element now. Taking the chance, his left foot became engulfed in flames and he spun around, kicking the evil Digimon with a back kick in the stomach.

"Insects… you are all… insects…" ShadowSeraphimon growled darkly as a dark aura began to engulf him.

Seven dark balls of energy began to form around ShadowSeraphimon. Agunimon's eyes widened in horror as he recognized that attack.

_Fuck!_ Agunimon swore mentally. _I'm not even Fusion-evolved! And Andy and Phantom won't survive it! Nor will Dorumon!_

_"__Strike of the Seven Dark Stars!"_

Everything was suddenly engulfed with darkness, hot energy of darkness began to fire, destroying the entire room. Luckily, the room had been evacuated at this point, unluckily, Agunimon, Phantom, Andy, Dorumon, Maddie, Jack, and Harriet were still in the room.

When the attack was over, Agunimon realized he wasn't injured. He dared to open his eyes to see if anyone else was unfortunate enough to get hit. He gasped when he saw Danny, human Danny, Andy, and Dorumon lying on the ground. Dorumon's fractal code was showing. Maddie was uninjured, but she was unconscious, likely due to the shock. Jack and Harriet were in the Assault Vehicle when the attack rained down on them, so they were fine.

Looking back at ShadowSeraphimon, Agunimon wasn't sure if that was a warning shot or if he was just playing around with them. He fell into a fighting stance just in case it was the latter scenario.

ShadowSeraphimon floated towards Maddie and the boys, seeming to have no interest in Agunimon. Andy and Danny were still awake, and they glared up at ShadowSeraphimon.

"Maddie! Kids!" Jack shouted as he ran out of the Assault Vehicle.

Acting quickly, Agunimon jumped in front of Jack, blocking his path. Of course, the Digimon's back was to Jack's face, but it didn't matter. He had to keep Jack from attempting something that was dangerous.

"Hey! Get out of my way! My family needs me!" Jack shouted.

"This guy's too dangerous." Agunimon snapped back. "You could get _killed_ by him!" _And I hope Andy and Danny have a plan before I have to take action myself._

Danny shakily stood up as Andy picked up a sharp debris piece that fell in front of him, and a rock. He started to scratch the surface of the rock with the debris. Dorumon groaned as he opened his eyes, his fractal code still showing.

"Do you really think you can still fight back, little badger?" ShadowSeraphimon questioned Danny.

"Listen… I swear that I will transform right now and expose us both… unless you agree to a truce," Danny spoke up.

"Hah! As if you could. If Jack sees you, I will simply kill him. Harriet wouldn't be too hard to silence either," ShadowSeraphimon pointed out. "And your mother is unconscious. You have nothing over me, little badger."

Dorumon had an iron ball on the rock Andy scratched something on. Then Dorumon's gem glowed as the iron ball melted onto the rock, then the melted iron moved over to Maddie. As soon as it touched Maddie, she suddenly opened her eyes and gasped.

Agunimon heard his aunt gasp as she woke up, but he didn't react. He was too focused on keeping Jack from going over to help them. He hated to do that, but it was best for everyone.

Danny looked over at his now awake Mom, who was looking at Danny and Andy in shock and worry. ShadowSeraphimon could see the love of his life was now awake, and staring in shock and horror.

"... As I was saying… my mom would love me, no matter what. But if I exposed you… and if you kill or hurt me right now in front of her… what do you think she would do?" Danny asked.

Even though it wasn't seen, Agunimon imagined ShadowSeraphimon was looking a bit worried now. _I see what he's doing. Danny's using Vlad's love for Aunt Maddie against him. Clever… I can see why the Fentons are known as the family of geniuses._

"Using your opponent's weaknesses against him… I am teaching you something after all. Very well… truce, but eventually I will have you by choice, you, your brother, and your mother. But for now…" ShadowSeraphimon flew up. "I will see you next time."

With that said, ShadowSeraphimon flew through one of the several holes in the wall outside. With the danger now gone, Danny fell back down to the ground.

"Danny! Andy! What happened? Are you two okay? Oh my babies…" Maddie grabbed Andy and Danny into a tight hug.

"Maddie! Boys!" Jack ran past Agunimon, who no longer had a reason to stop him anymore, and hurried over to his family. Dorumon stayed still, not wanting them to freak out over him.

Agunimon sighed before he felt the exhaustion finally catch up to him. Against his will, his Digimon form dispersed into data, leaving him as a human once more. Thankfully, he was sure nobody saw that as they were too distracted. Harriet was trying to get out of the Assault Vehicle. Takuya managed to stagger over to his family.

"Andy, Danny! Are you two okay?" Takuya asked in concern. It was partially a cover up, but it was also out of real concern too.

"We're fine… sort of…" Danny groaned.

"I don't think I want to stand for a week…" Andy grumbled.

"We should get you boys to a hospital." Maddie frowned. "That angel… creature could've done some serious damage."

"N-no!" Danny quickly spoke up. "No… we're okay, Mom, really, just some cuts and bruises, that's all."

Takuya looked back at his aunt. "Are you okay, Aunt Maddie? Did that… thing hurt you?"

"No… no, I'm alright, but… what was it? It wasn't a ghost… I don't think…" Maddie frowned.

"Something we'll have to look into when we get home, Mads," Jack said softly. "We better prepare ourselves for if more of those non-ghost creatures decide to attack again."

Takuya felt his face pale at hearing that. "Um… are you sure about that? What if there are similar creatures that _aren't_ harmful?"

"This… isn't up for discussion right now, Takuya," Maddie said.

Takuya pouted at that.

"This is so exciting!" Harriet spoke up, writing frantically in her notepad as she was out of the RV now. "Ghosts, real ghosts! And monsters! This will make your career, and mine!"

"Uh… you sure about that?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harriet paused at Andy's question. She looked down in thought before she realized he had a point. "Oh… Well… even if I can't publish this, it is still something exciting that I got to witness."

"I'll go get Jazz," Jack spoke up. "Then we should leave before something else happens. I just hope Vlad is okay too."

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** You will know if you watched Frontier. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** As for the dream… maaaaaybe, maybe not, you'll have to see.

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yup, I like that someone picked up on that, how both Tucker and Vlad are jealous of their best friend, or in Vlad's case, his former best friend. Though for vastly different reasons.

**ZAFT:** Tell me about it. I didn't pick up on that at all. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** It's usually one of those things you don't pick up on until someone else points it out. Hope you will continue to enjoy the chapters to come.


	16. Vital Discussions

**DarkFoxKit: *Is humming a familiar song***

**ZAFT: **What are you humming?

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh… let's just say… I remember her name! Do you remember her name?

**ZAFT:** Ember!

**Andy:** Hey! Don't you start talking about Ember now, you're not even on that chapter yet! So calm the heck down about it before you start spouting spoilers!

**DarkFoxKit:** You're just mad that you don't get to hear her awesome music for a few more chapters.

**ZAFT:** She does have catchy music. :)

**Andy: *Rolls eyes*** I'm going to be in the sanity corner while you two have fun with your music. But you should get the chapter up before you forget.

**DarkFoxKit: ** Oh? But it hasn't been two weeks yet, has it? It's only been one. Hmmmm, a little surprised, readers?

**ZAFT: ** I know I was when I got your PM, but who am I to be complaining? :)

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, well my main co-writer, Onyx, hasn't been in a writing mood lately. So while she's taking a break, I figured I might as well be a little more productive and continue writing this with you. And since I'm on early, I figured we could just update the next chapter today instead of waiting for another week.

**ZAFT:** I hope Onyx feels like writing again soon. Writer's block or losing the desire to write is never fun.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I think she mostly just feels burnt out though. Hopefully she'll be able to get back into the swing of things before too long. Anyways, let's get on with the chapter!

**ZAFT: ** You got it! :D

* * *

**Chapter 16: Vital Discussions**

Andy had never been glad to be in the Fenton Assault Vehicle until that night. After ShadowSeraphimon left them alone, everyone gathered up their things, packed up, and went into the Fenton RV before leaving the mansion. Jack did try to say goodbye to Vlad, but Vlad just ignored him. Jazz didn't know what happened, but she did see cuts on Andy, and bruises on Danny. She put some healing cream on them to help with their injuries. Andy managed to convince Maddie that they didn't need to go to a hospital, though Maddie was going to keep a close eye on them for the next few days when they got back home.

Dorumon was Dorimon currently, resting in Andy's arms while Andy, Danny, Takuya, and Jazz all sat in the back. Jazz was frowning.

"I still wish you would all tell me what happened." Jazz frowned. "You don't just get cuts and bruises from falling down the stairs."

"It can happen." Andy replied with a shrug. "I just didn't see where I was going and Danny tried to stop me, only to come down with me."

Jazz didn't buy it, but it was hard to deny it was impossible too, as people had gotten injured from that too. "Fine… but when I wake up in the morning, I'll be putting more cream on you."

"Thanks, Jazz," Andy said gratefully, the cream definitely helped with his cuts.

"Hey, you and Danny are my little brothers, I've got to look out for you two," Jazz remarked before she walked over to one of the seats that was stretched out like a hammock or a small bed, then laid down on it.

Takuya had conked out, so he was basically out like a light. Although he did have a few cuts of his own, as those had been sustained in his Digimon form, it meant they were less severe now that he was back as a human. His hand was near his stomach though, almost clenching it because of a slight burn, unseen due to his suit, he had there.

While Takuya and Jazz were asleep, Danny and Andy decided to have a private conversation with each other and Dorimon.

"So… Vlad is half ghost…" Andy remarked quietly. "And so are you…"

"... Yeah… but… Vlad has a Digimon partner… and so do you," Danny said back. "Does that mean you could eventually fuse with your Digimon?"

"I don't know… does that mean you could eventually become as scary looking as Vlad?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm just as much in the dark about this as you are, bro…"

Danny sighed. "I guess we will have to figure this out as we go since we don't know much about this whole thing yet."

Dorimon looked up. "That was scary."

"Yeah… it certainly was… we were no match for Vlad, or his Digimon partner," Andy sighed. "The only reason we walked out of this battle breathing and in one piece was because of Vlad's love for Mom."

Danny nodded. "Yeah. I hate having to use that against him, but we had no choice. It was that or we get hurt or worse."

"When you're in a life or death situation, you do what you have to do," Andy said. "There isn't much of a way around that."

Dorimon yawned. "I want to sleep…"

"Go ahead and sleep then, buddy, you deserve it," Andy replied softly, gently stroking the little Digimon's head.

Dorimon nodded and conked out as soon as his eyes closed.

Danny gave a worried look to Andy. "Are you alright, bro? You look… kind of troubled."

"I'm just… not really sure about a lot of things right now," Andy sighed. "I mean barely an hour ago, I just discovered my brother is a ghost… half ghost, but still… does that mean you did actually die in that accident? What does being a half ghost do to a person's body or psyche? How will it affect you later on down the road?"

"That's…" Danny frowned.

"And not to mention there's a lot of things about Digimon I don't understand either. How is it possible for a non digital entity like a human being can fuse with a Digimon? Or become a Digimon in general? Am I really holding back Dorimon from his full potential? What if when Dorimon does digivolve? Would he lose control of himself and become a monster? Would it be my fault?" Andy sighed again. "I'm sorry, bro… I guess you revealing your secret to me just caused more questions than answers."

Danny sighed. "It's okay, bro." He put a hand on Andy's shoulder. "We'll figure this all out together. You, me, Dorimon… We'll figure this stuff out as a team."

Andy looked at Danny, he noticed that Danny's hand was cold, another reminder that his brother wasn't all human anymore. But instead of showing his unease, he gave a small smile to Danny. "Thanks, bro… I'm just glad you and I don't have such secrets to hide from each other anymore."_ Except for Takuya… I have to leave it up to Takuya for when he wants to tell Danny. Then there's Dash..._

Danny smiled back. "No problem, Andy. After all, we're brothers, twins even. And we need to stick together." Then he sighed. "And… I'm sorry I pushed you away after the accident. I just was scared you would think of me as a freak if you knew about my ghost powers."

"A freak? No… A boy with the ability to fight off other super powered entities? Probably yes," Andy chuckled. "Seriously, you're like something out of a superhero comic or something."

"So I'm like Superman?" Danny asked with a cheeky grin.

"Nah, Superman can't turn invisible or go through solid matter," Andy replied. "But I will say… while I don't think you're a freak, you are… unique. I mean how many people can say they're half ghost and half human?"

"Aside from Vlad?" Danny winced at the man's name.

Andy frowned, he realized the implication that came with that. The fact that only, so far, Vlad was half ghost like Danny meant that only Vlad could truly understand what Danny was going through and will go through in the future. There were no other half human and half ghosts that they knew of. Which meant a lot of things that would happen to Danny will be compared to Vlad. They had little answers to go off of with Danny's unique status, and they had no idea if Danny would eventually turn out like Vlad or not.

"Vlad is… Vlad. You're you, just because you're both half ghosts doesn't mean you'll be exactly the same," Andy finally said. "Vlad was carrying a lot of bitterness and resentment that became hate. Hate would corrupt anyone, no matter if they were human, ghost, Digimon, or something in-between. You don't have that, so I doubt you'll turn out like him just because you're half ghost."

Danny smiled a bit. Andy's words made him feel a bit better. "Thanks, bro…"

"Now how about we let our tired bodies and minds rest for the night?" Andy suggested before yawning. "Like you said before; we can figure all this stuff out as we go."

Danny nodded. "Good idea, bro. Takuya is already out, and so are Jazz and Dorimon. Let's join them."

The two brothers laid down on the backseat as there was plenty of room for them to stretch out their bodies, though they were a little bit cramped with each other, neither of them wanted to let the other go at the moment. Andy was still worried about Danny's half ghost status and what it could mean, while Danny was more worried about Andy's mental state.

Soon, sleep came to claim the twins, and they fell into its comforting embrace. Maddie looked back at everyone else from her passenger seat while Jack was driving, she couldn't help but smile a bit to see the twins were bonding again.

"Jack, it looks like the reunion wasn't a total disaster. Danny and Andy are bonding again. I was getting worried about them when they started drifting apart since the accident," Maddie whispered to her husband.

Jack smiled at hearing that. "It seems it was a good idea to bring the kids then after all." His voice was not the booming tone it always seemed to be now, as he didn't want to wake them up. "But I still can't but feel bad about what happened. First that ghost takes over me like a human meat puppet, then that weird angel monster thing appears and takes you away, and hurt our children, and Vlad was so mad that he didn't even say goodbye…"

Maddie gave Jack a reassuring smile. "Hey, at least you had fun, right? And I would say that our college days are only one part of us. Who we became from that time is more important. If you can still be a handsome ghost-butt kicking adult even though you were a bit of a goof in college, then that says something."

Jack gave a smile. "Thanks Mads, you always know what to say. What did I do to deserve a loving wife like you?~"

Maddie giggled at that. "Just being your goofy self."

* * *

The next morning, the family stopped at a restaurant to eat breakfast together. It was a Pancake House, a place that was usually open 24 hours a day for travelers and locals to enjoy at any time.

Takuya was sitting beside Andy and Danny, and he was _hungry_. _Then again, my evolution can take quite a bit of my energy..._

Andy had Dorimon on his lap again, and was slipping him some pancake bits every now and then too. Danny was doing the same since he was sitting beside Andy and now knew that Dorimon was a living creature who needed to eat as well, he also liked Dorimon.

While Jack was stuffing his face with stacks of pancakes, and Maddie was eating her own set of eggs and bacon, Jazz was reading a book while eating her own food.

Takuya looked over at Andy for a moment, he had been wanting to ask Andy something since their confrontation with ShadowSeraphimon last night.

"Hey, Andy…? Can I ask you a question?" Takuya asked as he looked at his cousin.

Andy and Danny looked at Takuya curiously. Realizing this may be a private conversation Takuya wanted, Andy looked at Danny.

"Hey, bro, do you need to use the bathroom? You did just eat a lot of spices with your eggs earlier," Andy asked.

Danny looked confused, but then saw how Takuya was looking at Andy and realized what Andy wanted. "Oh! Uh… Yeah. I think I do." He then got up and left to go to the bathroom, leaving Andy and Takuya alone.

Since Danny was the only person who had been close to Andy and paying the slightest bit of attention to them, Takuya figured it was safe to whisper his question to Andy now. "Andy… did you meet ShadowSeraphimon beforehand? There's no way you could have known who he was so quickly if you hadn't."

"I haven't met him before, and I only knew him because Dorumon scanned him," Andy shrugged.

"No… I mean… how did you see him in your dream before we even got to Vlad's castle?" Takuya clarified.

Andy blinked before frowning. "... I… honestly don't know… I even saw Vlad's ghost form, and Tsukaimon in the dream as well before we even met them. It's not the first time I've seen people or ghosts in my dream before I saw them though…"

"It isn't?" Takuya asked in surprise.

"Before you came to our house, I had a dream about you and your spirits, remember?" Andy pointed out.

Takuya did remember that. "Yeah… that is true. But… wait, how? That doesn't make any sense. I mean you'd have to be a psychic or something to have dreams like that."

Andy shrugged. "Maybe my mind's creativity just got extremely lucky with these figures? I sure as heck know I'm not psychic."

Takuya sighed. "Okay… I think we should worry about that later as we don't know much about it. Right now, we have more pressing issues, like Vlad and Tsukaimon." He then frowned at the memory of the little Rookie level Digimon.

"Oh yeah, you said you knew Tsukaimon before," Andy remembered. "He was that Patamon Digimon who hatched with your two travelling Digimon companions, right?"

"Yeah… He was." Takuya confirmed. "But somehow, he became corrupted. It could have been Cherubimon, or it could have been something else, I don't know."

"It is a high possibility that Cherubimon corrupted him, from what you told me, that giant rabbit Digimon likely got influenced by a remnant of Lucemon's darkness, and that Cherubimon went to go find Seraphimon, and there was apparently a big fight where they were before they disappeared," Andy noted.

"That could be." Takuya agreed. "But we can't make assumptions on that either. Remember, Ophanimon checked that area out herself, but there was no evidence to point to that being the case, or anything else."

"True, there are possibilities, but until we get the full story, all we have are theories at the moment," Andy stated.

Takuya nodded. "Did Danny figure anything out about Dorimon yet? I mean, I wasn't there and had gone to stop Vlad myself when you told me to."

Andy hesitated from that, he knew Takuya would've asked eventually, but he hadn't thought of if he should tell Takuya about Danny's secret. Andy looked down at Dorimon for a moment, who gave Andy an encouraging nod.

"Well… while I was trying to get Danny out of that cube he was in, he did ask me about Dorimon," Andy admitted. "And then… he told me his secret, the secret he's been keeping from us since the accident. And after that, he asked me about my secret. I did tell him, so he knows about Dorimon now, and Digimon in general. But don't worry, I didn't tell him your secret. I decided that it was up to you if you wanted to tell him or not."

Takuya blinked, surprised that Danny knew, but it was also thoughtful of Andy to let him decide on whether or not to tell his own secret. "I'm glad that you two got it settled, and thanks for keeping my secret, Andy."

Andy nodded. "Of course. Dorimon is my secret, like how Agunimon and BurningGreymon are your secrets."

Takuya then realized Andy hadn't specified what Danny's secret was. "So… what _is_ Danny's secret?"

"As I've said before, I decided that I didn't tell Danny your secret since it's your secret, and not mine. Just like Danny's secret is his secret. Perhaps if you really want to know, you could trade your secret for his like he did with me, but you must ask _him_, not me," Andy stated.

Takuya frowned at that, but decided it was best to not pry. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind."

"Don't worry though, if I feel Danny's life depends on it or something equally as drastic, I'll tell you," Andy promised. "But the same goes for you if your life depends on it. I'm not going to let your identity secrets get you killed if I can prevent it."

"That sounds fair enough." Takuya agreed. "I can live with that."

* * *

The rest of the trip home was pretty relaxing. Despite the cramps that Dorimon got from having to sit in the RV for 4 days again, he was glad he didn't have to stay as still as when they went to Wisconsin since Danny is in the know now, and usually only Danny paid them any mind anyways, so Dorimon was free to move and stretch a little when Maddie, Jack, and Jazz weren't paying attention, which was often since Maddie and Jack usually sat in the front, while Jazz was keeping herself busy with her school projects and books.

Takuya was busy with his D-Tector, messing around with it as he had thoughts running through his mind. He then looked back at Andy and Danny playing with Dorimon. He smiled at seeing that. It was good to see the twins being close again, and that Danny seemed to enjoy playing with Dorimon. Though Takuya wondered if he should tell Danny about his own secret or not.

Still, he decided to let that come on its own time. _I think I'll just let Danny come to me with his secret on his own time. Then I will tell Danny when I am ready as well._

When the Fenton Assault Vehicle pulled up into Fenton Works, everyone brought in their things and began to unpack. When Takuya was alone in his room, he decided to call up his friends to update them on what was going on. They also needed to know what happened to Seraphimon.

It didn't take long for him to get a hold of one of the twins, Koichi this time. The symbol of Darkness appeared on his D-Tector's screen. "Koichi? It's Takuya."

**"****Oh, Takuya. What's been going on?"** Koichi asked, sounding surprised to hear from Takuya again.

"Listen, I know where Seraphimon is." Takuya replied. "And I don't think you will like it."

**"****Seraphimon? Okay, tell us what you know,"** Koichi answered back.

Takuya began telling Koichi about Tsukaimon, how he was the corrupted version of Patamon, not only that, but Tsukaimon was also partners with a bitter, hateful man named Vlad Masters, who apparently had a ghost inside him that could shift forms. And Vlad himself can fuse with Tsukaimon to create ShadowSeraphimon.

Koichi took a moment to let all this sink in.** "That… doesn't sound good at all… I also don't think this is something you should be handling on your own, Takuya. It's dangerous. Even with your cousin's Digimon's help… you're just lucky to be alive right now."**

Takuya nodded. "Tell me about it. I was sure we would be hurt if not worse in the last battle." He lay back down on his bed as he said this, still looking at Koichi's image. "And I wasn't sure if I should bust out my Fusion form either."

**"****Even if you did… I'm not sure if Aldamon would've been able to handle this version of ShadowSeraphimon alone. Before, it was just Mercurymon using Seraphimon's data, the data didn't originally belong to Mercurymon, and Mercurymon wasn't used to using Seraphimon's form. But this is the original Seraphimon, and he fused with a powerful man who apparently has a powerful ghost inside him as well,"** Koichi noted.

"True, but at least I would have had a better chance of fighting if it came to that." Takuya pointed out. "Fusion is stronger than Beast Spirit. But you do have a point too." He could concede to that.

**"****Did you see any traces of Cherubimon while you were at Wisconsin?"** Koichi asked.

"No. There was no sign of him there." Takuya sighed. "It was like he wasn't even there. Tsukaimon was the only Digimon who was there, aside from Dorimon."

**"****I see… What intrigues me is that this Vlad guy has a ghost inside him and can also fuse with his Digimon. It's like how we're able to fuse with our Spirits and turn into Digimon ourselves…"** Koichi noted.

"Oh, there is also more I need to warn you about," Takuya spoke up. "You have to be extra careful when fighting with ghosts. Their attacks do double the damage against Digimon, and vice versa, we can do double the damage back at ghosts."

Koichi seemed surprised. **"Ghosts can hurt us as Digimon? Yikes! That doesn't sound good."**

"Believe me, it isn't good." Takuya agreed grimly.

Koichi was silent for a moment, then suddenly, Takuya heard a different voice on his D-Tector. **"I don't like how this is starting to sound, Takuya. This shouldn't be something you should face on your own."**

Takuya recognized the voice as Koji. "Hey, Koji. And yeah, I know. Your brother was saying the same thing." He couldn't help but chuckle at how the twin Warriors seemed to say the same thing.

**"****Koichi and I have been discussing on what we should do. We also managed to meet up with J.P., Tommy, and Zoe a little while ago,"** Koji informed.** "And we've decided on what we should do."**

"What do you have in mind?" Takuya asked as he sat up from laying down on the bed.

**"****Let's just say we would like to keep it as a surprise,"** Koji responded.

Takuya blinked, but he smiled. "Only you would keep something a secret." He had a teasing tone to his voice. Then it faded as he became serious. "I will try to keep you informed as we learn more."

**"****We hope to hear from you again soon,"** Koichi's voice spoke up.** "Keep an eye out for this Vlad Masters guy, and Tsukaimon. And also for Cherubimon in case he's involved with this somehow."**

Takuya nodded. "Okay. I will." The line went dead as his D-Tector fell beside him. Takuya sighed as he placed his head in his hands for a moment. _I feel like something big is coming, but I don't know what it is. Ah well… We'll just take it one day at a time, I suppose._ He removed his head from his hands and stood up. _Maybe I can see what my cousins are up to._

Takuya got up from his bed that he had been laying on while he was talking to Koichi and Koji, and headed for the door. He walked over to the twins' door and knocked on it.

Danny opened the door. "Oh, hey Takuya, what's up?"

"I just wanted to see what you guys were doing." Takuya replied with a shrug. "And see how Dorimon is doing too."

"Oh, Andy and I were just talking about going to the park to have the little guy run around," Danny said, smiling. "We can make up an excuse and say he's a rare breed of a dog or something so people don't freak out when they see him."

Takuya grinned at that. "Before Andy told you about Dorimon, he actually did that same trick. It was very easy to pull off since Dorimon is so small."

"Yeah, it's why I'm glad I was able to degenerate him," Andy spoke up. "If he was kept in his Rookie form, it would be much harder to explain to people about a purple fox creature standing on two legs, with a gem on its forehead, and two small bat-like wings on its back."

Takuya chuckled. "I suppose Andy showed you how he does that?"

"Yeah, he showed me the cards and how his D-Arc works, or at least what he's figured out with it," Danny chuckled. "It looks interesting. Tucker might have a heart attack if he saw it."

"I don't doubt that!" Takuya remarked with a grin. _He would _really_ have one if he found out what _I_ can do though..._

"You know what I'm not looking forward to though?" Andy asked. "The massive amount of make-up work we have for school."

Takuya gave a cringe at that. "Yeah… And I'm not either, _especially_ given how I'm not as familiar with some of the subjects as you two are."

Danny pat Takuya on the shoulder. "Well, we can all work together to make up for our assignments. Maybe Jazz can help out too, she's really good with this book stuff."

"That would be called booksmarts, Danny," Andy chuckled.

Takuya grinned. "She isn't a genius for nothing~" It was a joke.

Both Danny and Andy gave looks of self consciousness, however, which made Takuya realize both of them felt like the black sheeps of the Fenton family due to not being geniuses themselves.

"Oh… Sorry guys. Bad joke…" Takuya muttered, feeling embarrassed.

"It's fine, Takuya, we just wish we were as smart as she is, because then school would be so much easier," Danny sighed. "Then I can get Mr. Lancer off my case a little. Out of all the teachers, Mr. Lancer is definitely the most strict."

"He's also probably the most active teacher ever, like seriously, he would substitute and take over for any other teacher at any time," Andy pointed out. "But yeah, having a genius mind in school would definitely make things easier."

Then Andy frowned. "Or… maybe not. Jazz can be… a basketcase if something goes wrong for her."

Takuya gave a wince. "Yeah… I remember that well…" There was one time Jazz had thought she had done something wrong on a test when it had actually been a prank by someone else, hiding her real score, and Jazz had panicked, almost losing it mentally.

"We've gotta talk to Jazz one day about that," Danny sighed.

"Yeah, but for now, let's go to the park and just relax, I feel we deserve that after that 'family vacation' disaster," Andy chuckled.

Takuya nodded. "Sure. It would be good to get Dorimon out and about too." He then gave a look at the little guy. "I think he wants to run now, actually."

* * *

It took the Fenton children and Takuya a few days to catch up on their school work. Takuya had a much easier time when Andy and Danny helped him out with it. Jazz was also an excellent tutor, likely from the experience from tutoring Dash, she told Takuya he was easier to work with since he knew some of this stuff already, rather than having to start from scratch like she had to do with Dash. Dash wasn't an idiot, but he hadn't had the proper teaching from his parents, and his teachers weren't teaching him in a way that he could understand.

During that Thursday evening, Danny and Andy were working on their math homework, which was a subject they both struggled in.

"Takuya… how good are you at math?" Andy asked his cousin.

"I'm fairly good at it. Why?" Takuya asked as he looked over at Andy.

"Danny and I have been struggling with this particular math question," Andy said.

"Yeah, take a look," Danny stated before holding out the text book for Takuya.

Takuya looked at the problem they were doing, and furrowed his eyebrows a bit.

"I _think_ I can help, but just to be sure, maybe we should ask Uncle Jack since he is more the mathematical mind. It seems a bit advanced for me." Takuya replied at last as he gave a look of apology to the twins.

"Oh yeah, Dad may not seem too bright most of the time, but he is a math genius," Andy noted.

"Yeah, he kind of has to be with the stuff he and Mom have been inventing," Danny chuckled.

The three boys made their way down to the lab, where Jack was actually working on a new kind of vehicle, one that had been in the works for a while now.

"Hey, Dad, could we ask you a question?" Danny requested, holding the textbook.

Jack looked back with a grin. "About the Specter Speeder?"

Andy had to wonder if that was the name of the vehicle, it couldn't be anything else. Jack then grinned even more as he took Danny and Andy, who had been, foolishly, standing right next to Danny, shoving them into the 'Specter Speeder'. Both twins gave a grunt each, Andy smooshed against Danny, who was pressed against the cockpit glass.

"Dad, we just wanted to ask a math question," Andy groaned.

Jack didn't listen, instead he started going on about how the Specter Speeder was made to traverse through the ghostly world of the Ghost Zone because it can hover and fly.

"And it's even got a cupholder!" Jack smiled proudly as he had a large cup sized cup holder pop out.

Takuya, who was outside the Specter Speeder, frowned as he saw this occurring. _Okay, I know Uncle Jack likes to explain his inventions, but it can get to be a bit much sometimes..._

He then heard familiar footsteps, ones that sounded lighter than his own. Looking back, Takuya saw his aunt, Maddie, coming down into the lab.

"Jack, honey!" Maddie called out, getting Jack's attention.

Jack came out of the Specter Speeder to see what his wife wanted. "Yes?"

"It's getting awfully late," Maddie stated. "Do you think that maybe there's something you may have forgotten about today?"

"Today?" Jack asked in a confused manner.

"About today's date?" Maddie continued. "Of September 9th?"

Jack began to mutter the word "ninth" over and over again, trying to jog his memories, but to no avail. "Nope, still not ringing a bell."

Andy was further away from the door than Danny was, but he was trying to signal Jack about what today meant. He even ripped out one of his pages from the notepad he usually carried around with him and wrote in big letters "ANNIVERSARY", but Jack didn't look in his direction. All Andy did was wave around frantically until he and Dorimon fell on Danny's lap facefirst.

"Oof!" Andy groaned as Dorimon gave a small yelp and fell onto the seat. "Okay… I won't be doing that again…"

"Ouch…" Dorimon moaned softly.

"Heh… I didn't think my lap was that comfortable for you, bro," Danny teased.

Andy grumbled.

Maddie, however, was pretty furious about the fact that Jack couldn't figure it out. Takuya could see the anger in her eyes despite wearing her red goggles. "Our… anniversary, dear… oh well, I guess it just slipped your mind…"

Maddie gritted her teeth as she started to shake a little, before she finally popped. "FOR THE EIGHTEENTH YEAR IN A ROW!"

Takuya gave a grimace as he covered his ears at her shout. _Yep, Uncle Jack did it again..._

Maddie banged her fist on the Specter Speeder's right thruster, which caused it to activate and push it forward, right into the open Fenton Ghost Portal, with the twins and Dorimon inside the Specter Speeder. Takuya paled when he saw that, though Jack and Maddie were too busy arguing to notice.

"NO!" He shouted, but he couldn't reach the Specter Speeder in time, and it sped into the open Ghost Portal. Takuya could only stand there and watch helplessly as his twin cousins and Dorimon were sent into the Ghost Zone, hopefully not on a one-way trip either.

Danny was screaming when he saw they were taken into the Ghost Zone. Andy was on the floor since he rolled off of Danny's lap when the Specter Speeder suddenly moved.

"What are you screaming about?" Andy asked.

Dorimon hopped up onto the seat and stood on his hind legs. "Uh… did the lab turn green… gooey… and uh… scary looking in the last 2 minutes?"

"The heck are you talking abo-" Andy began to ask as he pushed himself back up onto the seat before seeing exactly what Dorimon was talking and what had Danny all freaked out.

Andy felt his face pale as he saw the lab was no longer around them. Instead, there were doors everywhere, green, gooey stuff dripping all around, and almost formless shapes swirling around and screeching every now and then.

"Oh…" Andy murmured, sort of scared and yet amazed at the same time.

There was a sudden formless neon green ghost with a pair of red eyes, and a mouth, flying past them, making the stereotypical 'OoOoOo' sound as it flew by.

"... Suddenly I feel like we're in a haunted house at an amusement park…" Andy commented.

"Well this is real, and it ain't no haunted house! It's a haunted ZONE!" Danny yelled, completely freaked out.

"How is that you're more freaked out about this than I am? You're the one who's half ghost here," Andy questioned.

"Being half ghost is not the same as this place!" Danny countered as he pointed out at the green scenery around the Specter Speeder.

Andy frowned a little as he looked around the black and green place, and the creepy ghosts that were flying by._ I wonder if this is what it looks like inside Danny now that he's half ghost… is his blood green or half green? Or is it mixed with red?_

"I don't like this place…" Dorimon shivered. "There's so many ghosts and ectoplasm here."

"Do you know how to drive this thing?" Andy asked Danny.

"No, but I think I can figure it out." Danny replied as he grabbed the control yoke. "It can't be that hard, can it?"

Then Dorimon yelped before jumping into Andy's arms, shaking like crazy. Andy frowned at what could've spooked Dorimon before he looked up, and his eyes widened. A giant, white humanoid ghost appeared in front of them, giving them a toothy frown, and had pupiless green eyes.

"Put up the breaks!" Andy yelped.

Danny pulled back on the control yoke, making the Specter Speeder come to a hover in front of this ghost.

"Trespassing in an unauthorized vehicle. That's against the rules," The giant ghost stated in a voice that reminded the boy of a sheriff they saw on TV.

Dorimon was shivering heavily as he tried to bury his head into Andy's chest.

"Ah… We're sorry! W-we didn't know, right bro?" Danny stammered out.

"We're not from here…" Andy added, sounding as nervous as his brother. He tried to hide Dorimon as a stuffed animal by hugging him tightly.

"Ignorance of the law doesn't give you the excuse of breaking it, punks. If I see your faces around here again, you and I will have a problem," The ghost said.

"Get us out of here!" Andy hissed.

Danny didn't hesitate to throw the lever to reverse, having an idea of what to do. As quickly as it came, the Specter Speeder went into reverse, heading back to the real world and the Ghost Portal.

Takuya looked up when he saw the Specter Speeder come back all of a sudden, he was just about to jump into the Ghost Zone himself when he was able to sneak away from Maddie and Jack and spirit evolve, but the brothers were able to come back quickly.

"Get this through your head, Jack Fenton, there some things more important than hunting ghosts!" Maddie snapped before she walked away.

Danny and Andy emerged from the Specter Speeder, each shaking badly. Even Dorimon was shaken up. Takuya was concerned as he ran over to them. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just as shaken up by your mother's reaction as you two are," Jack said when he saw the twins shaking. "I'm going to go see if there's someway I can make it up to her."

Jack walked away from the lab, leaving the boys alone.

"G-g-ghosts… big ghost… creepy place!" Danny shivered.

"Scary… s-so scary… s-strong ghost…" Dorimon shivered as well.

"What ghost?" Takuya asked, worried now. "Did you guys see something?"

"B-big white ghost… sheriff… maybe…" Andy answered, also shivering. "Big dimension… scary, ghostly dimension…"

"So many doors!" Danny yelled.

"Hold on! What are you talking about?" Takuya asked, trying to calm the three down. "What ghost sheriff? What doors?"

They kept blabbering on about ghosts, dimensions, big sheriff, and doors. Takuya sighed and decided they needed to calm down before he could get them to talk, so he pushed the two upstairs to see if he could make them some hot chocolate or something to help calm them down.

* * *

Maddie and Jack were talking in the living room, and Jazz was in her room, so the boys had the kitchen to themselves. Takuya just finished making two mugs of hot chocolate and set it in front of the boys on the table. Takuya just gave a chocolate bar to Dorimon since he didn't think the little Digimon would be able to drink hot chocolate out of a mug.

Danny and Andy started to sip their hot chocolate while Dorimon started to munch on his chocolate bar.

"Okay… Now I want you two to _calmly_ tell me what happened in the Ghost Zone." Takuya said once he felt certain the twins were calm enough.

"I still can't believe it… we were in the world of the dead just now…" Andy said quietly. "We were in a world where spirits go when they can't move on to the plains beyond. Is it limbo or is that the afterlife waiting for us after our own lives expire?"

Takuya frowned. _Okay, Andy's out of it._

"The Ghost Zone… is really, really green… has lots of floating purple doors… and creepy ghosts flying around," Danny explained the best he could. "We ran into a really big humanoid ghost that kind of reminds me of a sheriff I saw on TV. He… claimed we were breaking a law by trespassing in an 'unauthorized vehicle' or something like that. We quickly got out by throwing the Specter Speeder in reverse… we were lucky the portal was so close."

"There was just… so much ectoplasm…" Dorimon hissed. "It was almost suffocating."

Takuya frowned at hearing this. "I would be careful about going back there if that is the case then." He didn't like what he was hearing.

"Going _back_? We didn't plan on going in there in the first place!" Danny yelped.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Takuya groaned. "I meant it would be best to avoid going there again even if by accident! That means no going into the Specter Speeder!"

"Can you imagine the possibilities you could find in the Ghost Zone? Is it an endless realm that keeps going on forever? Are there other entities that live there other than ghosts? How many different types of ghosts live there? Is there a culture? Are there many different types of culture? Do those doors lead to other realms? How does it affect a living being or a Digital being?" Andy kept going on and on with endless questions and speculation while in a trance, he was clearly lost in his own world.

"Andy, can you please come back to us?!" Takuya exclaimed. "Jeez… and I thought my aunt and uncle would be lost in their world if they ever see what was beyond the portal..." He felt like his head was going to explode from hearing so many questions at once. _This is just like when Andy learned my secret..._

"Um… I don't think Andy can hear us, cuz…" Danny muttered. "Not when he gets like this."

"Well, I definitely don't want to go back there," Dorimon said. "Ghosts are already hard to deal with in this world. I don't want to imagine how they would be on their own turf."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Yeah, that isn't something I want to imagine either."

Then Takuya saw the math textbook Danny put on the table and realized they were never able to ask Jack the question they had.

A groan escaped him. "Ugh… Great… We never even got to ask about that math question either…" Takuya smacked his face with his hand, rubbing his eyes with one hand slightly.

"Forget that, there's more going on here than a stupid math homework!" Andy shouted.

"Bro… easy there," Danny soothed his riled up brother.

"There's so much to discover, so much to figure out," Andy said, looking at Danny. "You are a walking mystery!"

Takuya blinked at that, while Danny gave a nervous smile.

"... Ah… sorry," Andy apologized, snapping out of his moment of freakout. "I think I just need some time to recuperate from that… experience."

Takuya looked at Danny and Dorimon as well. "I think all _three_ of you could use some time to recover from that. We can get that homework problem done later if that is what it takes." In truth, Takuya didn't care about the problem anymore himself. He just wanted his cousins to recover from that scary experience.

What Takuya didn't know was that Jazz was peeking into the kitchen. She was getting a snack since she was feeling hungry, and she noticed the three boys were there. She stopped and watched, and she was shocked when she saw the little 'stuffed animal' that Andy had was talking and eating chocolate. They were even talking about ghosts and the Ghost Zone, which worried her.

Jazz quietly moved away from the kitchen. _What… is all that about? That… animal Andy has… what is it? How is it able to talk? That's not normal!_

The older sister knew something had been going on with Danny since the accident, and she knew that something had also been going on with Andy since Takuya came. She didn't think too much of it at the time because Takuya had been helping Andy since Danny's accident, so it should be a good thing, but after what happened at the reunion in Wisconsin, seeing the bruises Danny had, and the cuts Andy had, she wasn't so sure anymore. Jazz knew they were hiding something, but she was worried it could be dangerous.

* * *

_That night, in the outskirts of Amity Park…_

A small, shadowy figure was running through the woods. "Have… have to… keep moving… can't let… them catch me…"

There was a loud, echoic roar in the distance. The shadow figure gasped before it jumped into a bush and stayed as still as it could._ Please… please leave..._

There was a loud buzzing sound coming closer and closer, the rabbit-like shadowy figure did its best to remain as quiet and still as possible.

The source of the buzzing was a grey insectoid form that had four legs, and two arms that had large pincers at the ends. Four wings were on its back, and the grey shell covers were open, showing it was flying. The mouth had sharp teeth, and there were two large tusks coming from its head, which was almost insect-like in appearance. Red symbols of some kind were on its face, pincers, and lower legs in the front as well.

The giant insect monster was looking around, it flew through the trees, using its pincers to cut through most of them. The little rabbit figure waited in anxiety. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the giant insect flew away from the area.

The little rabbit creature crawled out from the bushes, showing that the creature's fur was a light brown color, it had two long floppy ears, long enough to touch the ground, it had two pink stripes on its ears, pink color on the edges of its ears, it had pink on the tip of its hands and feet. There was a pink color around its neck. The rabbit creature also had three little horns on top of its head.

"... That was too close…" The rabbit creature sighed in relief. "Ever since I came to this world… I've been unable to Digivolve… what happened to Seraphimon after we were brought to this world? Why is he sending these Digimon to chase me? I have to find a way to get stronger again before I can face him…"

The rabbit creature moved forward until he saw what looked like a city in the distance. "A city… there will be humans there… but maybe I can find someone to help me…"

* * *

_The next morning at Fenton Works…_

Breakfast was loud. Maddie kept yelling at Jack for forgetting about their anniversary yesterday. However, Maddie didn't stay for breakfast for very long. She grabbed her suitcase and started walking out the door. Jack gasped at seeing this before he ran over to Maddie and grabbed onto the suitcase while Maddie, surprisingly, was able to drag him out the door with her.

This worried Danny when he saw his parents fighting, he had never seen them fight like this before.

Takuya was also worried. For as long as he could remember, his aunt and uncle had loved each other very much. To see them fight like this concerned him. "Wow… I haven't seen Aunt Maddie or Uncle Jack fight like this before… ever."

"Relax, Mom is just fed up after Dad forgot their anniversary again for 18 years, that was before Danny and I, before Jazz even, was born," Andy shrugged, not seeing any reason to worry. "Just give Mom some time to cool off a bit."

"Yeah, but…" Takuya trailed off here. "Has she ever left because of that before? I don't think she has…"

Danny stood up from the table before he grabbed Andy's hand and pulled him up as well.

"H-hey!" Andy yelped before Danny pulled him out the door, leaving Dorimon on the table.

"-the divorce?" Danny and Andy made it to the door in time to hear Maddie say to Jack.

Maddie was already in a taxi cab, she rolled down the window to say something to Jack. "There's a casserole in the freezer right next to the ectoplasmic residue samples!"

Jack however, chased after the cab for a bit, yelling about how he didn't know which was which, as was typical of him.

Danny came out, confused. "'Divorce'?" He was a bit worried now. "Did you hear that, Andy?"

"Okay, calm down, Danny, I'm sure there's an explanation for why Mom said 'divorce'. We only heard the last part of the statement, there's no need to go jumping to conclusions," Andy said, trying to remain calm.

Takuya came out as well. "What's going on? Did I miss something?"

"Relax, Mom always yells at Dad when she gets mad at him, she'll get over it," Jazz spoke up as she walked out of the door herself, planning to go to the library to check out some books to help dig into what she needed to figure out.

"Yeah… but I have _never_ heard her so mad." Danny stated. "It is a bit scary to think about."

"Well of course she's mad, Dad did forget about their anniversary after 18 years," Jazz shrugged. "Dad will likely do nothing to apologize either, not because he doesn't want to, but because he's too clueless to realize he made a mistake."

"That's where you're wrong, Jasmine." Jack said suddenly as he came back to the house, funnily enough, already packed up and ready to go. "I _have_ been a bit preoccupied with ghosts lately. So I am traveling to your Aunt Alicia's in Spitoon Arkansas to apologize and give your mother the greatest anniversary gift ever." A taxi cab pulled up and Jack threw the suitcase into the cab. Jack then got in and closed the door, but opening the window. "Wish me luck, and call me if you see a ghost." The cab then drove off.

With Jack gone, Andy blinked. "... Did our parents just leave us alone for a few days?"

Takuya blinked as well. "Okay… This has _officially_ gone from bad to worse…"

Danny frowned, still worried about what Maddie said earlier. "... Do you… think Mom and Dad might split up?"

"No! We only heard the end of a statement, bro, that doesn't mean anything!" Andy quickly spoke up, though inwardly he was worried too.

Jazz frowned herself. "Dad was saying I was wrong?"

"Jazz… are you okay about this?" Takuya asked, worried about Jazz's mental state now. "Being wrong I mean."

Jazz remembered seeing that supposed toy talking yesterday, a part of her wanted to deny what she saw as a dream or a hallucination. Jazz also remembered seeing unnatural things occuring in school, like meat suddenly turning into giant monsters, or a dragon attacking the mall, there was also that time when the entire school shook, and all the textbooks and papers were flying everywhere. Jazz wanted to be a sensible woman, she didn't want to jump to conclusions that supernatural beings were behind all of these strange events, she didn't want to be like her parents who always jumped to the conclusion that every little thing was a ghost.

But Jazz realized something, she wasn't always going to be right either. Nobody could be, it was impossible. If she was wrong about things that seemed obvious, like Jack going to apologize to Maddie, then that meant there was a possibility that her entire life was wrong. Her view on life was wrong. What she thought didn't exist was wrong. The talking 'plush toy' already proved that. And her brothers and cousin are likely involved with something dangerous.

Without even saying a word to any of the boys, Jazz rushed back into the house, and started digging out as many books as she could.

Takuya looked back at Andy and Danny. "Looks like Jazz is going to be a basketcase for a while."

Andy sighed. "I'll go get Dorimon… you two head on to school."

Takuya looked at Danny, who looked back at him before both then looked back at Andy.

"Okay, Andy. We'll meet you at school." Danny replied.

Takuya gave a nod to Andy.

* * *

Andy felt awkward. He hadn't seen Tucker or Sam since Danny told him his secret. He wasn't sure if he should let Tucker and Sam know that he was in the know now, especially since Takuya wasn't. Andy didn't want to give Takuya the same treatment that Danny, Tucker, and Sam gave him. He knew they didn't do it on purpose, but they didn't know how else to keep Danny's ghost secret away from him otherwise.

So while Danny was talking to Tucker and Sam, Andy went off somewhere else with Takuya. Dorimon was in his backpack as usual.

"You okay, Andy?" Takuya asked.

Andy frowned a little. "... I'm not sure."

"Does it have to do with the fact you know Danny's secret now?" Takuya asked, although this was just a hunch because he was not entirely sure.

"Yes," Andy sighed. "I'm glad that Danny finally told me, but that just mostly brought up more questions than answers. And… well, as much as I would like to get back with the group again, I rather not exclude you just because you're not in the know. And besides that, I am also a little worried about Mom and Dad's relationship."

"It's fine about the secret thing. I mean, Danny will tell me on his own time, and that's fine." Takuya replied with a shrug. _Although I hope Andy doesn't have to reveal mine unless those circumstances arise, which I hope they don't._ He then sighed at the relationship comment. "That, I can agree on."

"They've had arguments before, but never quite to that extent, at least not as far as I could remember," Andy remarked. "And the fact that we heard Mom say the word 'divorce' kind of makes me worried. What was she talking about to Dad before she said it? Is she really that upset with Dad for forgetting their anniversary for 18 years?"

Takuya frowned. "I can't say Andy. I don't know… I'm sorry…" _What can I say to calm Andy? I mean, I've never encountered this before either._

"Do you want to spar later to try to get your mind off it?" Dorimon asked from the backpack.

"... Yeah, maybe," Andy answered softly. "We haven't told Dash about what happened in Wisconsin yet, he needs to know about ShadowSeraphimon and Vlad."

Takuya nodded. "I think so too. It would be best since he is now a Legendary Warrior too."

"Think he's busy with class or football practice right now?" Andy asked.

"Even if he is, we still need to talk to him," Dorimon stated.

"Right…" Andy frowned. "I think Dash should be having football practice right now. Maybe we can see if he can spare 5 minutes for us to tell him what's been going on?"

"Sure. I actually passed by him on the way to one of my classes." Takuya replied. "I could tell him then when I see him next."

Andy shook his head. "No, I want to talk to him now."

Andy then started jogging off, and Takuya blinked before he hurried after the boy. Andy went out into the football field, where Dash just tackled a big player who was more buff than he was.

Andy jogged over to the coach, who was Tetslaff. "Ms. Tetslaff, I need to speak with Dash Baxter."

"What business do you have with Baxter, Fenton?" Tetslaff questioned.

"It's an important family business that I'm sure Dash would rather it stayed private," Andy answered. "And if I don't talk to him soon, his parents may pull him out of the football game. Wouldn't want that, would you?"

Tetslaff frowned, but agreed. "Very well. Family matters come first, I suppose. You have 10 minutes."

Tetslaff then blew her whistle, getting the team to stop what they were doing and gather up to her. Dash was surprised to see Andy standing beside the coach.

"Baxter, you have 10 minutes to talk to Fenton here about important, family matters," Tetslaff stated. "The rest of you, I want 50 laps by the end of this period!"

Dash blinked, a bit confused, but looking at Andy revealed it could not wait, so he went with Andy off to the side. "Andy? What's going on? Is something wrong at my house?"

"No, everything's fine with your house," Andy answered. "Sorry to pull you away from practice so suddenly, but I need to tell you something."

Takuya had no idea Andy could jog so fast, by the time he made it to the football field, Andy had already gotten Dash to the bleachers and was talking to him._ How the heck did Andy get Tetslaff to let Dash spare a few minutes to talk?_

Takuya ran over to join them, just before Andy could speak. "Hey! Don't leave me out of this!"

"You're slow, Takuya," Dorimon snickered. "Maybe you should work out your human body more."

"Oh ha ha, very funny!" Takuya snarked back before he looked at Andy again. "So… we gonna tell him?"

Andy nodded. "Yeah, we are."

Dash sat down as he began drinking his water bottle. "Alright, I'm all ears."

Andy and Takuya had to give Dash the run down version of their experience in Wisconsin, about Tsukaimon and Vlad, and how Vlad could shift into a ghost form, as well as bio-merge with Tsukaimon and become the Mega form ShadowSeraphimon. Dash was pretty shocked to say the least.

By the time the boys finished telling Dash what happened, Dash looked at Andy and Dorimon. "So… can you two bio-merge?"

"No," Both of them said at the same time.

"I don't even think we can, it might be more of a ghost thing," Andy said.

"Anyway, we felt you needed to know since you know about Digimon and are a Legendary Warrior." Takuya replied. "If that Vlad guy comes around here for some reason, or if another Digimon shows up, it may be because of Tsukaimon and Vlad sending it here."

"Okay, I'll be sure to keep that in mind. But it's really creepy knowing that there's a human that can turn into a ghost and a Digimon, a powerful one at that." Dash frowned.

"Which is why we'll continue our own training," Andy spoke up. "We need to be prepared for an attack at any time."

Dorimon and Andy frowned at each other, both of them looking down in shame. Dorimon felt ashamed that he hadn't been able to digivolve into his Champion form yet, and Andy felt ashamed that he hadn't been able to get Dorimon to digivolve into his Champion form yet. Devidramon's words still rang in Andy's mind, about how his partner Digimon can only be as good as the human partner.

_Does that mean I'm not a good human partner for Dorimon? Am I holding him back?_ Andy wondered.

Takuya saw Andy's look and frowned. _Are Devidramon's words still affecting Andy? Is that why he is looking sad right now?_

"Hey, don't worry," Dash spoke up, noticing Andy and Dorimon's looks. "It takes time, effort, and lots of practice before you can get good at anything. Which is why we always have practice before a big game. We'll be ready for them, I promise."

Andy gave Dash a small smile. "Thanks, Dash."

* * *

Andy, Takuya, and Danny came back home for the day after school. It was rather quiet without Jack and Maddie being home.

"I'll start cleaning up around the house," Danny volunteered. "Maybe it'll help if Mom had a clean house to come home too."

"I'll help out, I can start in the kitchen, besides, Dorimon could use a snack," Andy suggested. "What are you going to do, Takuya?"

"I think I'll start with the upstairs," Takuya replied. "Can't have the sleeping floor all messy, now can we?"

"Then I'll start in the living room," Danny stated.

With that, Takuya went upstairs while Andy, with Dorimon in his backpack, headed into the kitchen.

"Jazz!?" Andy stared in shock at his sister, who was also in the kitchen.

Jazz looked like she hadn't slept in days, she was jittery, she had a coffee mug on the table, and she had books and papers everywhere. What disturbed Andy was the fact that she had pictures of himself and Danny lying around, as well as pictures of Takuya when he was younger.

"It's just supposed to be a simple thing. Find out what's been going on lately. So many theories. So many things happening, but no answers!" Jazz said while shaking, then she looked at Andy, who looked very nervous. "I have been wrong on so many things, Andy! What else could I have been wrong about? Is your 'plushy' alive? Can it talk!?"

"J-Jazz… Jazz, calm down. I think you had too much coffee, and you might crash soon," Andy calmly said to his jittering sister. "Why don't you go take a nap and take a break from… whatever it is you're doing?"

"I can't take a nap, not when there are so many unanswered questions!" Jazz replied frantically. "I need to know what those answers are!"

"What answers are you even looking for?" Andy asked, now worried for his sister's mental state.

"You three!" Jazz pointed at Andy.

"What?" Andy blinked.

"There are so many theories about you three! What have you been up to? Why are you so secretive? How come your plushy talks? What has Takuya been dragging you and Danny into?" Jazz rambled on.

Andy started trying to put the pieces together of what Jazz was doing from her ramblings._ Okay, so apparently Jazz is starting to realize how secretive we've been. I guess we haven't been doing a good job at keeping it subtle. I could explain the plusy talking part by telling her it's just one of those 'talking plushies' you would see on TV. As for Takuya… that one might be harder to explain._

The younger brother looked at the older sister and frowned._ But… should I lie to her? She already looks like she's on the brink of breaking down. I know how that feels, seeing how secretive your siblings are, and are trying to keep you out of the loop. It's not a very nice feeling. I can't just tell her the whole truth either though…_

"Jazz… how about you try to relax and lay down on the couch in the living room or your bed in your room for a little bit? Maybe after you've had some time to relax, and gather your thoughts… we can talk about those theories you have," Andy said soothingly, hoping to calm down his frantic sister.

Jazz didn't look like she wanted to though. "No, not until I can figure out the mysteries around you three!"

"You're never going to figure anything out with how hyped up your brain is at the moment," Andy pointed out. "You obviously need some sleep before you can even think logically at this point."

Jazz gave Andy a look that said she wanted to protest, but she didn't say anything when he said that last sentence. It actually got her thinking about it.

"And after you get some sleep, then we can talk, alright?" Andy added, hoping to appease Jazz.

Jazz finally nodded. "Okay… I'll try to get some sleep." She then gave Andy a smile. "You're right. I'm probably looking like a basketcase, aren't I?"

Andy looked at Jazz's hair, which was all tangled up and sticking out. "Maybe just a little bit."

Jazz sighed. "Yeah, I thought so." She then looked at the notes and pictures all over the table. "I guess I _did_ get a bit carried away." Jazz then stood up and stretched. "Some sleep will probably do me some good."

Andy nodded, relieved that Jazz was listening to reason. She started to walk in the living while Andy put his bag down on the table to let Dorimon out when he heard Jazz screaming all of a sudden. Andy quickly ran into the living room.

"What? What is it?" Andy frantically asked.

Jazz pointed up at the ceiling, Andy looked up to see the vacuum cleaner was moving on its own. Andy soon realized that the moving vacuum cleaner was likely being used by his invisible brother.

"... Alright, Jazz, go get some sleep, I think you're hallucinating," Andy sighed.

"Y-yeah… I probably am. Lack of sleep can do some crazy things to a person's mind…" Jazz murmured as she walked off, looking like she was in a daze, probably trying to convince herself it was true.

Andy really hoped that Takuya wouldn't be in his evolved form and make Jazz have a heart attack. The younger boy went back into the kitchen.

"Wow… is this you when you were a baby?" Dorimon asked, picking up a picture that showed Andy and Danny as babies, wearing diapers in their crib together.

Andy quickly snatched the photo away from Dorimon. "We do not speak of our baby days."

"Aww… But you looked so cute!" Dorimon whined.

* * *

Takuya was dusting around the upstairs, and he saw Jazz walking up, looking to be a mess. She was rubbing her head a bit, like she had a headache.

"Um… are you okay, Jazz?" Takuya asked as she walked past him.

Jazz stopped for a moment before she turned and pointed at Takuya. "What've you been up to? Have you been doing any drugs? How has Japan influenced you?"

Takuya blinked. "Um… Just dusting up here, no I have not, and living in Japan hasn't been bad to me." He listed off the answers before looking back at her. "Why?"

"I know you're up to _something_, Takuya, and that you've been involving my brothers," Jazz hissed. "And I will find out what it is!"

Jazz started to laugh a little as she walked backwards towards her room. "I will find out, Takuya!"

Takuya looked disturbed as Jazz went into her room and closed the door, a creepy grin on her face as she did so slowly.

"I will find out…" She whispered one last time before the door shut completely.

_Okay… I think Jazz snapped a bit there… _Takuya thought with worry.

* * *

After a few hours of cleaning, Takuya and Andy met up in the living room. Dorimon was relaxing on Andy's head.

"Okay, I think I cleaned everything in the kitchen. Though I think Dad had a point in not being able to tell which was the casserole and which was the ectoplasmic samples… they both look eerily similar to each other," Andy said in concern. "We might have to go out to eat dinner."

"And I managed to get the upstairs done, but Jazz _did_ seem a bit off when she started rambling about trying to find out what I am involving you and Danny in." Takuya replied. "It was creepy the way she looked at me…" He shivered at the memory of it.

"Jazz is a bit hyped up on coffee and lack of sleep, and maybe a bit of paranoia," Andy sighed. "I'm hoping to talk to her after she gets some much needed sleep. I don't think she even knew there was school today."

"Yeah… I think you're right about the school thing. And I hope that she does feel better after some sleep." Takuya sighed.

"I still wanted to see those baby pictures," Dorimon pouted.

"Could you even tell which one was me and which one was Danny?" Andy asked.

"Oh…" Dorimon trailed off, realizing Andy had a point. "You two _did_ look very much alike…"

"Identical twins tend to," Andy sighed.

"Oh, speaking of Danny, where is he?" Dorimon asked. "You'd think he would be done by now, especially since he can defy gravity."

"Yeah… I was wondering that too." Takuya realized. "Danny _should_ be done by now. Surely it can't take _that_ long to clean the lab, right?"

"Wait, Danny decided to clean the lab?" Andy frowned.

Suddenly there was a loud yelling sound coming from the lab. Andy and Takuya ran down into the lab, only to see Tucker and Sam standing, looking worried. Tucker was shouting into his PDA.

"Danny! Danny answer me!" Tucker begged.

"He can't hear you, that ghost took away his equipment," Sam said, getting into the Specter Speeder.

"What the- Tucker? Sam? When did you get in here?" Andy asked, surprised to see them in the lab.

"Umm… not too long ago?" Sam replied, raising an eyebrow. "Why? Did you not see us or something?"

"No, I was upstairs, and Andy was in the kitchen," Takuya pointed out. "We didn't even know anyone came in today."

"Nice hat," Sam pointed at Dorimon on Andy's head.

Andy then frowned. "Why were you yelling about Danny in your PDA, Tucker?"

"O-oh... Uh…" Tucker looked to Sam for some help.

"Danny is… at the grocery store… picking up something… and Tucker wanted to make sure Danny didn't get the wrong… thing," Sam hesitantly weaved.

Andy frowned again before he looked over at Takuya. "Hey, Takuya, can you go get us some juice to drink?"

Takuya frowned as well, but nodded. "Sure." He turned and left for the upstairs.

Andy knew he would have to apologize to Takuya later before he turned to Tucker and Sam. "Listen, Danny told me his secret, about being half ghost after the accident, he told it to me in Wisconsin. We hadn't had a chance to tell you two yet, or I guess Danny wanted me to be the one to tell you guys. And because I know, I want to know the truth; where. Is. My. Brother?"

Sam and Tucker were surprised that Andy knew the truth. It showed on their faces clearly. "Dude, I didn't think Danny would _ever_ tell you!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Well he did, so start talking," Andy said firmly.

"Danny is…" Sam hesitated, she was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Danny told Andy. "He… when he was cleaning the lab, he accidentally shot a present that your dad was planning to give to your mom as an apology into the… uh… Ghost Portal… and Danny… being half ghost… decided to… go in… after it?"

Andy felt himself get chills down his spine. "He WHAT?!" It came out as a shout, not that he intended to shout anyway, but still, that was shocking to hear. "First off, how could he have shot a present that Dad was supposed to take with hi- nevermind, it's Dad. Second, you just let him go in there BY HIMSELF!?"

"He told us to wait here!" Sam shot back in her defense. "He can cover more ground on his own!"

"Sam, it's the Ghost Zone, it is a completely unknown territory for_ all of us_!" Andy snapped.

"Relax, realx, look, we can find Danny," Tucker spoke up, trying to calm Andy down. "We just have to take the Specter Speeder and… find him."

"Do you even know how to work that thing?" Andy frowned, pointing at the Specter Speeder.

"How hard can it be?" Tucker asked as he looked at the vehicle.

Tucker went into the Specter Speeder, sitting beside Sam. Andy looked at them from outside.

"Let's see… maybe if I just push this button…" Tucker began working on the controls before he pushed a button.

Suddenly, the Specter Speeders' thrusters roared to life and it thrusted itself forward, right into the Ghost Portal. Leaving a stunned Andy and Dorimon alone in the lab. Both of them just stood there, staring, their brains unable to comprehend what just happened, until Takuya came down into the lab, holding a couple of cups of apple juice.

"Um… where are Sam and Tucker?" Takuya asked as he looked around. "And...where is the Specter Speeder for that matter?"

Takuya looked back at the stunned boy and Digimon, both their eyes wide, and their mouths hanging open. Takuya looked down at his cup of apple juice before he tossed the contents at Andy's face.

"TAKUYA!" Andy shouted, now cold and wet.

"That wasn't funny!" Dorimon snapped, his fur now wet.

"You two were standing there like a couple of fly traps!" Takuya shot back. "Now where are Sam, Tucker, and the Specter Speeder?"

"They just took off into the Ghost Zone!" Andy yelled, now freaking out. "They're going to get themselves killed! Danny is in the Ghost Zone! Alone! Probably trapped, getting tortured, or WORSE!"

Andy grabbed onto Takuya's shirt and started shaking him. "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"

"Calm down!" Takuya shouted back. "We will! Just stop panicking and shaking me!"

Dorimon made bubbles pop in front of Andy, making him stop and let go of Takuya. "S-s-sorry… you're right, I can't start panicking, that won't help anyone…"

_Jeez, I think the Fentons are prone to freaking out…_ Takuya groaned, rubbing his chest.

Andy looked at the swirling green ghost portal for a moment. "We have no ghost powers, nor do we have a vehicle to traverse through the Ghost Zone. We're probably going to need to rely on Digimon power here, like BurningGreymon… Call Dash, we're going to need his help."

Takuya nodded. "Right." He then got out his D-Tector and proceeded to call Dash on his own.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** I am glad you like it. :)

**DarkFoxKit:** Hmm… Dorumon won't be in his champion form for a few more chapters, but hopefully when he does, it'll be satisfying.

**MikotoSuoh23789****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah. I loved Digimon Tamers, it was my favorite Digimon season. Digimon Frontier was good too, and unfortunately it gets a bad rep among the community. I decided we could mix between the two along with Danny Phantom characters to give it a unique spice of its own. I'm glad to see it's doing a good job so far.

**ZAFT:** You will never know what we will do, so stay on your toes~!

**GirlFish****: ZAFT:** It will be hard to say how long until Patamon returns to normal. That part we have yet to get to… ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** But don't worry, we're already making plans for Patamon, and he won't stay with Vlad forever.

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yup, Vlad should always be the biggest threat, at least in the first season. He is supposed to be the more experienced half ghost, and is Danny's most dangerous enemy for a reason. And to be honest, Danny telling Andy he's half ghost was actually unexpected for us. We didn't originally intend for Danny to reveal the secret at all, and have Andy find out himself like in the original My Brother's a Ghost story, but… well, considering their characters, personalities, and what they went through together, it just didn't make sense for Danny to keep on hiding it, especially when he suspected his brother hiding big secrets from him as well. And they were in a situation where they needed to work together.

**ZAFT:** It worked out in the end, but there are still more secrets to be revealed… ;)


	17. The Ghost Zone

**DarkFoxKit:** So I've been on a bit of a writing streak lately. I think we'll do weekly updates if that's the case.

**ZAFT:** Well, we have surpassed 50 reviews, and the last chapter got 6 reviews. That's the most we have gotten for a chapter so far! :D

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup! Looks like this story is finally starting to get some attention. :) And I've been getting a lot of ideas from reading another fanfiction, so I've been wanting to keep going while the ideas are fresh and hot.

**ZAFT:** No complaining from me. I have a few myself that I want to get out badly too! XD

**DarkFoxKit:** Of course, we are also starting to wrack up on chapters. So we should also update while we're writing.

**ZAFT:** Yep! So, let's get to the chapter! :D

**Andy: *Looks around before sighing in relief*** Good, they're gone and didn't see me.

* * *

**Chapter 17: The Ghost Zone**

Dash ran up to the Fenton Works' front door, and rang the doorbell. Andy was quick to answer the door.

"I came… as soon… as I heard…" Dash panted, having ran all the way here.

"Good, you came quickly," Andy said, before letting Dash in. "Come in, hurry."

Dash entered the house, Andy shutting the door behind them. "So you need my help in saving your brother and his friends because they went into the Ghost Zone?"

"Yeah," Andy confirmed.

"I'm all for rescue missions, but are we actually going into a world of ghosts?" Dash frowned, looking quite terrified at the idea.

"Yup," Andy confirmed again, leading Dash downstairs to the lab, where Takuya was waiting.

"A-are you serious? Isn't that, like, suicidal?" Dash paled.

"Dash, you're able to become a Digimon…" Andy said with a deadpan look. "You can actually _fight_ ghosts now."

"Dude, from what you told me, ghosts can hurt Digimon, a lot," Dash pointed out.

"And Digimon can do the same to ghosts," Andy retorted. "Besides, I called you here because I was hoping you could help us. But it's your decision if you want to go or not. Takuya and I will be going whether you come with us or not."

Dash frowned here. It was true he could remain behind, but then what kind of friend would he be if he didn't help them out? He sighed. "I guess I will go with you then. After all, you have helped me a lot, and I need to return the favor."

"You don't need to return the favor Dash, but I do appreciate you helping out," Andy said before looking over at Takuya. "Okay. I have the Fenton Rod, the wrist ray gun, and the Jack-O-Ninetails. We need to go light, but we don't want to be weaponless either, at least I don't."

Andy put on his white and dark blue hazmat suit, knowing he would need it for this Ghost Zone.

Takuya nodded. "Okay. I think we're set then." He held up his D-Tector. "Are you ready, Dash?"

Dash nodded and held up his own. "Do you need to ask?"

Andy held up his D-Arc to Dorimon. "Let's do this, Dorimon."

"I'm ready!" Dorimon smirked.

Takuya invoked the power of his Beast Spirit. The red outline of his second Spirit roared and appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as he invoked a ball of fractal coding on his left hand. Takuya swiped the D-Tector over the coding and called out the phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ He felt the primal power of his Beast Spirit flowing into him as his clothes ripped away and his body became surrounded by the coding. Takuya cried out as the power flooded into his body. His body grew in strength and power as well as size, with red, yellow, black, and white armor forming on his body. A tail extended out from the base of his spine as two large orange wings appeared on his body. His head became like a dragon's almost, but not exactly, and the top of his head was white. His eyes turned sky blue, but had a feral edge to them as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"BurningGreymon!"_

Dash was next. The tan digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he held up his hand with the fractal coding around it. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Dash felt his body increase in strength and power as he felt his skin become more like wood and he felt his senses increase in sharpness and sensitivity. His eyes turned a golden color as he finally landed, crying out his name as he did so. _"Arbormon!"_

"Dorimon digivolve to… Dorumon!"

With everyone all evolved up, BurningGreymon stood in front of the portal that was surprisingly big enough for him to fit through. He picked up Arbormon, Andy, and Dorumon.

All three were able to fit on his back between his wings neatly, much to his relief. "Okay, make sure you hold onto my back armor tightly." BurningGreymon instructed. "Once we go in, I may fly fast and hard if we come across a ghost, and I don't want to lose anyone."

"Don't worry about us, we'll be sure to hang on tight," Andy reassured.

"I'll also make sure Andy and Dorumon don't fall off," Arbormon promised.

"You just focus on finding the others," Dorumon said.

BurningGreymon gave them all a nod before he ran towards the Ghost Portal and jumped into it, keeping his wings folded until they had passed through. It felt odd to him, like he was passing into a thick ooze almost, but then the feeling vanished, and he flared his wings open, flapping them once to get himself steady in the air.

Once they were in the Ghost Zone, BurningGreymon was hit by a spike of coldness, nauseousness, and a bit of fear. There was something about this world that was unwelcoming, besides the obvious. It felt like it wanted him gone, like he didn't belong here. Arbormon was shivering, likely feeling it as well.

"This is so creepy…" Arbormon whimpered a bit.

"I know…" BurningGreymon admitted. "It feels like we are not supposed to be here, like something wants us gone from this place…"

"I hate this place…" Dorumon hissed, being a pure Digimon, the feeling was likely more intense for the poor Rookie.

Andy wrapped an arm around Dorumon, hoping to calm him down a little bit.

"We shouldn't be here for too long, we just gotta find Danny, Tucker, and Sam, and get the heck out of here," Andy said softly.

BurningGreymon nodded before he focused his gaze back on the Ghost Zone ahead of him. As he flew on, there were signs of ghostly blobs floating around them, each with red eyes that were glowing and the typical ghostly noises coming from the blobs. One blob even _hissed_ at the Digimon in the group as it got closer to the group.

A growl from BurningGreymon forced the blob to back off, much to his and Arbormon's secret relief.

Andy looked around. "There are so many doors… I really hope our friends didn't go into one of them."

"But if they did, we might have to check each one…" Arbormon pointed out.

Looking at one of the doors in question, BurningGreymon came to a stop in front of it. "Maybe we should just select a few doors. There are too many for us to look in. We would be here forever at that rate."

"Okay, there are four of us, let's each check one door," Andy suggested.

BurningGreymon, Arbormon, and Dorumon all nodded at Andy's suggestion. Carefully, BurningGreymon reached out a three-clawed hand towards the doorknob of the door they were in front of. "I have this one then."

He grabbed the knob and turned it, opening the door cautiously.

BurningGreymon peeked inside. It looked like a big kitchen inside. Cautiously, Burning floated inside.

Arbormon picked up Andy and Dorumon before hopping off of Burning. Due to the weird way gravity worked in the Ghost Zone, they were somehow able to float. Of course, since Arbormon and Andy couldn't fly, they had to move their arms to 'swim' through the air in order to move.

"This is kind of awkward," Andy commented as he was 'swimming' to one of the doors.

Arbormon floated to another door and opened it as well, keeping himself on high alert for any sort of potential attack. His door showed a child's bedroom, complete with stuffed unicorns on the bed. "This must be a girl ghost's place…"

Dorumon used his little wings to flutter, hovering over to another door. This one looked to have colorful toys on it. "Huh… is this a nursery?"

Arbormon opened the door and carefully went inside. Dorumon opened the door, and hovered in. Andy was the last one to reach a door. He opened and looked inside. It showed what looked like a rock star's room. Andy cautiously pulled himself inside.

* * *

BurningGreymon was trying to figure out his way through this kitchen. It was huge, way bigger than a normal human kitchen. It looked like it belonged to a giant.

"How big is the owner of this place…?" BurningGreymon muttered to himself. He was half-expecting the owner to come out from anywhere. Blue eyes flicked around as he glanced from right to left, and even up to down.

As BurningGreymon was passing by the stove, it suddenly burst to life. Burning turned to the stove, seeing blue fire burning suddenly. Then a giant looking skillet came down on it, before a giant marble meat fell into it. There was a big bottle of vegetable oil that poured onto the meat before it started to sizzle loudly. Everything was doing it by itself, there was nobody at the stove holding the skillet.

BurningGreymon looked a bit freaked out, but he didn't show it very much. He kept an eye on his surroundings, watching to see what would happen next. _This place is creepy… Not to mention it is moving on its own..._

Burning looked around before there were suddenly piles of meat around him. The piles of meat suddenly turned into living meat creatures, meat creatures that looked very familiar to Burning. They looked quite angry to see him.

"Uh oh…" BurningGreymon gulped. "I… Uh, bye!" He flared his wings and took off towards the door, gliding as fast as he could.

The door was blocked by a giant meat hand. BurningGreymon stopped and looked back, seeing a very familiar giant meat monster.

"Hello there, dearie~ Why don't you make yourself at home? Lizard meat is on today's menu," The meaty Lunch Lady said in a sickly sweet voice. "If you don't want to be on the menu, dearie… THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF MY LAIR!"

"I was just leaving!" BurningGreymon said.

However, BurningGreymon was suddenly covered in meat, and he was shoved out of the door so fast that he thought he would have whiplash.

Meanwhile, Arbormon felt very uncomfortable where he was. From what he could tell, he was in some kind of girly room, judging from the pink walls, and the unicorn bed he was looking at. But he had thought it would be a little girl's room, instead, he began to believe it was a teenager's room. There were computers, big screen TVs, a large amount of make-up products on a shelf in the room.

"Okay… maybe… Fenton and those other guys didn't come here…" Arbormon decided nervously.

Suddenly, someone else came into the room. It wasn't a teenager girl, but a young looking woman. She had green hair, pale skin, and red eyes. She wore a red jacket over a black tank top, a red mini-skirt, green tights, and long black boots.

"Uh… Hello?" Arbormon asked, unsure of what to do or if this entity was a threat.

"What the?" The ghost woman stared at Arbormon. "What are you doing in my lair!? Can't a woman have her own privacy!?"

"H-Hey! I was just looking for some friends!" Arbormon protested. "I wasn't going to remain here! I was just on my way out." He hoped to get away from the ghost who was looking quite mad, and it freaked him out.

Arbormon felt a bunch of items suddenly hitting him from behind. He was hit by a ton of make-up. By the time he got out of the door, he was covered in pink powder, red lipstick, and, strangely enough, a flora pattern on his body.

"What the?" BurningGreymon looked at Arbormon in shock. "What happened to you?"

"Crazy woman ghost hit me with make-up." Arbormon grumbled as he eyed BurningGreymon, who was covered in meat. "What happened to _you_?"

"Attacked by meat…" BurningGreymon huffed back.

* * *

Dorumon was nervously looking around. The place did look like a nursery, as he guessed. There was a crib, a rocking horse, lots of cute plushies scattered on the floor, the walls were a cute light pink with little white bunnies on it, and there was a beach ball.

Dorumon moved in a bit further, only to freeze when he sensed something. Looking back, Dorumon saw what looked like a blue skinned baby with yellow eyes, and light blue hair. The baby had a pacifier that was blue with a yellow top on it, and he wore a white baby sleeper with a bib on it.

Dorumon gulped, feeling nervous, his fur was standing on ends._ Maybe splitting up was a bad idea, I need to stay with Andy to keep him safe. He's the only one here who can't turn into a Digimon, and I'm his partner!_

The little Digimon looked around a little bit longer, before a teddy bear suddenly tackled him. "Oof! What the?"

Dorumon looked up, only to see an entire shelf of teddy bears floating, all aiming at him._ Andy was right… teddy bears are evil!_

Dorumon began running around the nursery with the teddy bears all coming after him, he ended up accidentally tackling the wooden rocking horse, which caused it to rock a bit, and creaked like it was old. The baby in the crib suddenly started crying before it disappeared from the bed, then reappeared on top of the rocking horse. The teddy bears all stopped when the baby had woken up. Dorumon blinked, staring at the now awake baby ghost, who's eyes were glowing a pure yellow color.

"Um… Hello…" Dorumon squeaked as he looked at the baby nervously.

The baby ghost looked at Dorumon curiously. "Aww, how cute, a new animal toy for me to play with~"

The baby ghost formed a pink rattle in its hand and started shaking it. Suddenly, Dorumon was surrounded by teddy bears.

"Andy was right… Teddy bears are evil…" Dorumon whimpered before he turned and began to rush towards the door out of the lair.

Dorumon let out a cry as he was pelted by stuffings.

BurningGreymon and Arbormon turned to Dorumon when he managed to get out of the lair and slammed the door behind him, he was covered in stuffings.

"Dorumon?" BurningGreymon asked. "What happened?"

"Teddy bears… evil bears…" Dorumon whimpered.

"... I think Dorumon takes after his daddy," Arbormon chuckled.

"Why are _you_ wearing girl's make-up!?" Dorumon snapped back.

"A woman ghost did this to me…" Arbormon grumbled.

"And I was hit by meat from the Lunch Lady." BurningGreymon muttered. "I hope Andy is doing okay…"

Dorumon frowned at that. "Andy hasn't come out yet?"

Everyone looked over at the last door that was near them. There was no sign of Andy coming out.

"He's the only one who can't turn into a Digimon to defend himself," Arbormon realized.

"Maybe we should go after him." BurningGreymon suggested.

Dorumon was already at the door.

* * *

Andy had no idea how he got himself into this mess. He was tied up to a chair, being forced to look at the stage. On stage was a teenage girl ghost. She had pale skin and flaming blue-green hair. One arm, her right, had a long black glove that went past the elbow on it, she wore a black tank-top, but with the right strap missing, black pants, and boots that looked like they had skulls for the soles. Her eyes were an ectoplasmic green, and she had purple lipstick on.

"Can you please let me go?" Andy asked politely.

"Dipstick, you came into my lair, you have to hear my music. I'm planning to do a concert soon on tour~" The teenage girl smirked. "Don't worry, you're going to love this one, kid!"

Andy had tried to fight back, but his arms were completely tied, he had no way to use any of his weapons like this. A guitar floated over to the girl, and she took it with a smile.

_This is a ghost's lair. They have full control of everything that goes on here, while the intruder, me, has no control and is subjected to the ghost's mercy._ Andy frowned, realizing the trouble he was in.

The ghost girl began playing her guitar. It was loud, and Andy was surprised the loud music hadn't blasted his eardrums. He had always hated going to concerts because he couldn't stand loud music unlike most other teenagers. Andy wished he could move his hands just to cover his poor ears._ Her guitar isn't even plugged in to anything! Is this the power of her lair or just ghost powers in general? THIS IS TORTURE!_

Andy began to squirm in his seat, hoping Dorumon, Arbormon, or even BurningGreymon would come to help him before something happened to him. Andy felt like his mind was starting to become hazy, he wasn't sure if he was passing out or if it was something else, but he knew it wasn't good.

Suddenly, the lair door was flung open._ "Metal Cannon!"_

The ghost girl yelped when she was suddenly hit by an iron ball, stopping her guitar playing. Dorumon rushed into the room and used his teeth to bite the ropes that were binding Andy. Andy groaned as he fell to the floor on his hands and knees, feeling weakened from that experience.

Dorumon ran over to Andy's side as BurningGreymon flew in and landed in front of Andy protectively, Arbormon at his side as well.

"Andy, are you okay?!" Dorumon asked, concern evident in his voice, as it was also shaking a bit too.

"Ugh… we… we have to leave…" Andy spoke up as best as he could.

"What are you all doing in here!? You filthy digital pests!" The girl screeched against before she strummed her guitar.

Two giant purple fists came at Burning and Arbormon. They were both knocked back by the blast, which was likely amplified by the ghost's lair.

BurningGreymon grunted as he was slammed into the wall, landing on his feet, but barely. He shook himself off, but he was feeling that blow in his chest, as it hurt in that area. "Arbormon… Grab Andy and let's bolt…"

Arbormon got up from where he had been flung too and ran over to Andy, picked him and Dorumon up, and followed BurningGreymon to the door.

As soon as they were out of the lair, they shut the door behind them. Not wanting to risk the angry ghost girl chasing them, BurningGreymon quickly grabbed onto Arbormon, Andy, and Dorumon before he quickly flew away from the area as fast as he could while holding onto his friends.

"... Why… are you covered in-" Andy began to ask.

"Woman threw her make-up at me," Arbormon sighed.

"Baby ghost used an evil army of teddy bears to pelt me," Dorumon replied.

"... I knew it…" Andy hissed.

"And I met the Lunch Lady again, so she hit me with some meat." BurningGreymon finished.

"Those doors," Andy spoke up. "Each one seems to lead into a ghost's lair. I would recommend not going into those doors unless we know for sure our friends are in one. As you've all just experienced firsthand, you do not want to tangle with a ghost in their own lair."

BurningGreymon nodded. "Point taken." He then shook off some of the meat as best he could. "But now what? We have to find Danny, Sam, and Tucker still. It seems the ghost lairs are not where they are."

However, BurningGreymon had no idea of what was going to go down as he continued his flight through the Ghost the group ventured further into the Ghost Zone, BurningGreymon began to get a feeling like something was wrong. It felt like some sort of entity was watching them, but he couldn't be too sure.

"Hey, this place looks a lot… bigger, if that's the right word," Andy spoke up, looking around. "The doors are further apart here."

"There's… something here," Dorumon spoke up, his gem glowing a little.

"I'm sensing something too." BurningGreymon confirmed. "But I'm not sure what it is."

"It's either a powerful ghost or a powerful object," Arbormon stated. "Considering where we are, it's likely to be a ghost though."

Andy noticed that since Dash became Arbormon, he hadn't shown as much fear towards ghosts as he would have as just Dash._ I wonder if becoming a Digimon makes him braver?_

"Over there!" Dorumon suddenly pointed. "Go down, BurningGreymon."

BurningGreymon looked confused, but did as Dorumon asked. He flew down lower, wondering what it was that Dorumon was pointing at.

"What do you see?" Andy asked before his D-Arc beeped.

Andy pulled out his D-Arc from his hazmat suit's pocket, and saw some kind of glass box with a black and green key inside it, the key itself had a creepy skeleton head on it. Andy blinked before he looked away from the D-Arc, but he didn't see any box or keys.

"That's odd. The thing shows up on my D-Arc, but not if I look with my eyes." Andy noted as an observation. "I wonder if my D-Arc is malfunctioning."

"I don't think so," Dorumon said, looking over at Andy. "The D-Arc must be showing you what I'm seeing."

"You can see it?" Andy asked before he looked over at Arbormon. "Arbormon, BurningGreymon, can you two see it as well?"

"I can see _something_," BurningGreymon admitted. "But it's kind of hazy."

"Yeah, like a gassy form that is shaped like a box, but more blurry as well." Arbormon added.

"Hmm…" Andy looked back at his D-Arc, the picture showed it clearly. "It must be hidden with some kind of mist-like ectoplasm. Digimon must be able to see through it though. Humans obviously can't, maybe that's why it's hazy for you two, and why I can't see it at all. I'm not sure about ghosts though. It looks like it's meant to be hidden, whatever that key is supposed to be."

"What should we do with it?" Dorumon asked. "It feels like a really powerful object. It must be pretty important."

"I think we should leave it alone." Arbormon said. "We don't know what it is, and if it _is_ important, if we take it, we could end up upsetting the ghosts here."

"It looks like it's a skeleton key of some kind," Andy noted. "But to what, I wonder… Danny, Tucker, and Sam likely didn't see it…" _Assuming ghosts can't see it either._ "So it's unlikely this key will help us find them anyways."

However, before the group could leave the key, BurningGreymon suddenly felt the feeling of heat and coldness at the same time. He began to look around, wondering where the ghost he was sensing was. His form was tense, and he tried to keep himself from gripping Andy's hazmat suit to the point of causing slight tears.

"Takuya, what's wrong?" Andy asked, noticing that BurningGreymon's grip was starting to tighten.

Dorumon gasped as he turned around. "LOOK OUT!"

Purple flames shot towards them. Because it was ghostly flames, BurningGreymon knew it was dangerous to even him. He quickly moved down, barely dodging it, the ghostly flames almost grazing against the tip of his wings.

BurningGreymon hissed at the heat he felt on his wing tips, but he didn't remain focused on that. He looked around again, only to see what had launched the attack. It was a massive four-armed ghost, with black eyes and red pupils. The mouth was full of sharp and pointies, and the fur was red while the face and stomach were dark grey in color. There were four cuffs, one per arm, just above the wrists, and it had a tail as well.

"What is that?!" Arbormon gasped as he looked at the monster ghost in shock.

The giant monster ghost took a deep breath and let out a roar so loud that it caused visible soundwaves to appear. As soon as the green sound waves hit BurningGreymon, as well as the others, they all fell back. Andy and Dorumon fell away from BurningGreymon and Arbormon since the soundwaves hit them the hardest due to being so small and light.

BurningGreymon felt himself flipping head over heels before he flared his wings and righted himself in mid-air, his body aching all over. "Ugh… Okay… that was some attack!"

"Where are Andy and Dorumon?" Arbormon asked, not seeing the boy or Rookie anywhere.

BurningGreymon realized Arbormon was right and became somewhat frantic. Given how it was his cousin that was missing, it made sense he would panic. "Oh no! Where are they?! ANDY! DORUMON!"

The monster ghost swiped its claws at the distracted BurningGreymon, which caused the dragon Digimon to fall at rapid speed. Arbormon jumped away and floated there.

"I hate this…" Arbormon groaned.

BurningGreymon flared his wings again and regained his flight path, but now he was not sure if he could fight while worrying about Andy and Dorumon. He made sure to hover a distance away behind the Arbormon as he flew back to his level. "Forget it. We have to get out of here, find Andy and Dorumon, and scram."

The giant monster ghost grabbed onto Arbormon's body.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that as soon as I get out of this grip!" Arbormon snapped. "Okay, big boy, want to play?"

_"__Blockade Seed!"_ Arbormon shot out little seeds from his mouth at the monster's face.

The seeds took root on the monster's nose, before it grew out vines that quickly began to tangle up the monster.

The ghost was forced to release Arbormon to claw at the vines, and that gave BurningGreymon time to grab onto Arbormon.

"Nice shot." BurningGreymon remarked as he helped Arbormon onto his back between his wings.

The monster ghost roared angrily before breaking out of the vines. It then lashed out its tail, which grabbed BurningGreymon, then threw BurningGreymon right at a door. The door didn't open, thankfully, but the impact was still brutal.

BurningGreymon had turned so he would take the impact to his front, protecting Arbormon from being squished, but earning himself a near-perfect face-plant into the door. "Ooof!"

"Okay… I am _officially_ starting to dislike this place…" Arbormon grumbled.

"You and me both…" Burning groaned. "It doesn't look like this…_ thing_ wants to let us go so easily."

"Then what can we do? Fight it?" Arbormon asked in confusion. "Plus, we don't know where Andy and Dorumon are."

The monster took a deep breath and began blasting out the soundwaves again.

"We'll just have to hope Andy and Dorumon can take care of themselves until we get past this guy!" BurningGreymon stated before he prepared himself to use an attack to try to counter the soundwaves.

_"__Wildfire Tsunami!"_ The flames burned around BurningGreymon and Arbormon, essentially protecting them, but only to a limited degree, as while the first soundwaves were made harmless by the flames, the ones after blew them out. But they were also weaker than the initial attacking waves, so it worked out in the end.

The monster didn't give up, however, it took another deep breath before blasting out purple flames. BurningGreymon countered with his own flames, but they were evenly matched.

"Okay, this thing is getting on my nerves," Arbormon hissed before fractal code surrounded him. _"Arbormon slide evolution! Petaldramon!"_

Now in his Beast form, Petaldramon stood up on his hind legs from a small floating island he found. _"Leaf Cyclone!"_

Petaldramon used the flames to his advantage. He created the leaves around BurningGreymon's fire, catching all the leaves on fire, but Petaldramon could still control where the burning leaves would go, he had them hit the monster full force, causing a twister of digital burning leaves around the monster's body.

The combined attack did some serious damage to the creature, forcing it to back off from the two Legendary Warriors. BurningGreymon looked at Petaldramon, impressed by what he saw. "Nice work! That was a brilliant idea."

The monster, now injured, took a deep breath and let out a high pitched roar, there were no soundwaves this time however.

"What is it doing!?" Petaldramon growled as the leaves around his head closed up his face in an effort to protect him from the loud sound.

"I don't know…" BurningGreymon hissed as he clasped his head to cover his ears.

When the loud pitch noise finally stopped, Petaldramon and BurningGreymon were horrified to see a sudden sea of what looked to be a skeleton army surrounding them.

"Shit…" BurningGreymon hissed. "So much for getting away with that attack combo…" He readied his guns for attack.

"If there was an actual ground, I could hit most of these guys at once with my Thorn Jab." Petaldramon frowned.

As the army was closing in, there was a sudden iron ball that fell into the group. The group that noticed the iron ball looked down in confusion, seeing a small piece of paper attached to it. Then suddenly, there was a large explosion, wiping out a big number of the army.

"That was…" BurningGreymon recognized that technique anywhere. "ANDY?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Petaldramon looked up. "Takuya, above you!"

BurningGreymon looked up, and saw Andy clinging onto Dorumon's paws, while Dorumon was holding Andy's hands while doing his best to hover through the Ghost Zone. While it was a struggle, the nearly non-existent gravity made it much easier for the little Rookie to carry his partner.

"Andy!" BurningGreymon flared his wings and took flight up to where Dorumon was hovering. He extended his clawed hands and grasped the two of them gently, enabling Andy to let go and Dorumon to rest. "You had us worried…" The concern and panic were evident in the Beast Warrior of Flame's voice.

"Sorry about that… my head's probably going to be ringing for a while, but… I should be fine. Dorumon did all the work to bring us back here," Andy stated while Dorumon was panting in exhaustion.

"I can see that." BurningGreymon noted. "You did good, Dorumon. When we get back, you will definitely get a big treat for that."

"Yay," Dorumon smiled tiredly.

_"__Leaf Cyclone!"_ Petaldramon surrounded the remaining army and the injured monster with sharp leaves before he jumped up high to where BurningGreymon was.

_"__Petaldramon slide evolution! Arbormon!"_ As soon as Petaldramon was Arbormon again, he landed on BurningGreymon's shoulder. "Now, while they're distracted, let's get our hides out of here!"

"No need to tell me twice!" BurningGreymon said before he turned and took off as fast as he could fly, which was _fast_! Now, with all of them reunited, BurningGreymon felt relieved to be headed back to the Ghost Portal, wherever it was.

"Wait!" Andy called out suddenly. "Turn left from here, quick!"

BurningGreymon frowned, but did as Andy asked. He turned left, wondering why Andy wanted him to do just that. The look he gave Andy said it all.

"Keep going in this direction," Andy instructed.

"Why?" Arbormon asked.

"After that behemoth monster ghost blasted me and Dorumon away from you two, I got a glimpse of the Specter Speeder," Andy answered. "I saw them going this way."

BurningGreymon kept going in that direction, hoping Danny, Sam, and Tucker were safe. However, it was then that he got that feeling he knew meant ghosts again. The flashes of heat and coldness ran through him, making him shiver. "Agh… I hate that feeling…"

"It gets annoying after a while, doesn't it?" Arbormon sighed.

"Wah?" Dorumon frowned as he recovered enough to look. "More ghosts?"

Andy frowned as they saw the Specter Speeder ahead, but there were also a lot of ghosts chasing after it. These ghosts looked to be wearing some kind of uniform and helmet, they all had green tails and green faces, and they held some kind of baton in their hands. The batons they held shot out some kind of energy blast at the Specter Speeder.

"We have to help them!" Andy yelled.

"No questions asked here!" BurningGreymon said as he altered his flight path so they flew just behind the Specter Speeder, turning around so he was facing the ghostly force pursuing the vehicle. _"Pyro Barrage!"_ His guns fired off the small flame bullets at the ghosts.

The ghosts that were chasing the Specter Speeder let out gasped of shock and pain from the sudden fiery bullets. Andy took out a baton-like thing from his hazmat suit's pocket, and pushed a button on it. "Dorumon, you stay with BurningGreymon and rest, okay?"

"What? What are you going to do?" Dorumon frowned.

"I'm going to help my brother and my friends," Andy answered before he pointed the baton thing at the Specter Speeder, then pushed a button.

The baton shot out a string, before the ball that came out turned into nine hooks, with the middle being Jack's face. The hooks grabbed onto the back of the Specter Speeder, then pulled Andy with it. While Andy was being pulled along with the Specter Speeder, he got out his Fenton Rod from his pocket and extended it. Two of the ghost guards got close to the Specter Speeder, and were about to shoot their baton weapons at it, when Andy came swinging in like Tarzan and smashed the two ghosts with his Fenton Rod.

BurningGreymon turned to the rest of the ghost guards and gave out a loud roar, showing that he was now their enemy if they wanted to attack the Specter Speeder and its occupants. _"Wildfire Tsunami!"_

_"__Blockade Seed!"_ Arbormon shot out seeds at more guards, causing vines to grow out and entangle them, and made them much more flammable to BurningGreymon's fire.

As soon as the ghost guards were made to back off, a white-skinned ghost with pupiless green eyes and a menacing air appeared before the three Digimon. "What do we have here? Digital beings in a place where they don't belong, that's against the rules."

"That's the guy, the guy we saw here the first time!" Dorumon exclaimed.

BurningGreymon heard that and glared at the ghostly sheriff. "So you're that ghost I was told about."

The white ghost ignored the three Digimon when he saw Andy on top of the Specter Speeder. He glared as he pointed at the boy. "You! Just because you may be half human doesn't mean that you're above my rules, kid!"

Andy furrowed his eyebrows. "What? I think you got the wrong-"

"Get him!" The white ghost ordered.

The ghost guards all flew towards Andy and the Specter Speeder at once. Andy fired his wrist gun at the ghost guards to push them back, but there were too many of them. Dorumon jumped from BurningGreymon's arms and flew towards Andy and the crowd of ghosts.

Andy managed to swing his Fenton Rod at some of the ghost guards that got in close to him, but one of them managed to hit him with a baton beam. Andy yelped as he felt burning pain on his chest, as that was where he was hit. Andy hit the roof of the Specter Speeder hard, and tried to push himself up from that.

_"__Hyper Dash Metal!"_ Dorumon came in and tackled the ghost guard who got in close and had hit Andy.

Thinking fast, BurningGreymon flew towards the large group and tried to come up with a plan. He had one that was a bit crazy, but it would possibly work. He looked to Arbormon. "Get ready to jump to the Specter Speeder. I have an idea that might help, but it is going to be a bit crazy."

Arbormon looked at BurningGreymon in a confused manner, but he did as he was asked. "Okay, just don't do anything that'll get us all killed." With that, he jumped off of BurningGreymon's back and landed on the roof of the Specter Speeder.

Now freed of his burden, BurningGreymon turned to face the guards again and a glint of a smirk appeared in his eyes. Fractal code surrounded his form as he slide-evolved back to his Human Spirit form. _"BurningGreymon, slide evolution! Agunimon!"_

The code dispersed as Agunimon was revealed. But he didn't waste any time, for fire began to surround his form before Agunimon then began to spin around, creating a fiery vortex that surrounded him and began to head for the ghost guards. _"Pyro Tornado!"_

The ghost guards were caught off guard by the sudden fiery twister coming at them and tried to flee. Several managed to, but a larger number was wiped out by the attack. The fire dissipated from around Agunimon, who called upon his Beast form once more. _"Slide Evolution! BurningGreymon!"_

"What the?"

They heard a very confused Tucker yelping, he had peeked out the window to see what all the commotion was, and was very surprised to see the Digimon there, along with Andy. Tucker ducked back into the Specter Speeder, and shortly after, Danny Phantom phased up onto the roof of the Specter Speeder.

"Didn't think I'd see you guys here of all places," Danny remarked, looking at Andy, Dorumon, and BurningGreymon, though he was surprised by the new Digimon he had never seen before. "Who's that?"

"I'm Arbormon." The new Warrior introduced. "You can call me the Warrior of Wood. And you are?"

"Uh… Danny Phantom," Danny introduced. "Nice to meet you."

"What trouble did you get yourself into?" Andy questioned. "Why is this sheriff ghost coming after you?"

"I… may have done a prison break with some of my past enemies?" Danny said sheepishly.

"Why were you in prison in the first place?" Andy frowned.

"Um… littering…" Danny mumbled.

BurningGreymon came in and landed on the Specter Speeder before he reverted back to his Human Spirit form. The fractal code dissipated from around him as he walked over. "Are you okay, Andy?"

"I'm fine," Andy answered.

"You're covered in bruises b- Andy." Danny frowned.

"I had a bit of a tough time getting here," Andy grumbled.

"What the!?" The white ghost shouted when he saw Danny and Andy. "There's two of them!? … No, the ghost boy must've just duplicated himself to try to throw me off."

"Yeah, I can totally duplicate myself, Walker," Danny rolled his eyes in sarcasm.

Agunimon looked back at the white ghost sheriff, whom Danny called 'Walker', now identified as Walker. His blue eyes held a hard glare as he stood in front of Andy and Dorumon, as well as Danny Phantom. His body language said it all about his intentions to Walker.

"Why must you interfere with my rules, Digital Being?" Walker glared at Agunimon.

"Twins should _never_ be separated, and I won't let you do that, no matter _what_ your so-called rules say!" Agunimon growled back.

"Twins?" Walker frowned.

"The portal isn't far from here, but we can't go through if Walker and all his goons are chasing us, they'd run chaos all over the real world," Danny said to the others.

"Then in that case, give me a minute, Dorumon and I should be able to do something to throw those ghosts off our tail," Andy stated. "Try to keep them distracted until then."

"Whatever it is you have planned, you'd better hurry." Agunimon warned before he then slammed his fists together and let loose with his Pyro Punch. Two ghost guards were hit by the fireballs, burning one of them badly and wiping out the other.

_"__Blockade Seed!"_ Arbormon shot out the seeds from his mouth and they grew into vines, surrounding a large group of ghost guards, getting themselves entangled in the vines. He smirked as he saw the handiwork of his attack.

Agunimon moved beside Arbormon, the two Warriors now standing back to back as they watched the ghost guards around them.

Walker raised up a green ecto gun at them, and he fired a strong looking ecto blast from it. Agunimon was hit and thrown back. Arbormon was hit next, and also thrown back. Andy and Dorumon gasped as they were aimed at next. Danny quickly got in front of them and created a barrier around them, which barely held up from the ecto bullet. There was already a crack in Danny's barrier.

Agunimon grunted as he pushed himself up slightly, only to see the green ecto-barrier all around them. And to his concern, there was a large crack in the middle of the barrier. It took a lot to make Agunimon worry, and this was one such occasion.

Danny lowered his barrier, seeing how it was already cracking, he then fired his ghost rays at Walker, hoping to try to stop the bullets. The ghost ray did hit the bullets, but the bullets were pushing Danny's ghost ray back. Danny groaned as he struggled to keep his ghost ray up.

Agunimon got to his feet and took action to attack Walker. _"Pyro Darts!"_ While his weakest attack, it was also one that was accurate in range. The small flame bits were thrown at Walker, hitting his suit's arm.

Arbormon managed to get on his feet as well, then he held out his hands. _"Roundhouse Punt!"_

Arbormon's hands shot out to Walker's face as fists, attached by long cables from his arms. Walker let out a shout of pain, feeling both the flames from Agunimon, and the punches to the face from Arbormon.

"Look, you were right, we _do_ do more damage to ghosts," Arbormon noted to Agunimon.

Agunimon could see Arbormon was right as well. Walker had a burn on his arm now, and he had large bruises on his face from Arbormon's punches. "Yeah, but there are still more ghosts than we can handle. I hope Andy's plan is ready, because we will need to act soon. We're almost at the Ghost Portal."

"Alright, now, everyone stand away from Dorumon," Andy warned the group. "I don't want him accidentally hitting you with this next attack."

Agunimon and Arbormon didn't need any more warning, as both moved back from Dorumon. Danny hovered back behind Andy, wondering what his brother had planned, he was also panting from trying to push back Walker's bullets with his ghost ray, luckily, Agunimon's earlier Pyro Darts caused the bullets to melt away.

Andy pointed at Walker's chest. "Spit!"

Dorumon spat out what looked like liquified metal at Walker. The liquid metal stuck to Walker's chest.

"How dare you!? This will take weeks to wash off, and some stains don't come out!" Walker snapped. "That's against the rules, boy!"

"You know what? I don't care," Andy said. "Because you'll be doing more than cleaning a simple stain."

_"__Metal Explosion!"_ Dorumon shouted.

When the liquid metal exploded, it caused some of Walker's ectoplasm to go flying across the Ghost Zone. The ghost guards were worried and confused for their boss, and there was also heavy green smoke covering up the area.

"Hurry, we have to get the boss to the medical bay!" The ghost guards were fussing as they flew into the smoke where Walker was.

"Danny, tell whoever's driving this thing to head to the portal, now!" Andy instructed hastily.

Danny gave a nod and phased into the Specter Speeder, which then changed direction towards the portal not even five seconds later.

"Get down to the roof." Agunimon said as he ducked down so that he was laying flat on the roof of the Specter Speeder, Arbormon following his lead. "This way the Specter Speeder can fit through the portal with us on it."

"Heh… looks like we're going to make it out of this alive after all," Arbormon stated.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Andy warned. "Remember Murphy's law, if something can go wrong, it will."

Agunimon didn't like hearing that, but he knew from first-hand experience back in the Digital World it was possible. "Yeah. I hate to admit it, but Andy's right. Only when we pass through that portal will we be in the clear."

"There are more ghosts here," Dorumon noted, looking around for any danger. "But they seem more curious and frightened than hostile. It looks like damaging that Walker ghost made all the guards stop chasing us to attend to him."

Agunimon looked back over his shoulder, only to see Dorumon was right. There were indeed no ghost guards following them.

While all of them were on high alert for anything to suddenly ambush them or the Specter Speeder would stop for whatever reason, they were all very glad to see that it was for naught. They made it to the Ghost Portal and went through it all in one piece.

"Great… and now the next biggest obstacle…" Andy frowned before looking at Agunimon, Dorumon, and Arbormon. "Explaining you three to Tucker and Sam."

Agunimon, Arbormon, and Dorumon all looked a bit nervous, Agunimon especially.

"Oh boy…" Arbormon muttered.

* * *

**MikotoSuoh23789****: ZAFT:** You will see, don't worry. :)

**Irusha the Kitsune****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, well Jazz is going to play more of an active and important role here than she did in canon season 1, as you will soon see. Jazz was already kind of… psycho in the actual episode, we just carried it here, but she has different reasons for why she's acting this way than she did in canon. And the subplot will actually collide with the main plot, so keep a look out for that~

**ZAFT:** Don't worry. We have twists galore planned! XD

**Luna Lillyth****: ZAFT:** Things will get better for Jazz, and make no mistake, the secrets will cause a few problems down the road. :)

**GirlFish****: DarkFoxKit:** Dark Patamon? You mean Tsukaimon? And… let's just say 'Dark Patamon' will have changed his mind long before we get to the cloning part of the series.

**ZAFT:** As for Lopmon, yes he was once Cherubimon, and as for his partner, you will have to read on to find out who it is~

**DarkFoxKit:** We have plans for Paulina, don't worry. But as for her and Zoey meeting… oh yikes, that's one cat fight I wouldn't want to get involved.

**ZAFT:** XD


	18. Visiting Arkansas

**ZAFT: **Hmmm… Andy could use some more company besides us.

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh? Did you have someone in mind?

**ZAFT:** ***Pulls out Takuya*** Here we go~

**Takuya:** H-huh? Wah!? Where am I? Where did you two come from!?

**ZAFT:** Andy~ We have a new friend for you~

**Andy: *Lazily comes over*** What are you talking about-

**Takuya:** ANDY!? What are you doing here!?

**Andy:** … I've been here. The question is what are _you_ doing here?

**ZAFT:** Blame me. XD

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, you're right, this _is_ more entertaining~

**ZAFT:** Maybe we will bring in Danny next time~

**Andy:** If you bring Danny here, you're going to cause a lot of trouble!

**Takuya:** I'm not supposed to be here! Put me back!

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh would you look at that? It's time for the readers to get into the story!

**ZAFT:** Well, let's get to it!

* * *

**Chapter 18: Visiting Arkansas**

Tucker and Sam were staring at Dorumon, Agunimon, and Arbormon. Danny, who was still in his ghost form, was looking a bit awkward. Andy also felt pretty awkward, especially since he was the only human in the group of Digimon. Then again, Danny was the only ghost in the group of humans.

_Why are Danny and me the odd ones out here?_ Andy couldn't help but muse.

Of course it was odd to Andy, but then again, that was how his life was turning out it seemed.

"So… these guys… aren't ghosts?" Sam asked after a minute of awkward silence.

"No, they aren't." Andy confirmed. "Otherwise, they would be glowing and be floating."

"So what are they?" Sam asked. "Why did they help us?"

"Aren't those… D-monsters?" Tucker asked.

"What?" Arbormon blinked.

"He means Digital Monsters," Andy clarified. "And yes, but they're called Digimon, not D-monsters."

"How do you know that? … How do you know them?" Tucker asked, looking at Andy.

Agunimon then spoke up. "It's because we told him. And if you remember that dragon, BurningGreymon, then you most likely saw _me_. That is my second form, called a Beast form."

"I've been helping out from time to time myself. I'm Arbormon, a friend of Agunimon here," Arbormon introduced.

"You can call me Dorumon. I'm…" Dorumon looked at Andy.

Andy sighed. "Okay, well, I suppose since you two are my best friends, I should let you know that Dorumon is my Digimon partner."

Sam and Tucker stared for a while before it finally sank in. "WHAT?!"

And_ there's the brain breakage…_ Agunimon thought as he rolled his eyes at the reaction.

"Uh… hey, guys, now that you're all safe, I'm going to go back to where I… uh… came from… I think that Fenton boy will be down here soon," Danny spoke up before he turned intangible and flew through the ceiling.

"Where he came from? Why didn't he go into the portal? Isn't that where all ghosts come from?" Arbormon asked.

"Technically no, ghosts can come from anywhere since they're usually spirits from people and animals who had lived and died," Andy informed.

Agunimon nodded. "That is true." He then looked back at Sam and Tucker. "So, are you two alright?"

"Yeah… uh… yeah, we just… need some time to process this," Sam answered, looking a little overwhelmed, not that Agunimon could blame her since she did just experience the Ghost Zone.

"But that's so cool! Actual digital monsters here in the real world! How do you exist outside of video games?" Tucker, the ever so geek, questioned. "How did you get a digital pet, Andy?"

"He's not a pet, he's my partner," Andy corrected. "And we just kind of found each other."

"And Arbormon, Dorumon, and I do not come from video games." Agunimon continued. "We come from a world called the Digital World. It's connected to the human world, but humans can't enter it easily. In fact, humans normally can't enter our world at all. Only under dire circumstances are humans called to the Digital World, and trust me, you do _not_ want to know how dire the situation has to get in order for that to happen."

Tucker pouted at that. "Awww… but what about the Digimon partner? Could I get one someday?"

Agunimon was hesitant on that, as far as he knew, one would have to be destined or chosen to be a Digidestined, whether it was by uniting with a Spirit or gaining a Digimon partner, but before he could answer, someone else beat him to it.

"Of course you can," Andy said.

"What? Andy," Agunimon lowered his voice. "You shouldn't give Tucker false hope like that."

"I don't see why Tucker can't. After all, Dorumon and I became partners, I don't see why Tucker can't become partnered with a Digimon of his own one day," Andy answered back.

Agunimon frowned a little at hearing that, but he wasn't about to get into a debate with Andy about it right at that moment. Instead, he looked at Arbormon. "I think it's time we split. We don't want to remain here longer than we have to, especially since Tucker there is such a geek, he will want to question us."

"Heh, don't I know it?" Arbormon chuckled.

"Hey, is everyone alright?" Danny Fenton asked as he came down the stairs.

"Yeah," Andy answered as he walked over to Danny, who didn't seem surprised at the Digimon. "We're all okay."

"You okay too?" Dorumon asked the twin brother in concern, since he is Andy's twin, he also felt the need to protect Danny too.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I am."

While that was going on, Agunimon and Arbormon made their way to the stairs, hoping to slip out before Tucker could bombard them with questions about where they came from, etc.

Thankfully, it would seem that Tucker and Sam were more distracted by Danny. They went over to the Fenton boy.

"Wait, you already knew about Dorumon and those others guys?" Sam asked.

"Uh… sort of?" Danny sheepishly answered.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sam frowned.

"Well… Dorumon is Andy's secret… I wanted to leave it up to him to tell you two," Danny replied. "I didn't know what his relationship was with Agunimon, and I didn't know about Arbormon until recently."

Andy chuckled here. "I have worked with Agunimon before. He's a good-hearted Digimon. Same with Arbormon. They both have a drive to protect the Digital World, and by extension, the human world, because they are known as the Legendary Warriors."

"The Legendary Warriors?" Tucker asked.

"They are powerful Digimon warriors who had protected and saved the Digital World from a really powerful, and really cruel Digimon called Lucemon," Dorumon answered.

"There's a whole lore and history behind the Digital World," Andy chuckled. "I could tell you guys more, but… I do have a question."

Andy turned to Danny. "What were you thinking!? Why did you go into the Ghost Zone!? You could've been killed and become an actual full ghost!"

Danny cringed at hearing Andy's scolding. "I'm sorry, bro, but I lost the present that Dad had planned to give to Mom by shooting it into the Ghost Zone on accident. I wanted to go retrieve it before Dad realized he forgot it and wanted to come get it."

"You went into the Ghost Zone because of a stupid present?" Andy frowned.

"You know, you could've just, I don't know, buy another present for your mom and say it was from your dad?" Dorumon suggested. "It's better than going into a world of ghosts just to get back something that was as good as lost."

"And getting locked up in ghost jail, and then chased by a corrupted ghost sheriff!" Andy added.

Tucker was giggling. "Wow, never thought I'd see the day that Danny would be chastised by his brother and his pe- partner."

"You and Sam aren't off the hook either!" Andy snapped, looking at Tucker and Sam. "You two went into the Ghost Zone, in a vehicle you have no idea how to use, and almost got caught and likely killed by more ghosts!"

"You were all pretty reckless doing that, we had to get those two Legendary Warriors just to go after you all." Dorumon frowned.

Andy looked at Dorumon. "My thoughts exactly, Dorumon." He glanced at Sam and Tucker as he said that, giving them a scolding look. "And I don't doubt Agunimon and Arbormon would agree with us as well."

"What were we supposed to do? Danny was in trouble and we had to do something!" Sam argued.

"Don't go in unprepared for one, like did you even bother to bring weapons with you?" Andy asked. "Or wear a hazmat suit? The Ghost Zone has a _lot _of ectoplasm in the air, you could've been contaminated and die of radiation poisoning!"

Sam cringed under Andy's harsh tone of voice. "Well, yeah… but we didn't exactly have time to prepare…" But she knew that was a weak defense, even if it was true.

"The Specter Speeder does have filter air for us though," Tucker pointed out.

"And what if you had to get out of the Specter Speeder? What if you got a cut while you were out in the Ghost Zone?" Andy pointed out.

"Bro, I think they get it, besides, you're really starting to sound like Mom whenever we get in trouble," Danny spoke up in an uneasy tone.

"That, and… he really looks like your ghost form more with that hazmat suit on," Tucker pointed out.

Andy looked down at his hazmat suit, just as Danny did too.

"Um… my hazmat suit is more white and dark blue, not inverted like Danny's ghost form." Andy pointed out.

"That's how Danny looked before the accident too…" Sam muttered, looking a little guilty about that.

"Okay, well, I'm going to take this off now," Andy grumbled.

"And don't any of you go doing anything stupid again!" Dorumon added.

Then the group heard a familiar voice. "Andy, Danny? Are you down here?" Takuya emerged at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, we are!" Danny called as Takuya came down.

Andy and Dorumon noticed it was just Takuya, they figured Takuya had likely told Dash that he should head home now since it was late, and everyone was safe.

"Good! I was wondering what happened to you two!" Takuya said as he made his way over to them, then noticing Sam and Tucker. "When did you two get here?"

"You seriously need to pay attention when we come visit," Sam sighed. "But we're tired now, and we need to get home. My parents will start calling the cops soon if I'm not home by midnight."

"I should go too," Tucker agreed. "My parents aren't as strict, but I also don't want them to worry."

Takuya blinked, but nodded. "Okay, get home safely."

"See you guys later," Danny said.

"Take care of yourselves," Andy stated.

"Bye, be safe," Dorumon waved.

Tucker and Sam looked at Dorumon, then at Takuya for a moment. They both looked at each other, before they just decided to leave before their heads exploded.

Takuya then looked at Danny and Andy. "What happened anyway? Why didn't you answer my calls for you?" Takuya had decided to play dumb since he didn't want Danny to know he had been in the Ghost Zone as well, albeit evolved.

"We… uh… were busy with…" Danny paused for a moment. "Wait… do you know about Digimon, Takuya?"

"Why would you say that?" Takuya asked.

Danny pointed at Dorumon, raising an eyebrow since Takuya didn't have much of a reaction towards the Rookie Digimon.

Takuya paled as he realized that he had made a big mistake not acting surprised towards Dorumon. However, he decided that could still be salvaged a bit with a bit of creative lying. He then sighed. "Yes, I do. But only because Andy told me about Dorumon. Or rather, I found his Digi-Egg and I was there when it hatched. That is how I learned of Digimon."

"... Well that… explains a few things, like the closeness you two have now," Danny remarked. "And now I have to explain this to Tucker and Sam later, since they were pretty confused about your lack of reaction to Dorumon too."

"You're slipping, Takuya," Andy said.

"I guess I am…" Takuya sighed. "I really need to pay more attention to that in the future…"

"But this makes it easier," Dorumon spoke up. "Now I don't have to hide that fact anymore."

"Now…" Andy looked at Danny. "You got the present back-" Andy looked at Takuya. "Which is what we were doing, finding the present that Danny lost, which was meant to be for Mom, from Dad, to apologize for forgetting their anniversary." Andy looked back at Danny. "What are you going to do? Ship it to Arkansas at our aunt's house?"

"Nope, that would take too long," Danny answered.

"Then what are you thinking?" Andy asked.

Danny gave a smile.

* * *

Andy, Takuya, Danny, and Dorumon, who was now back to being a Dorimon again, were all on a small airplane that was flying to Arkansas.

"How did I let you talk me into this?" Andy groaned.

Danny gave a grin. "You know you love me, bro~"

Takuya groaned as he placed his hand on his face. "Oh boy…"

Dorimon giggled silently because there were other people on the plane.

"You sure it was a good idea to leave Jazz home alone? She was having a bit of a freak out earlier," Andy asked.

"Someone needs to watch the house, and if we leave her there by herself for a while, she may forget about asking about our secrets." Takuya pointed out.

"Jazz wanted to ask about our secrets?" Danny asked.

"She was… really getting worried about us, and starting to get paranoid thoughts," Andy answered.

"Yeah, she began to ask questions to me about if I was doing drugs and how Japan influenced me." Takuya added. "It was creepy…"

"Ummm… maybe this alone time could be good for her…?" Danny hesitantly asked.

"Or break her," Andy added.

"She'll be fine, we'll get back home before she notices that we're gone," Danny tried to reassure.

Takuya looked out the window and down at the earth below. He was wondering when they would arrive at Spitoon, because they had been in the air for a long while now.

While Takuya was looking, he thought about random things as he let his mind wander. Then his mind came back to when Andy told Tucker he could get his own Digimon partner one day.

_Andy mentioned Tucker could get a Digimon partner one day, but Andy was chosen by Ophanimon to be Dorumon's partner. Is it possible that Tucker could be chosen? Or will he choose his own partner? Is that even possible?_ Takuya thought to himself. _As far as I know, that shouldn't be possible, and yet Andy thinks it is… Can it be that a Digidestined can choose their own destiny? But are they destined then? Or do they make their own destiny?_

Before Takuya could think to talk to Andy about that, Danny spoke up. "Uh… excuse me, but will we be landing soon?"

"Shoot, honey, there ain't no airports in Spitoon," A lady with a thick country accent replied with a big smile on her face.

Danny, Andy, Takuya, and Dorimon all went pale at hearing that before the lady threw them some parachutes. "Have a nice trip, and thanks for flying Air Grits!" The lady said as all three boys were soon parachuting out of the plane. Takuya had pulled on his goggles so he didn't get the wind in his face as that happened.

Dorimon was hanging onto Andy's head, though if he did fall, he could always digivolve into Dorumon and glide the rest of the way down.

"I can't believe they had us jump out of the plane to land!" Danny groaned as they were floating down from the sky.

_What are you complaining about? All three of you have the ability to fly! I don't!_ Andy inwardly grumbled.

Takuya looked at Danny. "Someone _should_ pull their operating license if they have passengers do this instead of landing at an airport…"

"And I'm pretty sure they have an airport in Spitoon," Andy grumbled. "I think that pilot lady is just crazy."

Takuya couldn't help but agree mentally. He then looked down and saw what he could recognize as his uncle's hazmat suit. It was hard to miss since it was _bright orange_. "I think I can see Uncle Jack down there!"

"Great! All we have to do is steer our parachutes down there then!" Danny spoke up, holding onto the present in his hands. "Uh… how do we do that?"

Takuya looked unsure himself. "Um… Uh oh…"

Andy looked at his cousin and his twin brother. "... I hate this place."

"Uh… good luck with that?" Dorimon asked, unsurely.

The trio drifted down towards the trees, making all three boys yelp as they landed in the trees, getting tangled in their parachutes while suspended above the ground. "Whose bright idea was it to just have us jump out of a plane without training on how to use parachutes?!" Takuya growled as he squirmed in his parachute.

_Again, at least you two can burn the parachute or fly through them. I can't._ Andy grumbled to himself. "Dorimon, can you bite us out of here? Or use your Acid Bubbles to melt through the parachute?"

Dorimon grinned. "I will bite it since my Acid Bubbles would hurt you." With that, he opened his mouth wide and began to bite at the fabric of the parachute, tearing it apart slowly so as to not send Andy tumbling towards the ground.

Takuya meanwhile, had managed to untangle himself from his parachute and was now beginning to climb down the tree he had been stuck in.

Danny was already on the ground, waiting for them to get out. He did help Takuya get untangled though, before Andy tumbled to the ground with Dorimon._ Ugh… must be nice to have ghost powers..._

Takuya helped Andy up as soon as he reached his cousin's side. "Sorry… I would have helped but…"

Andy got on his feet, holding Dorimon in his arms. "Let's just get to Dad and Mom before-"

Then Andy felt it, a very irritating itch on his arms. He knew mosquitos got bad in Arkansas around this time of year, and they were already feasting on him. "I _HATE_ this place!"

Takuya sighed. "Let's go, before you get Dorimon to feast on the bugs." He grabbed Andy's left arm and pulled the boy along, making sure to move somewhat quickly lest Andy get bitten even more.

Danny hurried after them. "Relax, bro, at least we won't have to stay out here too long."

"That present better be worth it!" Andy growled.

Thankfully, they hadn't landed too far from Alicia's house, Alicia was the boys' aunt, the woman Maddie was visiting.

Jack looked nervous about something, but apparently Danny, with his acute ghost hearing, was able to hear what was being said between the two parties of adults.

"You forgot the present, didn't you?" Maddie sighed at Jack, who facepalmed himself.

"Told you he was a fool!" A rough looking woman wearing overalls snapped, looking at Jack and Maddie.

"W-well I…" Jack started nervously.

"No, he didn't! He kept it at home so the mosquitos wouldn't get it!" Danny said as he, Andy, Dorimon, and Takuya all emerged from the brush.

"Oh yes, the bloody mosquitos would definitely love to eat whatever was in the present over my apparently delicious blood," Andy hissed, clearly in a bad mood.

Jack took the present and went over to Maddie. "Happy anniversary, baby!" Maddie took the present as Jack continued to speak. "And I'm sorry. I'll try to be better about things in the future."

Maddie and Jack both hugged each other.

"What's important is that I know you love me, Jack. I'm sorry for raising such a big fuss over our anniversary like that," Maddie apologized. "We show each other our love and working together every day, we don't need just one day a year to do all that."

Danny, Andy, and Takuya were all confused now.

"Hold on, so you two _aren't_ getting a divorce?" Danny asked. "We came all the way out here for nothing?"

"What? Danny, whoever said we would be getting a divorce?" Maddie asked, looking horrified at the idea.

"What? Then why-" Danny began to ask before they heard a honking of some kind of vehicle. Andy, Danny, and Takuya all looked back as a large pick-up with hillbillies on it came out of the brush, all waving and a few sitting in the back of the truck with instruments.

Jack and Maddie then turned to Alicia and smiled widely. "Surprise!" Maddie then gestured to Alicia's house, where there was a large banner that read 'A DECADE OF DIVORCE' on it.

It was then that what was going on became clear. "A party, for the tenth anniversary of my divorce! You remembered!" Alicia said with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Well, sure!" Maddie said sweetly. "I even convinced your ex-husband to come."

Takuya, Andy, and Danny were all staring, minds completely blanked out at what they were seeing.

Dorimon managed to tap Andy's head to snap him out of it. "Okay… so… update on the situation…"

Andy slapped both Takuya and Danny's back to get them to snap out of it. "Mom and Dad were never going to get a divorce, when Mom mentioned the word we heard, she was talking about our Aunt Alicia, who had been divorced for 10 years."

Takuya looked at Andy. "Really? I guess it was all a misunderstanding then, huh?" He said in a sarcastic tone.

Danny groaned, and rubbed his head. "I hate this place too."

As the party got underway, Maddie and Jack stood off to the side as Andy, Danny, Dorimon, and Takuya all joined them. "Well, aren't you going to open the present?" Jack asked.

Maddie did so, seeing a set of what looked like headphones with a mic on them. They were green and silver, and they looked like they were some kind of new invention. "Jack… what are these?"

"These are the Fenton Phones. I invented them to communicate when we are in the Ghost Zone, and they filter out any ghostly sounds or noises a ghost can make." Jack replied.

Maddie smiled at Jack. "That's so sweet!" She hugged him again.

Danny and Takuya looked back to say something, only to notice Andy and Dorimon were missing. They looked around for a moment before seeing Andy and Dorimon behind the glass door of Aunt Alicia's house.

Takuya sighed as he saw that. It was clear Andy wanted to be away from the bugs that sucked blood badly. Though Takuya wondered why the mosquitoes didn't bother him or Danny as much. Takuya guessed it was because he had two fire Spirits, so they were likely repelling the bugs, though he wasn't sure for Danny. If Andy's theory was correct, Phantom might have had something to do with it. _It's not like I'm going to ask right now anyway. I would rather Danny told me on his own time._

"... Uh, Mom, Dad, I'm glad you two are happy, and all, but when are we going back home?" Danny asked, feeling bad for his twin.

* * *

**Titanic X****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, thought it would be funny if the Lunch Lady got a little bit of revenge on BurningGreymon. The combination attack was pretty cool, especially since it shows that Andy's lessons of strategizing is paying off.

**ZAFT:** Yep! And it shows their growth as characters too. :)

**ChloeTheKitsuneU:****DarkFoxKit:** Walker isn't gone for good just so you know, he's just going to take a while to pull himself back together.

**ZAFT:** Not sure if that is literally or figuratively, but that's the basic idea.

**Irusha the Kitsune****: DarkFoxKit:** Heh, it was fun to have Jazz go a little crazy~ Shows that the Fentons can get scary when they just lose it.

**GirlFish****: DarkFoxKit:** In a sense, it was mostly because we thought it'd be funny for the Lunch Lady to have a bit of revenge on Takuya.

**ZAFT:** But it _was_ amusing. :) As for Patamon, we have some plans, but no spoilers.

**DarkFoxKit:** We won't say anything regarding The Ultimate Enemy, for one, that would be massive spoilers, and another, we haven't really thought about it yet. As for Sam's potential partner… well, we already have plans for that one.

**ZAFT:** Let's just say it will be a surprise~ ;)

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yup. It was pretty fun to write about the Ghost Zone, even if it was just for a little bit right now. The doors were fun though.

**ZAFT:** Well, they _are_ learning about ghosts and the Ghost Zone still, so that makes sense they didn't know about opening the doors leading to ghostly lairs. :)


	19. Yin and Yang

**ZAFT:** Another update on a Sunday it seems. :)

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup. We've been writing a lot of chapters lately, so we've been updating weekly.

**Andy:** Will you two slow down?

**ZAFT:** Hmmm… Maybe… Maybe not~ We have a pretty good backlog of chapters. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** As long as I'm feeling motivated to write, we'll likely be writing a lot.

**Andy:** Aren't you supposed to be busy with other projects?

**DarkFoxKit:** That doesn't mean I can't write this.

**ZAFT:** That's true. It's called multitasking. I am doing it right now. And let Fox write it if she wants to and is motivated. :)

**Andy:** I'm going to go in my room now. Maybe next time I should throw Takuya on here.

**ZAFT: **I would like that~ ***Grins evilly***

* * *

**Chapter 19: Yin and Yang**

It was dawn, Amity Park was still covered in darkness, but the skies were lightning up a bit from the sun that would soon rise in a couple of hours. A familiar rabbit creature was running through the quiet streets of Amity Park.

"Ophanimon, please… why won't you answer me?" The bunny creature frowned. "Can I not reach her here?"

Then the bunny creature gasped when they heard something, they quickly squeezed themselves between two small buildings.

A man staggered by, looking a bit drunk. He paid no heed to the small rabbit-like creature that was hiding between the buildings. The rabbit-like creature watched the man go and frowned.

_Is this what most humans are like? Or is that just one individual? No, I shouldn't judge an entire species based off of one individual. After all, those kids were anything but weak, helpless, and… smelly._ The rabbit creature scrunched up his nose a little.

The rabbit creature looked around, then looked up, he shrunk himself down as much as he could when he saw a few bat-like creatures flying by.

_DemiDevimon… I can't believe Seraphimon of all Digimon are using those little monsters as scouts now…_ The rabbit creature frowned.

The DemiDevimon were not able to see the rabbit creature thankfully due to how the shadows that were being cast ended up being due to the sunlight beginning to rise over the horizon.

While that did give the rabbit creature a reprieve, it would not last for long, as soon, the sun would rise and would expose the entire area to light. The rabbit creature would have to find shelter and soon, lest they be discovered by their pursuers.

_Where else can I go?_ The rabbit creature frowned as he began moving.

"Where do you think you're going, Cherubimon?" A voice suddenly spoke up.

The rabbit creature gasped as he turned around, seeing a much bigger rabbit-like creature, this one wore blue pants, and its hands had what looked like Gatling guns on them. It had a bullet belt around its torso, green upper face with a single horn in the center of its forehead and a small red diamond shape below that. Two marks per cheek, red in color, could be seen, and the green part of its head went down almost all the way on its ears, which were long and floppy with three points on them. The rest of the creature was a creamy color, and it had black eyes.

"Or should I call you Lopmon now?" The armored rabbit chuckled.

"Gargomon, what are you doing?" The smaller rabbit creature, who was called Lopmon, questioned. "You were once one of my most loyal military guards. Why are you chasing after me?"

"You should be afraid, Lopmon," Gargomon said as he aimed one of his guns at Lopmon. "I won't let you take over the Digital World again!"

Lopmon frowned. "But I'm not-"

Lopmon was cut off as Gargomon took aim with the second gun.

"It's time for you to be purified, once and for all, Lopmon," Gargomon hissed._ "Gargo Pellets!"_

Gargomon began firing rabid green energy bullets at Lopmon. Lopmon began running, trying to get away from the trigger happy rabbit.

Lopmon was scared now. He had to find a place to hide to escape from Gargomon. _But where? Where can I hide?_

Lopmon yelped as he was hit by one of Gargomon's Gargo Pellets, and was blasted up into the sky. Lopmon stretched out his ears and puffed them out to try to glide through the air. From the sky, Lopmon could see the morning sun was starting to rise up, bringing in light to the sleepy town of Amity Park.

"Hey! There he is!" Lopmon heard a DemiDevimon shouting.

Lopmon narrowed his eyes as he was starting to get surrounded by DemiDevimon._ "Tiny Twister!"_

Lopmon began spinning himself quickly, knocking back the DemiDevimon with his long ears, and created a small tornado that caught up the other dark Rookies into it. Lopmon quickly began gliding downwards, and he saw he was heading towards a building that was apparently called 'Casper High'.

"Maybe I can hide there…" Lopmon mused as he continued his glide. _It certainly seems big enough to hide in anyway._

"You're not getting away, Lopmon!" Lopmon heard Gargomon shouting.

Gargomon stopped before he got too close to Casper High. "This would never work… I was told not to be seen by humans. There must be a way to get to Lopmon without being seen…"

Gargomon frowned a little. "I may have to talk to my superior about this."

With that said, the military rabbit slunk off into the shadows as the morning sun fully rose in the sky, and humans were starting to come out of their houses and apartments.

* * *

When Takuya woke up, he couldn't help but notice how quiet the house was. Maddie and Jack were in the lab this morning, but he still expected the siblings to start talking or getting on each other's nerves, but there was nothing. Andy and Dorimon were the only ones at the table in the kitchen, no signs of Danny or Jazz anywhere.

Yawning, Takuya made his way into the kitchen. "Where is everyone?"

"Danny and Jazz left early. Danny left earlier though, and Jazz went to go follow him," Andy answered as he was munching on his cereal.

"Jazz had this… worried look in her eyes when she left after Danny did," Dorimon informed as he bit into some burnt toast before sticking his tongue out in disgust, then proceeded to eat the metal plate the burnt toast was on instead.

Takuya chuckled when he saw Dorimon just eat the plate. "I don't think Aunt Maddie will be happy you ate one of her plates."

"Too bad. I don't want burnt toast." Dorimon grumbled.

"Sorry, I haven't learned how to cook," Andy sheepishly apologized. "Whenever Mom and Dad were busy, Jazz would do the cooking, but… well… she's not here right now. I'm a bit surprised though, I thought she wanted to talk to me about what had her so worried the other day. Either she forgot about it, or she thinks I wouldn't be honest about it… to be fair, that is a plausible way of thinking. You and Danny weren't very honest when I tried talking to you two about your secrets after all."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, to be fair, you would not have believed me if I told you beforehand. At least, before you met Dorimon anyway…"

"Hehe, I helped you think more outside the box~" Dorimon smiled proudly.

Andy chuckled as he pet Dorimon's head fondly. "Yeah, yeah you did."

Takuya then grabbed his own bowl and poured his own cereal, he had a choice between Cornflakes, and Fruit Loops.

Takuya looked between the two cereal choices before he reached for the Cornflakes. He would rather eat a bland cereal instead of something that reminded him of Vlad. _I never imagined I would want to avoid a cereal brand like the plague..._

Though Takuya noticed that Andy was eating Fruit Loops himself. Either Andy didn't care that he and Danny called Vlad a 'Fruit Loop', or Andy didn't think about it. Takuya decided he didn't want to ruin the cereal for Andy though.

Takuya then looked at Andy. "So, is there anything going on at school this week?"

"Yup," Andy answered. "Dorimon, want to explain it to Takuya?"

Dorimon smiled, giving a confident and proud look. "Of course! So, Andy told me about this the other day. Starting today, it's Casper High's Spirit Week! There's going to be a motivational speech at the end of the week, then after that, they do this amazing domino picture then, before the last domino falls on a trigger that makes the 'spirit sparklers' go off. It pumps everyone up, and it sounds like a fun time! … Did I get everything right?"

Andy nodded and smiled. "Yup, I knew you were a smart Digimon~"

Dorimon looked so happy that his eyes were sparkling.

Takuya blinked. "Okay, that sounds fun." He then paused. "You know, it's ironic. This thing is called Spirit Week, and I use Spirits to become a Digimon. I am not sure if this is a jab at that, or if it is coincidence."

"Let's not forget the other irony of it," Andy chuckled. "Sometimes ghosts can be referred to as 'spirits' themselves. Even though there are actual differences between ghosts and spirits."

Takuya sighed. "Okay, I think this _has_ to be some kind of jab towards me, Dash, and Danny."

Andy snickered. "Maybe. Though what do you know of Danny's secret? Are you still going off of the theory I had about him and Phantom?"

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. I mean, it seems to be the most likely scenario here." He then looked at Andy. "Why?"

"I think that's… relatively close to the actual truth," Andy chuckled nervously.

"No kidding… like I'm surprised at how close you were to the truth. If you had the final puzzle piece, you would've figured it out on your own," Dorimon noted.

Takuya blinked, but didn't ask any questions. _If Andy's first guess about Danny's secret was close to the truth, maybe it _is_ that Phantom is inside of Danny._ However, something felt off about that thought, and that made Takuya frown a bit. _Wait… Dorimon mentioned Andy was missing a piece of the puzzle. Is it possible that I am too? If so, what is it?_

"By the way, why did Danny leave early today? I can understand Jazz leaving early, probably to prepare for the Spirit Week stuff," Takuya remarked. "But why did Danny?"

"He had volunteered to help set up for the Spirit Week speech at the gym, so he had to leave early to get an early start," Dorimon answered.

"Why?" Takuya questioned. "I mean not that I don't think Danny couldn't be charitable, it's just… why?"

"I talked him into it." Andy grinned.

Takuya looked at Andy. "... Okay… but again… why?"

"Think of it as a small punishment for Danny going into the Ghost Zone without telling me," Andy answered.

Takuya felt himself sweating at that comment. _Yeah… I need to remember to stay on Andy's good side… He can be really evil if he wants to be..._

"I will say that Mr. Lancer gets quite pumped up during Spirit Week," Andy chuckled.

"Really?" Takuya asked. "I didn't think he _could_ get excited given how he drones on and on in English."

"Me neither," Dorimon agreed.

Andy finished up his Fruit Loops. "We should probably get to school soon."

Takuya gulped down his Cornflakes and nodded, wiping his mouth. "Yeah. I don't want to be late."

"You gonna eat that spoon?" Dorimon asked, eyeing Takuya's silverware.

"Um… No. And no, you can't eat it." Takuya said as he put the spoon into the sink. "We already lost a plate to you."

Dorimon pouted.

"I'll get you something more to eat at school," Andy promised the little Digimon.

* * *

When Takuya and Andy reached Casper High, they were surprised to see Mr. Lancer bouncing on a trampoline while talking to Jazz, who was standing to the side of the trampoline.

Takuya blinked. "Okay… I believe you about Mr. Lancer getting pumped up." He then gave a slight grimace. "That is just weird…"

"It's the one time of year that Mr. Lancer is truly pumped," Andy chuckled.

Then Mr. Lancer stopped bouncing on the trampoline and got off, he and Jazz seemed to be discussing a serious topic judging from the look of concern on Mr. Lancer's face.

"Huh… I wonder what has Jazz and Mr. Lancer all concerned." Takuya wondered as he and Andy approached the school's entrance.

Dorimon popped his head out from Andy's backpack and twitched his ears. "Seems she's concerned about Danny, Takuya, and you, Andy."

Andy sighed. "Of course… not that I can blame her. I was in the same position she was not that long ago."

"I think we should get to class." Takuya said as he looked at Andy and Dorimon. "Jazz's concern is probably just something she is trying to justify since she doesn't know our secrets. She is probably trying to convince herself that it is something bad, or at least worrisome."

Andy frowned a little. "Are you sure we shouldn't try talking to her? I don't want to leave her hanging like this."

"But what _can_ we tell her?" Takuya pointed out. "Danny's secret is his, and she would never believe my secret or yours."

"She would…" Andy looked at Takuya. "That is… if you were willing to show her."

Takuya didn't say anything to that, then Andy started walking past him.

"Come on, we're going to be late," Andy said.

Takuya sighed as he put his hands into his pockets, following Andy. He ran his hand along his D-Tector, wondering if Andy was right. _Is it really worth keeping it a secret from Jazz?_

* * *

When they got into first period, something surprising happened. Mr. Lancer, who was smiling like a giddy school girl, came to the front of the class.

"Alright, class. Today we are having two new students joining us from Japan on the exchange program." Mr. Lancer said as he gave the class a smile. "I would like you to meet Koji Minamoto and Koichi Kimura. They are twin brothers, and I would like you to make them feel welcome."

Takuya, who had been half-asleep, jolted awake when he heard the two names. _What?!_

Sure enough, at the front of the room, were two twin boys as they came in. One wore a dark navy blue and black bandanna, a white T-shirt under a navy blue jacket, black pants, and white and blue sneakers on while the other twin wore a dark-grey hoodie that had a maroon shirt under it, matching pants, and grey and gold sneakers. The first boy had his hair long and pulled back into a ponytail and had blue eyes while the second twin had shorter hair and the same blue eyes as his brother.

The other students were surprised that there were two more students from Japan joining their school. Andy was staring in surprise as well. Besides him and Danny, Andy had yet to meet another pair of twins before.

Takuya hadn't expected to see the twins here, so he was understandably shocked. _What are they doing here? I thought they were back in Japan!_

"Why don't you two take a seat around the room?" Mr. Lancer suggested. "The spots near Ms. Manson and Mr. Fenton are open."

Koji gave a nod and walked over, taking a seat next to Sam on her left while on Danny's right, Koichi took his seat.

Danny was surprised to see another pair of twins as well, and he wondered if this is what he and Andy looked like to other people.

Of course, all questions would have to wait until the end of class, which felt like an eternity to Takuya since he needed to know when and how Koji and Koichi came to America.

As class went on, Takuya could feel himself wanting to drift off to sleep, as Mr. Lancer's voice had that effect. _If he was a Digimon, his voice could be called Drone of Sleep._

Takuya didn't realize he had dozed off until he was suddenly woken up by Andy.

"Hey, Takuya… the new twins wanted to talk to you," Andy said.

"Wh… Oh. Okay." Takuya said with a yawn. "Thanks for waking me by the way. Mr. Lancer really _can_ make people fall asleep."

"Don't I know it…" Danny muttered.

"Hey, don't you have something you need to do?" Andy raised an eyebrow at Danny.

Danny sighed. "Alright, alright, I'm going bro."

Takuya then got up from his chair and walked over to where Koji and Koichi were standing. "This is certainly a surprise."

"It was a surprise for us too," Koichi chuckled sheepishly.

"**_Have you heard from Ophanimon lately?_**" Koji asked, speaking in Japanese instead of English.

Takuya blinked at the sudden switch to Japanese, but followed suit. **_"No. I haven't for a while. Why do you ask?"_**

**_"_****_We were sent here due to Ophanimon's request,"_** Koichi answered, also speaking in Japanese.**_ "But when she was talking to us, there was a sudden disturbance on the communication."_**

**_"_****_She suddenly let out what we assumed to be a gasp, before there was a loud noise on the other line, then we were cut off. We tried to get a hold of Ophanimon again, but we were unable to, and we hadn't heard back from her since,"_** Koji explained.

Takuya frowned. **_"You think she was kidnapped or something?"_**

**_"_****_We think it's a possibility,"_** Koji answered.**_ "We heard what sounded like someone saying Cherubimon's name before the cut off."_**

**_"_****_So you think Cherubimon is behind this then?"_** Takuya asked. **_"You think he corrupted Seraphimon? Because that's what it sounds like to me."_**

**_"_****_It's highly likely, since Cherubimon was corrupted before, he may be vulnerable to corruption,"_** Koichi answered grimly.**_ "Problem is, we don't know who's behind the corruption this time. There haven't been any traces or hints of Lucemon anywhere."_**

**_"_****_That_****is****_ worrisome."_** Takuya noted with a frown. **_"If it isn't Lucemon, then we are in the dark on this one. It also doesn't help that there have been Digimon coming to the real world now too."_**

**_"_****_Speaking of which, didn't you say that you had a cousin with a Digimon partner? And that someone else inherited the Warrior of Wood?"_** Koji asked.

Takuya nodded. **_"Yeah. My cousin, Andy, does have a Digimon partner, and the Warrior of Wood is a jock by the name of Dash Baxter. He is a good guy though, so don't worry about it. He also knows of Digimon, so he is clean with us."_**

**_"_****_Sounds like you've been busy,"_** Koichi chuckled.**_ "Is there anything else we need to hear about?"_**

**_"_****_Uh… yeah, there's a few things I need to tell you two about,"_** Takuya sighed.

While the three were talking, the other students were looking in awe at hearing them speaking in fluent Japanese.

"Do you have any idea what they're saying?" Tucker asked.

"Not a clue," Andy shook his head.

"I know a little bit of Japanese, but not enough to follow that conversation," Sam sighed.

Danny chuckled. "Well, it's kind of obvious we can't understand what the three are talking about in Japanese since Takuya did live there for a while and can speak it fluently."

Sam gave Danny a slight smack on the head, but not enough to hurt. "Hey! What was that for?"

"For being Captain Obvious," Sam replied.

"Kind of wish my PDA could be a translator too," Tucker grumbled.

_They must be talking about important Digimon stuff, I don't see any other reason why they'd be speaking in Japanese so much otherwise. The twins were able to speak English just fine, and I doubt they're doing this just to show off._ Andy analyzed.

Andy didn't know it, but he was right on the money with his analysis.

**_"_****_Anyway, the Digimon attacks here have been a bit of a problem, and I don't know why there _****are****_ Digimon coming through the barrier between the Digital and real worlds."_** Takuya said with a sigh.

**_"_****_Sounds like you've also had to deal with ghosts too, not just Digimon,"_** Koichi noted.**_ "You ran into any Phantomon yet? It would be troublesome if ghost and ghost Digimon were to team up with each other."_**

Takuya gave a wince at that. **_"No, I haven't yet. And that _****would****_ be bad news if they did team up."_**

**_"_****_I think that's why Ophanimon sent us here, and why Dash and your cousin were chosen, to be able to help you face with this new and unknown threat,"_** Koji theorized.

**_"_****_The others, J.P., Tommy, and Zoey may end up coming here too eventually, we were just the first since our parents wanted us to have the chance to go to the same school together,"_** Koichi explained.**_ "Although, Tommy may have to go to a different school since this is a high school, and he's only in middle school right now."_**

Takuya nodded. **_"Yeah, that does make sense for Tommy since he is younger than us."_**

The warning bell rang.

"We'll have to continue this conversation later," Koji said, now speaking English.

Takuya gave a nod and switched back to English as well. "Okay. I hope you two can find your next class by yourselves."

"Don't worry, we have plenty of people willing to help us out." Koichi smiled.

As if on cue, to Takuya's surprise, the Japanese twins were surrounded by girls, the popular girls.

"We'll show you the way to the next class, Koji~"

"You can stick with me, Koichi, I promise not to steer you wrong~"

Takuya blinked, taken surprised by Koji and Koichi's popularity with the ladies here.

Koichi looked a bit uneasy while Koji just gave off his 'whatever' air as a self-defense thing.

"Um… Sorry, but we just got here, and we don't want to be a bother to anyone." Koichi said as he held up his hands while a sweat-drop ran down the side of his head.

"Not interested." Koji remarked, looking like he didn't care.

This, however, only seemed to cause the girls to fawn over them more.

"Okay, what do they have that I don't have?" Tucker whined.

"Twins are all the rage these days," A blonde haired girl said.

Andy and Danny looked at her.

"Oh, sorry, I meant imported twins, and twins who are actually hot," The girl stated.

"That's harsh, Star," Andy grumbled.

Takuya smacked his face with his hand at hearing the blonde haired girl, Star's, words. _Sometimes I wonder if the popular kids are really that shallow..._

* * *

Danny and Andy were going down the hallway to put away their books and grab the ones they needed for the next class. Andy felt Dorimon wiggling around in his backpack.

"H-hey, you better not be eating anything in there, Dorimon. I told you to try to wait until lunch," Andy whispered.

"Dorimon is hungry?" Danny asked.

"I couldn't make toast…" Andy grumbled. "We also might need to buy another plate soon."

Danny blinked. "Wait… why do we need a new plate?"

"Dorimon ate one." Andy admitted. "He's a metal eater."

"... Wait, seriously?" Danny asked, surprised.

Before Andy could reply, Dorimon popped out of his backpack and was frowning. At the same time, a light blue and a red mist came out of Danny's mouth.

"Uh… wait, I thought your ghost sense was just light blue, why did a red mist come out?" Andy questioned, and was on high alert.

"I sense them… a ghost, and a Digimon nearby," Dorimon warned.

"I… I do too…" Danny realized. "And the mist thing is new to me too. I didn't even _know_ I had a red ghost sense. It has always been blue, save for one time at the dance…"

"You had a red mist at the dance? That was when…" Andy frowned as he looked at Danny. "... Keep me posted on when you see that red mist again later. For now… Dorimon, where do you sense the ghost and the Digimon?"

"In there," Dorimon pointed with his little stubby foot at a nearby door, which was Penelope's office, their new student counselor.

Andy looked over, as did Danny. Andy frowned. "In the student counselor's office?"

"Yeah." Dorimon confirmed.

Danny and Andy opened the door just a crack in order to peek inside. They saw a formless blob neon green figure inside, the blob did appear to have arms and claw-like hands though, it had glowing red eyes and a mouth with sharp teeth. There was also some fog in the office. The blob ghost was smirking as, what appeared to be, another ghost coming out of the fog. This ghost was white, it looked more like a white sheet that was torn at the bottom, there were several holes and tatters at the bottom of the sheet-like ghost. Its eyes were covered by the black witch-like hat it wore on its head. And it had a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Um… Is that a Digimon, bro?" Danny asked, pointing at the white ghost-like creature.

Dorimon's eyes flashed as he was looking at the white sheet-like ghost. Andy took out his D-Arc before a hologram of the ghost appeared.

"Yeah… apparently it is," Andy said before he began to read the information on the Digimon. "Soulmon is a Ghost Digimon. A Ghost Digimon constructed from a cursed virus program. It's a Champion level, and a Virus type."

Danny frowned at hearing that information from Andy. "So… Digimon can have different 'levels' and types? That's new to me." He then blinked. "Wait… a ghost Digimon? Can Digimon even _become_ ghosts?"

The twins backed away from the door so they could talk easier. "I need to teach you more about Digimon later. But the quick version is Digimon do come in stages, or levels. Right now, Dorimon is at the In-Training stage, one of the weaker stages. When he becomes Dorumon, he 'digivolves' into the next stage, which is Rookie level. Champion level is after that, so that makes Soulmon a higher level than Dorumon. There are three attributes of Digimon, and they go kind of like in a rock-paper-scissors way. There are Virus, Vaccine, and Data attributes. Virus are strong against Data, Data are strong against Vaccine, and Vaccine are strong against Virus. There are also different species of Digimon, like beast, bird, dragon, humanoid, holy, insectoid, and ghost types."

Danny nodded. "Okay, so we're dealing with a Champion level, ghost type, virus attribute Digimon and a real ghost. Great… wait, what attribute is Dorimon?"

"He's Data," Andy answered.

"Heh… I'm not a great match up to this Soulmon…" Dorimon gulped.

"Well, remember, it's not about how strong you are. It's how you think to overcome your opponent." Andy reminded Dorimon.

"Why is that ghost smiling at that Soulmon?" Danny asked.

"Maybe that ghost summoned it," Andy guessed. "In any case, it would be dangerous if they decide to work together. We don't need another Vlad incident here."

Danny shivered at the memory of that fight. "Yeah… good idea."

Andy looked around them, seeing that there were other students walking in the hall. He then opened his locker and put Dorimon inside. "Try to digivolve in there, the light of your fractal code should be hidden inside the locker."

Dorimon nodded, but he didn't like it. "I just hope I don't get squished in here."

When Andy shut the locker door, Dorimon's fractal code came out and he digivolved into Dorumon. As soon as Dorumon came out, Danny suddenly jumped into the locker himself. Andy blinked, he was rather impressed that Danny could fit inside the locker like that. After Danny closed the door, there was a small bit of a flash of light before Danny phased out of the locker door in his ghost form.

"Come on, bro," Danny said to Andy.

Andy was thankful the other students were distracted with their own things to notice the sudden ghost boy floating in front of him and the fox creature standing beside him._ Maybe I should've called Takuya for backup, I don't know if Danny, Dorumon, and I can handle this ghost and Digimon by ourselves._

Danny grabbed Andy and Dorumon, turning them all intangible and phasing them into the student counselor's office through the door.

As soon as the threesome were in the office, Danny set Andy and Dorumon down. Andy had out his D-Arc, and was ready to use a card if the need arose. The card in question was the one he had obtained from Devidramon when fighting against him and Vlad, the Red Eyes card.

The ghost hadn't noticed them coming in, he was grinning at the Soulmon floating before him.

"Good, good, with you helping me, this school will be-" The ghost began to say before he noticed Soulmon was looking behind him. "What is it?"

The ghost turned around and saw Danny, Andy, and Dorumon. The ghost glared at them.

"Come to interfere with me already, ghost boy?" The ghost hissed before looking at Andy. "And you…"

Andy raised an eyebrow, the ghost sounded like he had met Andy before, but Andy was sure he never saw the ghost before.

"What?" Andy asked.

The ghost shook its head as if trying to banish a thought before speaking. "I see you have one of those Digital Beings with you."

"And so do you," Dorumon said back. "Why would a ghost have a Digimon with them?"

"That's none of your business," The ghost answered. "Now you can either leave, or this could get ugly."

Danny glared. "You're the one invading our school, so we're going to drive you and your… Digimon friend out!"

Andy gave a look at the Soulmon and the blob ghost. He knew next to nothing about the blob ghost, save for it had the usual ghost powers, but the Soulmon was right up his alley, so to speak. "Danny, I can handle that Soulmon with Dorumon. Think you can handle the blob there?"

"Of course I can, bro." Danny smirked as his hands glowed with ecto energy.

"I'll make sure you three will regret this," The blob hissed. "Soulmon, attack!"

The Soulmon flew towards Andy and Dorumon.

Andy smirked as he saw that. Then, the card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. _"Devidramon's Red Eyes activate!"_

Dorumon grinned as his eyes began to glow red as he glared at the incoming Soulmon. _"Red Eyes!"_

However, Soulmon didn't look to be affected by it, it kept moving.

"What? Why didn't it work?" Andy frowned.

_"__Dark Claw."_ Soulmon held out a black clawed hand from its sheet and grabbed onto Dorumon's neck.

"Dorumon!" Andy called out.

Danny tried to fly over to Dorumon, but the other ghost tackled him away.

"Ah-ah-ah, child, you're dealing with me," The ghost sneered.

Andy was panicking now. His initial strategy had backfired big time, and now he was worried about Dorumon. _What can I do?! Wait! Maybe the Fridgimon card could help… If I can just get Dorumon to get free, we may have a chance still..._

Andy then remembered that he had a way to fight back himself. He grabbed onto the Fenton Rod he kept in his pocket and extended it. While the Fenton Rod was designed to fight against ghosts, it could still pack a wallop on Digimon, especially ghost type Digimon since they shared many similarities with actual ghosts.

"Let go of Dorumon!" Andy shouted as he swung the Fenton Rod at Soulmon's face.

Soulmon let out a hiss as it let go of Dorumon and fell back.

Dorumon panted as he landed on his feet, giving Andy a grateful look. "Thanks."

Andy gave a smile back. "Of course, I wasn't going to let him hurt you."

Danny meanwhile, was fighting the blob ghost, trying to keep it away from Andy and Dorumon. "What's wrong? Got no game?" He quipped to the blob.

"Well, aren't you the clever one?" The blob retorted back.

The blob ghost fired his own ghost ray at Danny, pushing the ghost boy into a wall, slamming his back.

"Oof!" Danny fell down to his knees with that hit. "Okay… Maybe I should save the quips for a while." He rubbed his head a bit. With that, he got to his feet and fired off an ecto-ray again at the blob.

While Danny was handling the ghost, Soulmon flew in close to Andy and Dorumon.

_"__Ghost Chop."_ In a creepily dead tone, Soulmon began attacking the two of them with chops of its clawed hands.

Andy and Dorumon were trying to dodge or block each attack with their rod or claws. As they were dodging, Andy noticed something. With Soulmon being so close, he realized he couldn't even see the undead Digimon's eyes under the hat.

_That's it! That's why the Red Eyes didn't work! Soulmon's eyes were blocked by the hat! He must be using his other senses to see where we are._ Andy realized.

When the claws slammed into Andy's rod, Andy groaned as he managed to push the ghost Digimon back.

"Dorumon, try attacking Soulmon's hat," Andy instructed.

"Okay!" Dorumon faced Soulmon directly. _"Metal Cannon!"_

Dorumon shot out an iron ball at Soulmon, who quickly flew up, avoiding the attack. The iron ball ended up hitting a desk, breaking it.

"Uh-oh…" Andy sweatdropped. "We're so going to get in trouble for this…"

Soulmon smirked, and laughed._ "Necro Magic."_ Before Andy and Dorumon, the Soulmon gathered energy into its clawed hands, but Andy swore he could hear faint cries from the energy, like it was not just ghostly Digital energy but… Before he could contemplate further, the energy was thrown at him and Dorumon, almost rushing around the two as they were pelted by small orbs of energy.

Andy felt nauseous by whatever this attack was, and he fell on his hands and feet. He groaned a bit as Dorumon stood in front of him, trying to protect him from the brunt of the attack, but Dorumon wasn't looking too good either. Andy frowned before he looked over at Danny, seeing that Danny was having trouble against the blob ghost. The sounds of the orbs of energy seem to be disrupting Danny's concentration.

Then Soulmon grabbed Dorumon again. _"Energy Drain."_

Dorumon's body glowed a dark aura, and his struggles started to slow down. Knowing that his partner was in trouble, and he felt too weak to help, he looked over at Danny. Gripping onto the Fenton Rod, Andy knew he was only going to have one shot at this.

The blob ghost was busy with Danny, and didn't notice what the other brother was about to do.

"Seriously kid, is this all you've got?" The ghost taunted after Danny used his hand to chop through the ghost's torso, only for the ghost to easily reconnect himself.

"No, I have a few other tricks!" Danny taunted back before he flipped over the blob and then blasted it in the back with an ecto-ray.

The blast hit the blob away. Angry now, the ghost launched himself towards Danny, but he didn't see the incoming Fenton Rod until it slammed into him. The ghost yelped in shock and pain as he splattered against the wall.

Danny blinked, he didn't expect that to happen.

"Danny! Help Dorumon!" Andy called from the ground.

Danny nodded and flew down towards the Soulmon. "Let my brother's partner go!" He fired off an ecto-ray towards Soulmon's face.

Soulmon hissed as it was forced to let go of Dorumon.

The ghost flew over to Soulmon and put a clawed hand on its back. Soulmon stopped for a moment as its body glowed green for a second.

The ghost gave a smirk before he and Soulmon suddenly flew up into the ceiling, disappearing.

Danny blinked as he stared at where the two had gone. "Where did they go?" He had not been expecting a retreat like that.

Dorumon groaned, feeling weak from the Energy Drain, and he degenerated back into Dorimon. Andy pushed himself up before he stumbled over to Dorimon and picked him up.

"You okay…?" Andy asked in concern.

"Tired…" Dorimon answered weakly.

Danny flew down and landed, turning back to his human form. "Did that Soulmon thing do something to him?"

"He drained Dorumon's energy," Andy replied. "I should've been more careful. But I didn't expect it to use something that would weaken both of us."

Danny frowned. "You couldn't have known that would happen, bro. Besides, it was as you mentioned; the Soulmon was a Champion level. You just need to get stronger."

"We've taken on Digimon stronger than one Champion level before," Andy said. "... I don't know, I think the battle with Vlad, and what happened in the Ghost Zone still has me a bit shaken up."

Before Danny could reply to that, the door suddenly opened. Mr. Lancer and Jazz stood there, looking at the destroyed office in shock, before looking at the two boys. Andy and Danny froze, realizing what it looked like to them.

"We're dead…" Andy frowned.

"Oh boy…" Danny muttered as he felt nervousness cross his face.

Mr. Lancer suddenly grabbed both Danny and Andy's shirt and pulled them towards him.

* * *

Takuya yawned a bit, he felt like he hadn't been getting enough sleep lately. What with his senses constantly waking him up due to ghosts or Digimon in the middle of the night. He was sitting at the lunch table, but he noticed that his cousins weren't here with him. Tucker and Sam were standing in line of the serving line, but Takuya didn't see Danny or Andy anywhere in the cafeteria.

_That's odd. Where are Andy and Danny?_ Takuya wondered. _It's not like them to be late for lunch._

"Hey, Takuya!" Takuya perked up at hearing Koichi's voice. "Do you mind if Koji and I sit here with you?"

Takuya smiled. "Not at all!" He waved the Yin-Yang twins over.

Koichi and Koji smiled at the invite before they set down their lunch boxes. They had brought their own lunches to school.

"So, how are you liking Casper High?" Takuya asked as he looked at the Yin-Yang twins.

"It's okay, it would be better if we didn't keep getting surrounded by shallow girls," Koji muttered. "Especially that Paulina girl. I can already tell she just wants both of us just to up her status more."

Takuya grimaced at that. "Yeah… that sounds just like her…" He then sighed. "I can't tell you how many times she has insulted my cousins just because they are not popular."

"Speaking of your cousins, they were the other twins we saw in class, right? We haven't had a chance to talk to them yet," Koichi replied. "We were hoping to get to know them more during lunch."

"But where are they? We thought they would sit with you," Koji asked, looking around.

"I was wondering that too." Takuya admitted. "It's not like them to miss lunch. Especially since Andy has Dorimon as his partner, and the little guy likes to eat…" He added this in a whisper to Koji and Koichi.

"Most Digimon like to eat, at least the ones we've met," Koji remarked.

"Hmm… you don't think they might've gotten into trouble, do you?" Koichi asked. "Digimon battles can leave quite the destructive mess after all."

Takuya perked up when Koichi mentioned that. "I hope not… Although… I haven't sensed any Digimon or ghosts today so far, so I don't know if they _have_ run into trouble or not."

"Takuya?"

Takuya looked up to see Tucker and Sam had come over to his table. They usually sat with him, Danny, and Andy lately after Danny had told Andy his secret. Despite Takuya not knowing Danny's secret, Andy had been stubborn enough to make sure his cousin was included with them.

"Hey, Sam, Tucker." Takuya greeted with a wave. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, we're just a bit surprised to see the new students were sitting here," Tucker answered.

Sam looked at the two before giving a smile. "I believe we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Sam Manson, and this is a friend of mine, Tucker Foley."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Tucker greeted.

Koichi gave a grin back. "It's nice to meet you too."

Koji just gave a grunt of acknowledgement, but he did nod at Sam and Tucker to show he had heard them and was responding.

"They're actually friends of mine," Takuya said to Tucker and Sam. "Friends from Japan. Koji, Koichi, these two are friends of mine here, in America."

Koji nodded as Koichi gave another grin.

"A friend of Takuya's is a friend of ours." Koichi said with a warm smile.

Tucker and Sam sat down next to Takuya.

"So what do you guys do in Japan?" Sam asked with interest. "I actually grow some plants imported from Japan in my personal Greenhouse."

"That's cool," Koichi said. "And Koji here does Kendo while I am more the one who likes to cook."

"Do you guys have any cool technology over there that we don't here?" Tucker asked.

"Tucker is very enthusiastic about technology," Takuya chuckled.

Koji looked at Tucker with a deadpan look before he sighed. "It's kind of hard to miss that enthusiasm."

Koichi smiled. "As for what we have in Japan technology-wise, we do have more advanced computers, like small ones. You could call them laptops here."

Tucker gave a big smile at that. "Please, tell me more~"

Sam rolled her eyes at her geeky friend.

Takuya was just happy that his American friends seemed to be getting along with his Japan friends.

Koichi suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. "Um…" He looked at Koji and Takuya for some help.

"Don't mind him," Sam spoke up, seeing Koichi's unease. "He's harmless."

"Sure…" Koichi muttered. "He sure _loves_ anything with technology, doesn't he?"

"Hey, I do have other interests," Tucker spoke up. "For example, did you know that the meat in this school is-"

"Tucker! They don't need to know that!" Sam hissed. "Where are Danny and Andy? They should've been here by now."

Takuya had never been so grateful to Sam's timely topic change. "Actually, Koji, Koichi and I were wondering the same thing. It's not like Andy and Danny to be this late."

Tucker frowned for a moment, he and Sam both getting the same idea.

"We'll be right back," Tucker said before he and Sam stood up and hurried out of the cafeteria.

Takuya, Koji, and Koichi looked at each other in confusion.

"What was that about?" Koji asked.

"I don't know, but I'm beginning to think we should go and find out ourselves." Takuya said as he began to stand up himself.

Takuya, Koji, and Koichi didn't see a certain brown and pink rabbit creature that was standing in the shadows, watching them carefully.

_The humans are here… The Warriors are here… maybe they can help me._ Lopmon thought to himself as he was about to approach them._ But…_

Lopmon had images going through his head, images of Takuya and Koji Unified Spirit Evolved in order to take him down. _What if they think I'm evil again? What if they attack me before I get a chance to explain? Gargomon did the same thing, and he was one of my most loyal soldiers. These kids have no reason to trust me._

With a discouraged frown, Lopmon slinked off into the shadows, trying to find a safer place.

Takuya, Koji, and Koichi stood up and began to head out of the cafeteria themselves, hoping to find Andy and Danny before things got too hairy.

* * *

_Why… why… why are we here?_ Andy inwardly groaned.

Andy was freezing his butt off in the destroyed office of Penelope Spectra. Mr. Lancer had held him and Danny until Penelope came into the office herself. Jazz was sitting on a chair while Penelope was giving a creepy cheery smile. Dorimon was shivering in Andy's arms. Danny didn't seem as bothered by the cold as Andy did though, but Danny looked more annoyed than Andy did.

"Is it always so cold in this room?" Jazz asked as she shivered a bit. It didn't make much sense to her that the office was so cold.

"Of course~" Penelope smiled as she turned up the AC. "I always find that cold temperature keeps the mind icy sharp."

Andy noticed that a blue mist came out of Danny's mouth, and was almost on high alert until he noticed the same blue mist came out of his own mouth… and Jazz's… and Mr. Lancer… and Penelope._ Must just be because it's so cold here that we can see our own breath. Funny though, I didn't think our breaths would look like Danny's ghost sense._

Penelope then corrected a picture so it was no longer leaning over to one side and sat down in her broken desk, picking up the iron ball Dorumon shot out earlier. "And don't worry about this mess of an office. Stuff happens, right Jasmine?"

"It's just Jazz, please, everyone calls me Jazz," Jazz corrected.

"Yeah? Well, your brother calls you 'fink'!" Danny shot back at Jazz. He was mad that a ghost and Digimon had slipped away, not to mention Andy and Dorimon had almost been hurt badly.

"Hmm…? What's… 'fink'?" Dorimon whispered to Andy.

"Fink is a slang term for calling someone a snitch, a tattle tell," Andy answered back in a whisper.

"Oh… is that why Danny is mad at her?" Dorimon asked in concern.

"He's probably mad that Jazz had been talking to Mr. Lancer about us behind our backs," Andy guessed.

"C'mon, Danny. I'm just trying to help you and Andy." Jazz said in concern. "We used to talk all the time."

"Yeah, when we were 8 and you weren't such a fink!" Danny retorted, his tone filled with anger.

"Danny, cool yourself," Andy spoke up, frowning. "I know that you're annoyed at what Jazz did, but she is worried about you." _And not that long ago, I was exactly in her shoes._

Danny sighed. "Sorry, bro. I'm just under a lot of stress lately."

Andy looked over at Mr. Lancer. "What's our punishment, Mr. Lancer?"

Mr. Lancer gave a small sigh, he had been expecting to calmly tell the brothers to get to class, but it would seem that was unnecessary now. "Ms. Spectra and I will need some time to discuss your boys' punishment. You two go ahead and get to class for the time being."

"Yes, Mr. Lancer," Andy bowed his head before turning to Danny. "Come on, bro."

Danny gave one last glance at Jazz, looking somewhat moody before he followed Andy out of the office.

Jazz couldn't help but sigh, while she had good intentions, she understood why Danny was upset with her. Andy was being more understanding about this, but Jazz knew Andy wasn't any happier about what she did himself. She saw him clutching to that 'plushy' in his arms, and she was still unsure if it was actually alive or not.

There had been a few moments Jazz swore Andy had been whispering to his 'plushy', but she didn't pay much attention to it at first, figuring Andy was thinking it to be something he could just vent to, but now she was not so sure. It seemed odd that the 'plushy' would move when Andy whispered to it.

"Jazz here is one of Casper High's brightest and most promising students," Mr. Lancer stated with a proud smile. "Her brothers also have some pretty good grades themselves, but they don't seem to share Jazz's talent for school."

Jazz looked back at Mr. Lancer, unsure if she should be smiling at the praise or just acting humble about it. True, she was smart, but Danny and Andy could be too when they put their minds to it.

"Jazz here will be giving the keynote pep speech at our centennial spiritathon on Friday," Mr. Lancer informed, still giving a proud smile.

Jazz just smiled at the praise, because it was true. She figured a bit of pride wouldn't hurt.

Penelope gave a big smile at that. "Right on! And that's why I'm here, of course. I love pumping up the spirit."

Penelope then showed the pictures on her wall, to which made Jazz raise an eyebrow. The pictures were of Penelope with some teens, but the teens looked sick, miserable, depressed even.

That sent some worry through Jazz. _Why are those kids miserable in those pictures?_ It was alarming to her, and she was not even a psychologist herself!_ Well, not yet anyways._

"Jazz, Ms. Spectra is a highly renowned and respected teen psychologist and motivational speaker. She's also agreed to help pump up the volume, so to speak, on that old Casper High Spirit Week," Mr. Lancer informed.

Jazz noticed something moving in the corner of her eye. Blinking, she turned her head to a bookcase that was, surprisingly, still intact, she still didn't know how her brothers could destroy an entire office. She saw what looked like a strange looking rabbit creature, looking back at her with intelligent and curious eyes.

Jazz blinked, surprised at what she was seeing. _Hold on… What _is_ that?_ She was so caught up in her thoughts and what she was seeing she didn't even pay attention to Penelope introducing someone else.

Jazz vaguely noticed a short man wearing a suit, he was holding a picture that had some kind of dominos that spelled out 'Casper Spirit'. Jazz heard Penelope call him 'Bertrand', and then went on talking about her idea of using the domino's effects to show how a student's spirit could affect the other they touched, or something like that. Jazz was more interested in the strange rabbit though.

The rabbit itself was looking at Jazz, then it looked over at Bertrand and Penelope for a moment and shivered. The rabbit didn't seem to like them for whatever reason.

Jazz wondered if the rabbit creature was disturbed by how Bertrand and Penelope were acting, but that was just weird to her. _Unless the idea animals can pick up human emotions holds some validity… but I'm not sure if this is an ordinary animal. What kind of rabbit has three horns on its head? I wonder… if this rabbit is like that plushy Andy is holding..._

"And the spirit sparklers go off after that, right?" Mr. Lancer asked in a bit of a worried tone.

"Of course!" Penelope said as she stood up on her desk. "After all, what is Spirit week without Spirit Sparklers?"

Penelope held out a couple of sticks that had sparklers going off.

Jazz frowned a bit as she debated with herself on what to do._ She is a renowned teen psychologist… but I don't know, she kind of creeps me out, and that… rabbit creature doesn't seem to like her either. Would having her talk to my brothers be a good idea?_

"I can have your brothers talk to her," Mr. Lancer spoke up to Jazz. "You did bring up some good points about their repressed frustration, especially if they trashed the office over a possible argument that got out of hand. Besides, it might be the best way to punish them as well as help them."

What Mr. Lancer said did make sense to Jazz, if nothing else, she could try it and see if it would help her brothers.

"Maybe…" Jazz said, still sounding a bit unsure. "But I doubt Danny would listen to me right now."

"But he _will_ listen to me." Mr. Lancer said in a serious tone.

Jazz looked back at the rabbit creature, but frowned when she saw it wasn't there anymore._ What was that?_

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT: **Misunderstandings can be fun if done right. ;3

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, they're trying to keep their secrets while almost slipping up on them at the same time.

**ZAFT:** It can be quite funny and interesting. :)

**GirlFish****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, it's the first time Danny meets Walker. And yes, it's very likely Walker will try to frame Danny again later. As for if he would do that to Takuya… we haven't talked about it yet, but it's likely to happen.

**ZAFT:** As for Freakshow, we have yet to get to that, so we will see what happens. ;)

**DarkFoxKit:** I don't know if Freakshow is capable of controlling Digimon, but as ZAFT said, we will see when we get there. As for how ghosts know about Digimon… I'll let ZAFT answer that one. It was originally their idea after all.

**ZAFT:** It's because human data leaked into the Ghost Zone. The data mixed with ectoplasm and lost most of its ghostly qualities, save for being formless. As the data is normally invisible with no physical form, the ectoplasm gives it that form upon fusing with it. But the ectoplasm is now more… shall we say… alive due to the data coming from the human world. The lack of a fixed physical form for ectoplasm, which is normally just a gooey substance, basically allows Digimon to take many forms, including the talking rocks known as Gotsumon. The Ghost Zone became cut off from the human world when this zone, known as the Digital World, formed, and sometimes Ghosts and Digimon would come across one another, so that is how ghosts know of Digimon. Sorry if this got a bit long… ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** Explanations can get long. I don't think they would mind it though.

**ZAFT: **Good point.


	20. Implanting Doubts

**Andy: *Is watching an episode of Digimon Frontier*** Huh… that's really cool.

**ZAFT:** I know, right? It's one of my favorite seasons aside from Tamers. :3

**Andy:** I see why you and DarkFoxKit made elements of Tamers into the story with me and my friends then. It seems to compliment well with the Frontier characters.

**DarkFoxKit:** Probably shouldn't let Takuya see this, he might end up with an existential crisis.

**ZAFT:** I won't. He's off somewhere with Danny. Hopefully those two aren't butting heads. ^^'

**Andy:** Butting heads? If anything, they get along better than he and Koji ever did.

**ZAFT:** I mean arguing. They are both a bit impulsive, unlike you Andy. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Best take that as a compliment.

**Andy:** Fine. After I watch Takuya's adventure in the Digital World, I'm gonna test some of his Digimon powers out~

**ZAFT:** Oh boy… ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 20: Implanting Doubts**

After Takuya heard from Danny and Andy about what happened, a ghost and Digimon attack in the student counselor's office, he was a little upset that he didn't know about this sooner, and that his cousins got in trouble for it. So now they had an appointment with Penelope Spectra, the school's teen therapist. There was something about her that Takuya didn't like.

Takuya _knew_ he was sensing something, but as to what it was, he didn't know. He wasn't a pure Digimon like Dorimon, so his senses for that were muddled. _But what is it about that Penelope Spectra that feels off? It's like she is too peppy. Or is it her last name? I can't tell what it is, exactly..._

Takuya was caught up in his thoughts, so he wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around him.

Takuya bumped into Jazz in the hallway.

"Oof!" Jazz dropped the books she was carrying from the bump.

"Ouch…" Takuya groaned before he realized he had bumped into Jazz. "Oh! Sorry, Jazz!"

"It's completely my fault, Takuya, I'm sorry," Jazz apologized before she bent down to pick up her books. "I've just been having a lot on my mind lately, so I wasn't paying attention…"

"Heh… Same here, actually…" Takuya admitted. "I was too caught up in my own thoughts I didn't see you."

"Oh? Is something bothering you?" Jazz asked as she stood up after picking up her book.

"... You… could say that…" Takuya began, trailing off slightly. "I… guess I've been getting a bad feeling about someone…" He wasn't willing to say much more than that, but he did drop a hint that something was off.

Jazz frowned a little, looking down at her book for a moment. "Um… have you… have you ever seen anything strange lately? Like… maybe strange creatures that look kind of like animals, yet aren't normal animals?"

Takuya blinked, unsure of what to say to that. _Okay…? That sounded like Jazz was talking about something… supernatural? Digital?_ "What kind of creatures? Ghosts?"

"Don't be silly, ghosts don't exist," Jazz laughed before frowning. "... Do they?"

Before Takuya could answer, Jazz shook her head. "Nevermind… maybe I'm just tired from all this stress. I'll see you later in class, Takuya."

Jazz quickly walked away before Takuya could say anything.

_Okay… that was weird…_ Takuya thought as he watched Jazz walk away, one eyebrow raised in confusion. _What's gotten into Jazz?_

Takuya decided to tackle one problem at a time. He continued his way to Penelope's office, but he wasn't going to see Penelope himself, he wanted to see one of his cousins. Danny was pouting as he was sitting on a chair next to Penelope's office. Though Andy wasn't there.

"Danny?" Takuya asked as he walked up to his cousin. "Are you okay?"

"Not really. I can't believe Jazz signed me up for a session with this lady…" Danny grumbled. "Well, me and Andy. Does she really think that there's something wrong with us that we need to see a shrink?"

Takuya frowned to himself. "Well… Jazz _is_ your older sister. She has a right to be concerned about you." But he wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say to Danny, given his bad mood.

"She needs to butt out," Danny hissed.

Takuya couldn't help but notice that Danny seemed to be in a foul mood lately, he seemed fine earlier, but ever since he and Andy failed to stop that ghost and Digimon, he's been rather angry.

"Danny, failing to stop a ghost and Digimon isn't the end of the world. There will be other chances to get at them." Takuya tried to reassure Danny. _But maybe it would be best if Koji, Koichi, Dash, or I handled it._

"I'm more angry at the fact that they hurt my brother and Dorimon," Danny admitted. "It wouldn't be the first time a ghost got away from me, but I wasn't able to keep Andy or Dorimon safe. Andy seemed to be off his game lately. He made mistakes he normally wouldn't have made in that battle. He and Dorimon had taken on Digimon stronger than one Champion before, yet they struggled against this one."

Takuya felt a bit of guilt creep into his gut at that point. _That's because Andy had help with me and Dash. And I wasn't there to help this time..._

"Um… so where is Andy now?" Takuya asked.

"He said he'll be here soon after he got some food for Dorimon. Dorimon was drained of energy, so he's hoping food will help replenish that," Danny answered.

"Better hope Dorimon doesn't eat another lunch tray." Takuya joked, hoping to boost Danny's spirits.

"He… actually ate a lunch tray?" Danny blinked.

"Yeah… He did." Takuya confirmed. "Only because he was hungry."

Danny actually smiled at that. "Hopefully that means the school will start ordering actually clean lunch trays."

Takuya smiled as well. "That would be good."

Suddenly, the office door opened. Takuya was surprised to see Paulina walking out, looking worried about something.

"So you're saying my popularity is completely dependent on my beauty?" Paulina asked, looking uncomfortable.

_That reminds me of someone… being popular with others because of her beauty._ Takuya noted.

"I'm not saying it's fair sweetie, but if you feel you need something, like a lot of make-up, I say go for it! You're the only _you_ you've got!" Penelope said with a smile before she turned to Danny. "Danny! Come on in!"

Completely ignoring the worried teen girl, Penelope went back into her office while Danny gave a small frown to Takuya before he stood up and walked into her office.

With the door closed, Takuya noticed Paulina looked a little depressed, and despite what she put his cousins through, Takuya couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Paulina.

_Maybe I could try to help her?_ Takuya shook his head. _No, I can't help her. I could talk to her yes, but I can't do much otherwise._ Still, he gave a worried look as Paulina walked off, looking down at the ground in worry.

* * *

Meanwhile, Andy was walking down the hallway. Dorimon was a lot better now after a good meal, and he was currently napping in Andy's backpack. But despite this, Andy couldn't help but feel guilty for allowing his partner to get drained in the first place._ Am I really that useless without Takuya or Dash backing me up?_

"Ow!" A somewhat familiar voice exclaimed as Andy was bumped into by another body.

Andy was knocked to his butt, and blinked in surprise when he saw he had bumped into someone. It was one of the Japanese twins.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry about that!" Andy quickly apologized as he got to his feet and offered a hand to help the twin he knocked down up.

The hand was taken, only for Andy to see it was the short-haired twin, Koichi if he was right.

"It's fine." Koichi replied as he stood up, still holding Andy's hand. "I'm Koichi Kimura."

"Ah, well, it's nice to meet you Koichi, I'm Andy Fenton," Andy introduced before he looked down at his hand that was still holding Koichi's, and started to move it up and down in a friendly handshake.

Koichi chuckled. "Takuya told me and my brother he had twin cousins. I wasn't expecting to bump into one of them."

"Heh…" Andy blushed a little. "Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention. I was just on my way to Ms. Spectra's office."

"Ms. Spectra?" Koichi asked in confusion. "Who's that?"

"She's the school's teen therapist," Andy answered. "Danny and I… sort of made a mess in her office, so as punishment, we're to have a session with her. Oh, by the way, if you don't mind me saying, I was surprised to see another pair of twins. Besides me and Danny, I've never seen another twin before."

Koichi blushed a bit. "Well… I wasn't expecting to meet you either. I mean, twins aren't that common, but nor are they rare."

"I think Takuya told me about you, he did talk about how he had friends in Japan, and two of them were twins," Andy chuckled.

Koichi made like a tomato when he was told that. "Oh… He did, did he? I… wow… Sorry. I'm not good with this kind of thing…"

_If I remember Takuya's story right, Koichi is the Warrior of Darkness. Poor guy had been through a lot._ Andy recalled. "It's fine, you don't have to overthink it. And trust me, I can be pretty bad with that myself."

Koichi smiled at that. "Good to know I'm not the only one then."

Andy gave a small smile. "I should get going, I don't want to be late for my appointment with Ms. Spectra. It was nice meeting you, Koichi."

Koichi gave a nod back as well as a smile. "Nice meeting you too, Andy." Koichi then turned and walked off down another hallway, but he stopped just beyond the corner, out of sight of Andy. Something was bothering the Fenton twin, and the Yin twin could sense it.

When Andy couldn't see Koichi anymore, the younger Fenton boy gave a sigh before he started solemnly walking down the hall again.

Koichi peered out, seeing Andy's dejected look. He frowned at that. _Why is Andy so upset? Did something happen?_

When Andy reached Penelope's office, he was a bit surprised when he saw Danny walking out like he was in a daze.

"Danny?" Andy spoke up. "Is everything okay?"

Danny looked at his brother, almost like he was snapping out of said daze. "Huh?"

"You… uh… looked like you spaced out there," Andy pointed out.

Before Danny could reply, Penelope stuck her head out from the open door with a peppy smile at Andy.

"Andy! Come on in!" Penelope said with that cheerful smile.

Andy suddenly felt worried about talking to Penelope, but he followed her into her office before she shut the door.

"Please, take a seat, Andy," Penelope said, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk.

Andy hesitantly sat down on the chair. He hated how cold it was in the room, the chair itself felt cold despite it being sat on by other people. The cold also made it hard to think.

"So, Andy, I hear you have been having some troubles lately." Penelope began, acting all caring towards Andy.

Andy wasn't sure what Jazz had been saying about him, but he had a pretty good idea. "Well… it's nothing that I can't handle."

"Of course not." Penelope nodded. "Of course, you would need some help from your brother or cousin for things that you_ can't _handle on your own, right?"

"What?" Andy frowned. "Why… would you think that?"

"Sweetie, _everyone_ needs a bit of help, right?" Penelope cooed. "I mean, even those who don't ask for help can need it from time to time."

"I mean… I guess that's true," Andy agreed. "Nobody can handle everything on their own."

"But even then, those who ask for help need to know when to not hold others back." Penelope continued. "Because if they are in the way, then they are not truly helping."

Andy frowned at that.

"There is a difference between asking for help sometimes, and asking for help all the time," Penelope added. "Those who ask for help all the time can't do things on their own, and thus they burden other people."

"I'm… I'm not like that… I'm not… am I?" Andy asked, feeling desperate to hear an answer.

"I'm not saying _you_ are, Andy." Penelope assured him. "But maybe you _could_ be holding someone back if you keep asking for help."

Andy thought back on those times he thought he was helping Takuya in battle, but he was the one who kept getting hurt, when Vlad biomerged with Tsukaimon, Takuya couldn't do anything because he and Danny were in the way. When in the Ghost Zone, Takuya was stressing out over him because he got blasted away by a giant ghost's sonic boom attack, and there were other instances where his presence only hindered Takuya rather than help. Those other battles, Andy was sure Takuya could've handled himself, and Takuya was just indulging him. Andy thought he was helping, but all he was doing was just getting hurt, and making things harder for Takuya. And now his brother, Danny was the one who had to save Dorumon earlier, while Andy could do nothing but watch.

_Maybe I am just a burden…_ Andy miserably thought before he felt Penelope's hands on his shoulders.

Andy suddenly felt exhausted, and his mind felt hazy.

Penelope gave a peppy smile. "But that's okay. People need to learn when to just not burden others, and that can make a big difference."

"... Yeah… I'm sure…" Andy replied, feeling tired.

Penelope then knelt down in front of Andy. "You might be a bit of a mess now, but mess is just the beginning of message! Now go out there and be a better you!"

_I just feel patronized…_ Andy frowned before he stood up and started to walk out in a daze, almost bumping into a wall, but he managed to stop himself before he did, and walked out the door.

* * *

After what felt like a long, grueling day, the bell rang. The kids were leaving the classroom and were taking books out of their lockers, or putting them in. Danny, Andy, Tucker, and Sam were walking down the hallway together. Takuya joining up with them after he put away his books. Takuya frowned when he noticed the twins' expressions. Danny looked annoyed and mad, while Andy just looked depressed.

"Andy, Danny? Are you guys alright?" Takuya asked as he looked at his cousins. "You seem… off."

"That's what we were about to ask," Tucker remarked.

"Yeah, are you two okay?" Sam questioned in concern.

"I'm fine," Danny sighed. "But I still can't believe our sister told that shrink I'm a loser!"

"What? That doesn't sound like Jazz," Sam said, confused.

Takuya frowned. _Did Jazz really say that? I doubt it, but _if_ that is the case, then why would Ms. Spectra lie about that? _"Jazz isn't the kind of person to say something like that, right Andy?"

"Huh?" Andy blinked as if coming out of a trance. "What?"

_Now_ Takuya was getting concerned. "Andy? I just asked you a question. Jazz wouldn't say Danny was a loser, would she?"

"Oh… uh…" Andy looked unsure, which was unusual, he should know his sister well enough to know she would never call one of her brothers a loser, or anybody. "I… don't think she would…"

Takuya was beginning to get a bad feeling, and it wasn't from his Spirits this time. _Okay… This is _not_ normal, even for Andy and Danny. But _what_ is going on around here?_

"Andy? You okay? You sounded… off there," Tucker asked, also concerned.

"Am I okay?" Andy asked before realizing what he just asked. "Oh… um… yeah, I'm fine… I'm okay."

Takuya was showing clear concern on his face now. "Andy… Are you _sure_ you're fine? Both you and Danny? Are you _sure_ you're both alright?"

"We're fine," Andy said before looking at Danny. "We're fine, right?"

"Yes, we are," Danny huffed, still annoyed.

"Danny, you should know Jazz would _never_ say something like that." Takuya said seriously.

"Should know Jazz would never say what?" A familiar voice asked from in front of the five.

Standing in front of them was none other than Jazz herself, she was giving Danny and Andy a concerned look.

Danny just gave a glare at Jazz.

"Still mad?" Jazz asked with a sigh.

"Wow, you _are_ the smart one." Danny snarked, his tone still angry.

_Of course she is, Jazz wouldn't have been stupid enough to realize that she was doing nothing to contribute to a battle._ Andy's inner critic stated.

Jazz walked over to them, and spoke in a softer tone. "Danny, I know you're angry, but I'm worried about you. I mean ever since the accident-"

Takuya looked at Jazz, surprised she was bringing that up.

"Jazz, I know you think you're helping, and I'm sure when I'm older I'll appreciate it, but right now, I don't." Danny remarked in anger.

"You have to talk to _somebody_, Danny. You and Andy barely have any friends, besides these two." Jazz added when she saw Tucker and Sam glare at her. "And I guess Takuya counts? And you don't have any extracurricular activities."

Andy looked at Tucker and Sam, and at Takuya for a moment, he was about to correct Jazz that he also had Dash as a friend, but stopped himself. _No… nobody is supposed to know about that… right? Is Dash actually my friend? Or is he just pretending he is? Maybe he prefers Takuya since they can both Spirit Evolve._

"Well, maybe this is me now!" Danny exclaimed in anger. "Not everyone's pumped up full of spirit all the time you know!"

Takuya frowned at Danny's behavior, he knew that Danny and Jazz didn't always see eye to eye, but he didn't usually yell at Jazz, and even if he did get angry with her, Andy usually stopped them. But Andy just looked unsure and uneasy.

Just then, Takuya gasped as he felt that flash of heat and cold at the same time. He knew what that meant, but why was a ghost here?!

At the same time, Danny's ghost sense suddenly went off, which surprised him. "My ghost sense…?" He then began to fake being cold.

Andy noticed Danny's ghost sense, but he was hesitating rather than being on alert like Takuya and Danny were as they quickly started looking around. Andy's heart was beating against his chest, he hadn't expected another battle so soon. He didn't even know if he should help or not.

Danny started to shiver, like he was cold. Jazz gave a concerned look at her brother. "Danny? You're shivering, what's wrong?"

Danny didn't want Jazz around though. His act had to go through if he wanted to get to the ghost. "Leave me alone!"

With that shout, Danny ran down the hallway. Andy looked surprised and worried, though Takuya had an idea why Danny did what he did, if Andy's theory held up about Danny having Phantom inside him. But when Takuya turned to Andy, he was surprised to see Andy seeming to have genuinely fallen for the act.

"I didn't know he was _this_ upset…" Andy frowned.

"It's worse than I thought…" Jazz murmured in worry, only for another student to come running up to her.

"It's a freakishly large hornet and four ghosts with witch's hats!" The student exclaimed before screaming and running away.

Tucker and Sam quickly ran away as well. Takuya ran himself, hoping Andy would follow so he could get Dorimon to digivolve. But Andy didn't follow, instead, he just stood there beside Jazz, looking unsure and worried.

"Andy! C'mon!" Takuya snapped as he grabbed Andy's arm, not even thinking to grab Jazz's arm as well. His mind was too focused on getting to a spot to evolve.

"Wah!? H-hey! Wait a second!" Andy yelped as Takuya dragged him.

Jazz screamed when she saw the freakishly large, neon green and black hornet down the hallway, and it was looking at her. There were four ghost looking creatures with witch hats floating around the giant hornet as well. The five of them flew up to Jazz.

As Jazz was dealing with those, Takuya managed to drag Andy into an empty classroom.

"Okay, we should evolve. I will get the twins and Dash here. We need their help for this." Takuya said as he took out his D-Tector.

"You mean _you_ should evolve!_ I_ can't evolve!" Andy suddenly snapped.

Takuya glanced at Andy in surprise. "Andy...wh-wha? Dude, I meant you evolve Dorimon!"

"Dorimon isn't well yet," Andy said before he opened the classroom door. "You can do this without me."

Before Takuya could argue, Andy ran away.

Takuya stared after before he remembered what he had to do. _Right. Ghosts and Digimon first, Andy later._

"Dash, Koji, Koichi, we have a bit of a Digimon issue…" Takuya said over his D-Tector to the other three Warriors.

"Understood!" All three of them said at the same time.

Takuya was glad to have back up, because Andy apparently wasn't going to help this time.

As soon as Dash, Koji, and Koichi reached the classroom. Takuya gave them the order. "Time to evolve."

Koji was first. The white outline of his first Spirit appeared on his D-Tector and fractal code formed on his hand. Pulling out his D-Tector the boy was quick to act next. He held up his D-Tector and the white digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the energy of the Spirit entered his body. His eyes became red as his hair shortened and turned almost platinum in color. A white helmet covered his head as white and blue armor covered his body. He grasped the familiar beam sabers and swung them a few times before clasping them around his waist and firing off his arm laser. _"Lobomon!"_

Koichi was next. He held out his D-Tector and the purple digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes vanished as his body became digital, and coding surrounded his body as the power of the Spirit coursed through him. Grey and gold armor formed on his body, his strength increasing as well. He seemed to grow in height, and his eyes opened to reveal them a reddish color. He landed, forming a staff in his hand and a shield in the other. With two swings of the staff, he called out his name. _"Lowemon!"_

Takuya was next. He held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

Dash was last to evolve. The tan digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he held up his hand with the fractal coding around it. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "_Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Dash felt his body increase in strength and power as he felt his skin become more like wood and he felt his senses increase in sharpness and sensitivity. His eyes turned a golden color as he finally landed, crying out his name as he did so. _"Arbormon!"_

"Wow, didn't think we would meet someone who actually inherited Arbormon's Spirit," Lobomon noted.

"Yeah, nice to meet ya, didn't know there were others like us," Arbormon chuckled.

Agunimon gave a slight cough. "Once this is over we can handle introductions. We have a small group of Digimon to take care of."

"Right, let's go!" Arbormon nodded.

* * *

Jazz shut her eyes as the ghost hornet grabbed onto her shoulders, keeping her from running. The Soulmon around her wanted pieces of her soul for themselves.

_"__Tiny Twister!"_

A mini brown and pink tornado suddenly surrounded the four Soulmon, knocking each other to each other.

"Wah?" Jazz blinked.

"Back off, ghost bug!" A voice shouted before something black and white kicked the giant hornet off of Jazz, and both of them phased through the wall, right in front of Jazz's eyes.

"What the? That was a ghost? That was two ghosts?" Jazz questioned in shock, before those Soulmon recovered from that tiny tornado, and were floating towards Jazz again.

"If you want to live, human, you must use your legs and run!" A voice spoke up from under Jazz.

Jazz looked back and down. There was the same rabbit creature from before, and it was _talking_! Jazz felt like her brain wanted to disconnect and stop working at seeing that, but she had to move, so, she turned and ran, heeding the small creature's advice. Surprisingly, the creature was following her.

The Soulmon, however, were quickly catching up. Lopmon turned around and took a deep breath.

_"__Blazing Ice!"_ Lopmon shot out cold air at the Soulmon.

Due to ghost type Digimon having colder body temperature, they were soon covered in frost, which was slowing them down.

However, Lopmon knew that it was only buying him and the female human time before the Soulmon caught up to them. _I have to hope the Legendary Warriors can get here in time before these Soulmon get to us first..._

Jazz then ran into somebody, causing both of them to fall down. _Okay, I feel like this has been happening a lot today._

"Jazz!?" Andy groaned, rubbing his head.

Jazz blinked. "Andy?! What are you doing here?! We need to get out of here!"

Andy's eyes widened in horror when he saw not one, but _four_ Soulmon coming at them. He couldn't even handle one, let alone four. Andy grabbed Jazz's arms and quickly pulled her.

"Hurry! This way!" Andy yelled frantically.

Andy vaguely noticed the rabbit creature running beside them, but he would have to ask Jazz about it later.

The Soulmon, now free of the frost, were beginning to close in again. Lopmon knew he could try his Blazing Ice attack again, but it would only delay the inevitable. He wasn't a Celestial just because of his strength; he knew when a battle was going downhill quickly, and this was one such time.

Andy shut his eyes, praying that his competent cousin and his friends would get here soon.

As if hearing his prayers, he heard their familiar attacks.

_"__Pyro Darts!"_ That was Agunimon's attack, and it hit one of the Soulmon on the face.

_"__Blockade Seed!"_ Arbormon's attack entangled the group of Soulmon, but the next two attacks were totally foreign to Andy.

_"__Howling Laser!"_ Andy's eyes snapped open at that new attack and he looked back, only to see a bright white laser impact another Soulmon.

_"__Shadow Lance!"_ This dark-colored shockwave of energy hit the last Soulmon into a locker, denting the metal badly.

The four Soulmon weren't done yet, however, they were now aiming for the four Legendary Warriors. They started to float around in a circle.

_"__Necro Magic."_

The entire area was suddenly coated with eerie darkness, and souls of the dead began to wail out. Every human that was in the area all fell to their hands and knees, feeling weak and nauseous. This included Jazz and Andy.

Agunimon growled as he saw the attack, but when he glanced back, he saw Andy and Jazz almost on the ground due to how weak they were feeling. Worry made his heart race, but he also couldn't just leave his fellow Warriors to deal with these Soulmon alone. He glanced back at Lobomon, who was his second-in-command. "What do you think we should do?"

"We have to get rid of the Soulmon quickly, before they drain everyone's lifeforce," Lobomon answered.

"How do we do that?" Arbormon asked. "They're flying in a fast circle."

Andy looked up at the Soulmon. He noticed that they seemed pretty fond of their hats._ Would they be weakened if their hats were knocked off?_

Andy thought about telling this strategy to Takuya, but his unsureness made him stop._ Maybe I'm wrong, I might just be spouting something that wouldn't help and waste everybody's time._

Agunimon frowned at that. He looked around at the Soulmon, noting they were indeed moving quickly, and they seemed to be closing in too. "Well, whatever method we use, we have to act fast because those things are closing in on us."

Lowemon looked around as well, seeing their leader was right. "He's right. Maybe we can use Arbormon's Blockade Seed to trap them."

The Legendary Warriors quickly went to work. Arbormon used his Blockade Seed, but the fast circle just slapped the seeds away, Arbormon couldn't get a good aim on them with how fast they were flying in the tight circle. Agunimon, Lobomon, and Lowemon tried to attack as well, but the Necro Magic got stronger and was starting to weaken them.

Then, all of a sudden, they stopped. The Soulmon stopped, and the Necro Magic stopped as well. They suddenly flew up through the roof, disappearing.

Agunimon looked up at the ceiling, noting this wasn't normal. _Those Soulmon had us on the ropes… Why would they retreat suddenly?_ A frown was on his face as he pondered that thought.

Lobomon frowned as he saw that as well. "Okay… what is going on here? I was sure those Soulmon would do more damage to us."

"I'm not sure, this is unusual…" Lowemon agreed.

_That ghost from earlier… he must be controlling those Soulmon somehow…_ Andy figured before he backpedaled._ Or… is he? I might be wrong... _

Then Agunimon remembered Andy and Jazz. "Crap…" The swear was said low under his breath before he turned and made his way to Andy and Jazz. "Hey!"

"Ugh… that was… horrible…" Jazz groaned before she suddenly gave an excited smile. "But that was also awesome! Real ghosts! I can't believe it! And super powered creatures! It's like we're in a movie or something!"

Agunimon made his way over, trying to make sure no one else was in his way. "Hey! Are you two okay?"

"That armored man!" Jazz recognized from the news. "He's real!?"

"We're okay, I think," Andy said to Agunimon.

Agunimon gave a nod, trying to hide his relief at hearing that, although it was somewhat hard because he had been worried sick about Andy and Jazz during that fight. "Good. I...I'm glad to hear that."

"Agunimon," Lobomon spoke up. "We should go."

Agunimon gave a nod. "Right." With that, he ran off with the other Legendary Warriors, but as he did so, he gave a glance back over his shoulder, not even bothering to hide his concern for Andy and Dorimon this time. _Andy… Why didn't you help that time…? What's gotten into you?_

As Andy stood up, he noticed that rabbit creature was nowhere in sight._ I guess it ran off when the Legendary Warriors showed up… Was that a Digimon? It had to have been… right? What else could it be?_

* * *

Jazz had been excited to tell Danny what she and Andy had witnessed in school, but she was quickly disappointed by Danny's reaction.

"What do you mean you didn't see a ghost or those other creatures?" Jazz asked as she, Andy, and Danny were sitting at the kitchen table.

"It didn't look like a ghost to me, it looked like a big bug. So I ran, like a 'loser'." Danny pouted, drawing out the word 'loser'. "And I didn't see any other creatures."

"I was right," Jazz sighed. "You're not going to listen to me, are you? You or Andy."

"Nope~" Danny said in a smug tone as he gave a smirk to Jazz.

"Wah?" Andy blinked at being called out, he had been munching on some mashed potatoes and gravy when Jazz suddenly said that neither he nor Danny was going to listen to her. "Why wouldn't I listen to my smarter sister?"

"You've been pouting all day, Andy," Jazz pointed out. "Even when I told you there was nothing to be upset over while we were walking home."

"Upset? I'm not upset." Andy frowned.

Jazz rolled her eyes before she raised her voice. "Mom! Dad! I need to talk to you two about Danny and Andy!"

"What?!" Danny looked worried now. "No! That's not necessary!"

But it was too late, as Jack and Maddie came into the kitchen.

"Is there something wrong with Danny and Andy?" Maddie asked, worried for her boys.

"Is there a ghost involved?" Jack demanded as he held a new weapon in his hands.

Maddie came in closer to Danny and Andy. "Is there something you want to talk about you two?"

"That involves ghosts?" Jack questioned.

"No? Yes? Maybe? I don't know!" Andy yelled.

Danny, thankfully, still had his own head on straight, and got an idea. "What Andy means is that Jazz thinks she saw a ghost today. Tell them, Jazz~"

"What?!" Maddie exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

Jazz blinked, surprised that Danny had pulled off that redirection to her so smoothly. _Wow… Danny pulled that one off smoothly._

Jack smiled. "It would have been a good time to try out the portable Fenton Ghost Peeler. It peels ghosts apart atom by atom!" He pressed the button and was encased in armor, but it was too heavy and Jack fell onto the table, smashing it to bits, and caused Andy's bowl of mashed potatoes to fall on top of Jack's armored head.

"My potatoes!" Andy cried.

Danny stood up, smirk still in place. "Well, enjoy your chat~" He didn't even notice Andy's reaction to the dropped potatoes.

Andy frowned at the armor Jack was wearing, and he had half a mind to have Dorimon eat it.

Dorimon, who was on Andy's head and now very much awake, was looking at the armor, as it looked tasty. _Maybe just one bite…?_

"Welp, dinner's ruined," Andy grumbled.

Maddie was checking up on her husband as Andy began to walk away. Jazz then took Andy's arm, making him stop.

"Hey, wait… Andy, you know how to get through to Danny, don't you?" Jazz asked. "Can you get him to talk? Or at least talk to someone?"

Andy looked at Jazz. "I… I don't know. Danny… has his own way of handling things, I guess. If he doesn't want to talk, then he doesn't want to talk…"

Dorimon frowned, that didn't sound like something Andy would say. _What is wrong with Andy? Why is he acting so… unsure…?_ The little In-Training Digimon was worried for his partner. _I have half a mind to use my iron beads on him if it will snap him out of it..._

"What do you mean? Just last month you had been so determined to figure out what's been going on with Danny, now it's like you don't care anymore, or…" Jazz frowned. "Are you okay? You've been acting weird lately."

"Am I okay?" Andy repeated in a questioning tone. "What do you think? You're obviously way smarter than me."

Jazz blinked in surprise. _Is Andy saying I am better than him? That's not like him at all…_ "Andy… You're smart too. I mean, sure it's not booksmart, but you are smart in your own unique way."

Dorimon had to agree with Jazz, even if he didn't say it out loud. _She's right, Andy… You have been able to manipulate my Metal Cannon in ways never imagined before. You know more about Digimon than expected for someone who just gained a partner Digimon. You're smarter than you think..._

"Isn't that all anybody cares about? As long as you're booksmart, you have a bright future ahead of you," Andy replied.

Jazz frowned, she didn't know Andy thought that way, but he did have a point. School always pushed kids to learn more through text books than anything else, those who weren't smart with books often ended up seen as failures in life.

Dorimon decided he would talk to Andy once they were back in his and Danny's room. _Maybe I can get through to him..._

Jazz let go of her younger brother, letting him walk upstairs to his room.

At the same time, Takuya finally got home. He was a bit of a mess. He, Dash, Koji, and Koichi, after their initial introductions, teamed up to search the school for the Soulmon, but they hadn't found a single data of those Soulmon anywhere. Eventually, it had gotten late, and the four of them had to head on home.

"Sorry I'm late," Takuya said as he dropped his backpack to the floor. He then noticed the table was in pieces and his uncle was in some kind of armor. "Okay…? What happened here?" _Is that a new invention?_

Takuya knelt and prodded his uncle. "Uncle Jack? Is that you in there?"

"Yes, it is," Maddie sighed. "I guess we still have a few bugs to work on out the Fenton Peeler."

"Not to worry! We'll eventually get it right!" Jack said proudly despite still lying face down with a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy on his head.

Takuya sighed as he stood up. "He's fine it seems." He then looked at Jazz, seeing she had a concerned look on her face. "Jazz? Is something wrong?"

"I think something's wrong with my brothers…" Jazz frowned. "I mean… today I saw actual ghosts and these unusual creatures, and one of them didn't even bat an eye! And the other… he just sounds so… doubtful with everything lately."

Takuya recalled what he had seen with Andy and Danny lately. "Yeah… I noticed it too." He looked down, worry on his own face. _But why? Why is Danny acting so angry and Andy so doubtful? It's not like them..._

* * *

Later, that evening, Takuya was alone in his room. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with his cousins. Jazz was worried sick about them, and he couldn't figure out what was wrong with them either. Takuya sighed, he wished Andy wasn't having this problem. Andy would've come up with at least ten different theories as to what happened to Danny and… himself…? By now.

_Maybe I should try to figure it out by going over what I know._ Takuya mused to himself. _Because I know Andy tried to fight a Soulmon on his own, but it didn't go over so well, well, from what Danny mentioned anyway. It can't be just that though… can it?_

Takuya remembered Andy telling him at one point that if something seems off, he should try to trace back to where it all started and go from there. Takuya, as far as he could remember, knew Andy was just fine earlier this morning.

_Okay, so Andy was fine this morning, and had no issues. Then the fight with the Soulmon and a blob ghost happened, and the student counselor's office was trashed in the fight. Andy made some mistakes as he fought the Soulmon, but that is to be expected. However… I don't think that alone made Andy miserable. He would feel bad yes, but not to the point of doubting himself…_ Takuya mused as he looked down at the floor in thought. Then he had a thought. _Wait… The last person who saw Andy before he started becoming doubtful was… Koichi! Maybe he can give some light on this!_

Takuya pulled out his D-Tector and began to press the buttons on it before he got through to Koichi's. The symbol of Darkness appeared on the screen. "Koichi?"

_"__Yes, Takuya?"_ Koichi's voice asked.

"Hey, listen. I have an issue with my cousins, and you were the last one to see Andy, correct?" Takuya began. "Because he is not himself anymore."

_"__Uh… last one to see Andy? No, I don't think so,"_ Koichi said, sounding confused.

"Sorry. I worded that wrong." Takuya said as he sighed. "I meant, when you met Andy, did he seem like he was doubting himself? Because that is what is going on right now. Andy has apparently been saying stuff that has my cousin Jazz worried, and me as well."

_"__Oh… well, he did seem like something was bothering him, but he didn't seem all that doubtful. In fact, he was the one who encouraged me not to worry about being an introvert,"_ Koichi answered.

"He did? That sounds like something Andy would do." Takuya chuckled. Then he went serious. "But then that doesn't explain why he is acting so doubtful now…"

_"__Last I saw, he went into Penelope Spectra's office,"_ Koichi informed._ "I'm not sure what could've happened after that."_

Takuya perked up at that. "Andy went to Ms. Spectra's office huh? I heard she is supposed to be helping kids at Casper High, but… Something about her rubs me the wrong way, like she is not what she claims to be."

_"__Maybe… but let's be careful not to jump to conclusions. If there is something going on with Ms. Spectra, we would need evidence first,"_ Koichi replied.

"Yeah, I understand. I am just saying that is what I am feeling." Takuya clarified. "But anyway, thanks for the information."

_"__Of course, Takuya,"_ Koichi said.

With that, Koichi hung up. Takuya looked up at the ceiling, thinking to himself._ Something smelly is going on here, and I _will_ get to the bottom of it._

* * *

Andy was sitting on his bed. Danny left a few minutes ago to go out flying to try to clear his head. Andy wanted to talk to Danny, but with how angry Danny was, Andy wasn't sure if he should talk to him right now.

"Andy, what's going on with you?" Dorimon asked. "The Andy I know isn't so… well, like_ this_."

"What do you mean? Isn't this how I always am?" Andy frowned.

"No. You have been acting like you can't do anything lately," Dorimon replied.

"Oh…" Andy acted like this was his first time hearing that.

"Tell me what's wrong, Andy, we are supposed to be partners, right?" Dorimon asked. "Don't tell me you doubt that too."

The boy shook his head. "Of course not."

"Then what's going on with you? I knew you were bothered by something lately, but this is going beyond that," The In-Training pointed out.

Andy frowned, and seemed to be hesitated on saying what was on his mind. "... Do you ever feel like we're just in the way whenever a battle starts?"

Dorimon blinked. "No… Why? I thought we would do whatever we could to help out."

"That's all we've been doing… just doing whatever we could to help out, but have we been really helping?" Andy questioned.

"What do you mean?" Dorimon frowned.

"Look at our track record. All of our successful battles were because we had help, from Takuya, and from Dash, people who have the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors. We barely did anything other than become objects of worry for both of them. Look at how our battle with ShadowSeraphimon turned out, heck, look at how our battle with Soulmon this morning turned out! You were out of commission for most of the day, and I couldn't do anything!" Andy explained in frustration.

Dorimon frowned. "So? You made a mistake, and that is part of being in a battle. Digimon make mistakes all the time, and so do humans. But we don't let it get us down. We just get stronger by learning from the mistakes we make. So, you should too."

"That's what everyone's been saying. But the mistakes I made were obvious and amateurish. It almost cost both of us, if Danny hadn't been there, you might've been Soulmon food! Why haven't you been able to digivolve past the Rookie stage yet? It's as Tsukaimon said, I'm just holding you back," Andy said glumly.

Dorimon blinked in surprise. "Andy… I don't think you have been holding me back. It just takes time for Digimon to digivolve to a higher state. I _need_ you to help me fight. _I_ need you."

Andy shook his head.

"Listen Andy… I'll admit, I am also scared of digivolving," Dorimon spoke up. "After I heard about what happened to Takuya that time when Tucker took you over… and when we first met… I can't help but worry I might lose control again and become a monster. So maybe the reason why neither of us have gotten any 'stronger' is because we're both holding _ourselves_ back."

Andy sighed. "I'm not really sure how much help I've really been or if Takuya has just been indulging me."

Dorimon frowned here. "Andy, if he was just indulging you, you would know. He is your cousin, right? Come on, you've got a good brain in there, use it. Why would you think you've only been in the way? Sure there had been a few bad experiences, and setbacks lately, but that shouldn't be enough to make you believe you're not good enough."

Andy looked at Dorimon for a moment and gave a soft smile. "Perhaps we should sleep on it. I have a lot to think about…"

Dorimon nodded, hoping he got through to Andy. _Please Andy… Don't keep acting like this… I don't like it..._

* * *

_The next morning, at Casper High_

Jazz was determined to get to the bottom of her brothers' behaviors. She decided to go to their friends. Jazz managed to corner Tucker and Sam before she began asking them questions.

"Have you noticed how gloomy and negative Danny's been lately? Or how worried and doubtful Andy's been?" Jazz questioned the two.

"Um… Jazz, we're _Danny's_ and _Andy's_ friends. We're _supposed_ to keep their secrets _from_ you." Tucker pointed out, even though that fact was obvious to Jazz.

Jazz pulled out a 20 dollar bill and waved it in front of Tucker.

"Although…" Tucker began as he took the 20 dollar bill; Jazz knew that was one of his secret likes, so she had planned to use it to get the information she wanted. Too bad Sam figured it out though.

Sam took the 20 dollar bill away from Tucker and handed it back to Jazz, Sam gave a glare at Tucker before she spoke to the older sister. "Listen, I understand that you're worried, but we all have our own secrets, Jazz. They keep some secrets to themselves, but it's not like they're doing anything criminal."

At the same time, Andy had been looking over his text books near a wall. Dorimon was in his backpack again. Danny came over by the water fountain and leaned down to drink some water. Andy noticed something bright green suddenly sticking out of the wall from the corner of his eyes. When Andy looked, his eyes went wide when he saw a green hand sticking out, grabbed onto one of the straps on Danny's backpack, and put it to the Fire Alarm, making sure it was stuck to it, before the hand went back into the wall.

Andy opened his mouth to warn Danny when Danny finished drinking his water, but Andy hesitated. Unfortunately, the hesitation cost him, because Danny made to move, and the strap of his backpack pulled the Fire Alarm. This caused the alarm to go off, and the sprinklers on the ceiling activated, soaking everybody. Andy squeaked when he saw his text books were getting drenched.

"NO! MY TEXT BOOKS!" Andy yelled.

Dorimon sighed as he heard Andy's voice despite being in the backpack before a thought crossed his mind. _Is this backpack even waterproof?_

There was a sudden panic due to the Fire Alarm, the students were all trampling the brothers out the door, trying to get out of the raining building.

Takuya was dragged outside as well, and he was completely drenched by a fire hose that one of the firemen used on him, likely thinking the students that were panicking were literally on fire. The Warrior of Flame was not too thrilled about that. Someone_ must hate me up there..._

Takuya tried to wring out his shirt, but it was so drenched it did little in the long run.

"The Swan Princess! Who pulled that fire alarm!?" Mr. Lancer shouted.

Andy was rubbing his very soaked hair, not noticing Dorimon popping out of his wet backpack and was shaking his very wet fur. A Dalmation dog started barking at Dorimon, and Dorimon gave a sudden roar back, making the dog whimper. Andy quickly straightened up when he heard Dorimon roaring and shoved him back into the backpack before anyone could see him.

Dorimon muttered under his breath while in the backpack. Andy wasn't sure if it was about stupid Dogmon or something else.

"I believe I saw Danny here pulling the fire alarm," Penelope spoke up to Mr. Lancer.

Mr. Lancer glared at the older twin. "You're getting a month's detention, Mr. Fenton."

"A month's detention?!" Danny exclaimed, shocked at what he was told. "But I didn't do anything!"

Sam's face was covered by her wet hair, the only thing showing was her nose. Tucker was grumbling as he was wringing his beret. Jazz didn't look too happy about being wet.

"It's… it's true, Mr. Lancer. Danny's backpack was just caught on the fire alarm," Andy spoke up on his brother's behalf, though he stuttered a little bit, not sure if that was the right thing to say.

Mr. Lancer gave Andy a look. "Is that so? Because no one else here is saying that. Are you sure you're telling the truth?"

Andy shrunk back.

"Hey, don't worry, Mr. Lancer, it was an accident, right?" Penelope spoke up with a smile. "But we're going to take that accident and make it an acci-don't, and learn from it so it never happens again~"

"But-" Danny began, but Mr. Lancer cut him off.

"No buts." Mr. Lancer scolded. "You could learn a little bit about school spirit from Ms. Spectra here."

Penelope gave Danny a smug look as Mr. Lancer continued to speak.

"When I was in school I got the same advice, and look how I turned out." Mr. Lancer finished as he gave a spry jump into the air for a moment.

Danny suddenly wished he was anywhere else.

Andy blinked when Mr. Lancer said Penelope's last name._ Ms. Spectra, huh? Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out she was a ghost in disguise?_

Dorimon, inside Andy's backpack, heard the woman's last name thanks to his keen Digimon hearing and frowned to himself. _Spectra… Isn't that a ghostly sounding name? Huh..._

* * *

Later, when everyone dried off, and headed back into Casper High, Danny had to go into Penelope's office again.

Andy had study hall this period, so he decided to use this time to get his textbooks replaced since they were destroyed in the deluge of water. However, while he was on his way to the Principal's Office, he saw Dash, Calvin, and another jock carrying some boxes down the hallway. Although Andy knew it might get him into trouble, he was curious enough to see where they were going. He didn't really feel up to talking to Principal Ishiyama right now anyways.

Dash perked up, almost as if sensing something, but brushed it off. He, Calvin, and the other jock made their way to Penelope Spectra's office, boxes in hand.

Andy stayed a few feet away from them so they wouldn't see him. But when Dash, Calvin, and the other jock walked into the office, he heard something he didn't expect.

"Ms. Spectra, where do you want us to put the-" Dash suddenly stopped as the three of them gasped in shock at something. "What the…?"

"Hey, guys, check it out! It's the Casper High Spirit Baby!" Calvin mocked as he and the other jock began to laugh. Dash on the other hand, while Andy couldn't see it, had rage on his face. But he didn't lash out at Calvin, even if it would be deserved.

Andy furrowed his eyebrows when he heard Calvin making fun of someone, and he peeked through the door. The boy's eyes went wide in shock when he saw his brother, wearing what appeared to be a diaper, a red sash that said 'SPIRIT' over his shirt, and a tall black hat.

"What… the… heck!?" Andy shouted, catching everyone's attention.

Angry now, Andy walked into the office before he glared at Penelope. "Why do you have Danny wearing this!?"

"It's to help him get over his fear of being called a baby. He cares about what others think too much." Penelope replied in a caring tone. "So why not face it head on?"

"By making sure others will mock him!?" Andy snapped. "That will only make it worse! Lady, are you sure you know what you're doing!?"

"Of course I do." Penelope replied, giving Andy a look. "And are you sure you should be worrying about your brother right now when you have your own issues to be worrying about?"

Andy narrowed his eyes.

Dash, seeing that Andy was angry, put down the box he was carrying and turned to Calvin and the other jock. "Okay, that's enough you guys, put everything down and let's go."

Calvin gave Dash a grin. "Okay, but you have to admit that was pretty funny."

Dash gave a fake laugh. "Ha ha. Sure. Let's go." He turned and walked off without even acknowledging Calvin's confused look.

Andy grabbed Danny's arm suddenly. "Come on, bro, let's get you out of that ridiculous outfit."

Danny nodded. "Okay, bro." _I am so glad Andy came by. The last thing I need is to be mocked some more..._

"Now, hold on a moment," Penelope spoke up, putting her hands on Danny and Andy's shoulders.

Dorimon slowly looked up from the backpack and gave Penelope a warning glare. _You like that hand of yours? I suggest you get it off of the boy's shoulder if you want to keep it..._

Penelope frowned at the little Digimon before she let go of the twins' shoulder. But she was able to absorb what she needed before she did.

Andy didn't bother to acknowledge Penelope anymore, after she let them go, he and Danny left her office.

Dorimon pulled back into Andy's backpack, making sure he was hidden from sight again. _The next time I see her, I _will_ bite if she touches Andy or Danny again..._

* * *

After school let out for the day, Danny decided to take Andy and Takuya with him to the Elmer's Pharmacy. It was a good place for the teens to hang out, next to the mall and the Nasty Burger. Danny also realized Takuya had never been to Elmer's Pharmacy before, so it was a good time to show him around. They met up with Tucker and Sam at the ice cream parlor.

While Sam had a tofu ice cream and Tucker had strawberry, Takuya had gotten a chocolate ice cream cone and was licking at it, watching his twin cousins with worry. Andy appeared to be deep in thought about something as he was licking his vanilla ice cream. Andy hadn't noticed that he ended up feeding Dorimon a metal bowl meant for ice cream instead of ice cream, though Dorimon didn't seem to mind since he liked the metal bowl. Tucker and Sam made sure to keep Dorimon hidden under the table with them.

"So Ms. Spectra actually made you wear a baby outfit?" Tucker asked after hearing the story from Danny.

"Yeah, she did." Danny sighed. "And it was embarrassing to boot!"

"At least she didn't make you walk around the school in it, right?" Sam asked.

"She was about to." Danny frowned. "If Andy hadn't come along when he did."

Tucker gave Andy a look. "Nice save, dude."

Andy didn't acknowledge Tucker, he was still deep in thought.

"Uh… dude? Andy? You okay?" Tucker asked.

Andy blinked. "Huh? Did you say something?"

"Um… Never mind." Tucker sighed. "You seem a bit out of it, man."

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked.

"Hmm… maybe," Andy muttered softly.

Danny sighed. "This week is going wrong. I've been making a lot more mistakes, the ghost keeps getting away, and now I keep feeling depressed and angry all the time. Why? I mean that shrink is supposed to be helping me, but ever since I've been talking to her, I've been feeling worse."

Andy looked over at Danny, his eyes wide and parts of his ice cream melted onto the table.

Takuya looked over at Andy. "Andy? Is something wrong?"

Andy looked down at his ice cream. It was like he had been trying to figure out a puzzle, and Danny had just given him the last piece to click it together._ But… it couldn't possibly… it's too easy, too obvious… no self respecting ghost would be that obvious, right? But what if I am right? It would be dangerous to leave it unchecked… but if I'm wrong… I'll just look like a paranoid idiot who's wasting everybody's time. Surely there must be a way to find out for sure._

Dorimon peered out from Andy's backpack, a slight frown on his small face. _Andy… why are you still acting like this? I thought you would be better by now… I mean you stood up for Danny a while ago, where did that determined spirit go?_

Andy tried to figure out the best way to tell the others of what he thought without making them feel like he was a paranoid idiot. "Um… I think…"

Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off, and Takuya felt hot and cold. Dorimon frowned, he was more annoyed than on alarm with the fact that there was a ghost and Digimon here.

Takuya looked around, wondering where the ghost and Digimon were. Then, he saw a Soulmon hovering near the back of the store. _Damn it…_ He stood up. "Um… I have to use the bathroom."

Takuya ran off before anyone could say anything. Andy gaped for a moment.

Danny was about to get up before Jazz suddenly approached them.

"Hey… are you still mad, Danny?" Jazz asked in concerned.

Danny gritted his teeth, he didn't expect Jazz to suddenly show up, and he didn't have time to come up with a good excuse. He looked over at Tucker, Sam, and Andy. Thinking quickly, he suddenly yelled at them. "Oh yeah!? Well if you three are going to take Jazz's side, then you can hang with her too!"

Danny then pulled Jazz onto his seat while he got up. "Take my seat, you've already taken my friends."

Danny was a little overdramatic there, but he didn't have time to put on a good act, he had to hurry. Danny ran to the backdoor. Andy was now bewildered.

"Wait, Danny!" Jazz called out, now even more concerned for him and she started running after him.

"Come on!" Sam hissed before she and Tucker ran off in the other direction, leaving Andy and Dorimon there.

"What the crap just happened?" Andy frowned.

"There's a ghost nearby, and a Digimon too." Dorimon replied as he peered out of Andy's backpack more. "We need to go help!"

Andy stood up. "R-right… go help… them."

Andy was still unsure, but if his theory was right, then he had no reason to be unsure of himself. Penelope was just trying to implant doubt into him. But it was still hard to fight against the doubt because of how little confidence he felt at the moment. Still, Andy felt guilty about letting his cousin and brother go to fight on their own. He had to do something. Andy ran to where Danny and Jazz ran off to.

Andy stopped when he nearly ran right into Jazz, who was staring out the door.

"Jazz? What are you doing?" Andy asked.

"Andy?!" Jazz gasped. "Wh-what are you doing here? Did you come to help me get to Danny?"

Andy frowned a little, Jazz looked freaked out, more than usual. Andy opened the door a little more, seeing Danny in his ghost form and flew off into the sky. Andy's eyes widened before he slowly closed the door and looked at Jazz.

"... So… what did you see just now?" Andy cautiously asked.

"I saw Danny run off." Jazz replied. "And then…" Jazz trailed off here, unsure of how to describe what she had just seen to Andy. _I don't want to freak him out..._

Before Andy could say anything, they heard screaming. The blob ghost was roaring at Paulina and an employee. Not only that, but Andy saw several Soulmon, more than just 4, flying around. Then some of them flew out. One of them flew at them, and picked up Jazz. Jazz yelped as she was carried out into the alleyway.

"Jazz!" Andy yelled frantically.

"Put me down!" Jazz struggled.

_"__Blazing Ice!"_ Frosty air suddenly coated the Soulmon that was carrying Jazz, and caused it to drop her. Jazz yelped before she landed on the ground, which thankfully wasn't far.

Looking up as she rubbed her behind, Jazz saw that same rabbit creature from the other day. "W-wha… What?"

The Soulmon hissed as he floated closer to Jazz. The rabbit creature quickly jumped in front of Jazz, glaring at the Soulmon.

"I can't really explain it, but I feel the need to protect you, human," The rabbit stated.

Jazz blinked, unsure if she was losing it or if this was real. However, it seemed the little creature was willing to help her, so she decided to give it a chance of possibly being real. "O-okay… Just… be careful…"

Two more Soulmon started floating towards them. The rabbit creature jumped and began to spin around rapidly. _"Tiny Twister!"_

Jazz watched as the small creature's attack landed on one of the ghostly things hovering towards her, knocking the ghost thing back into a wall.

The other two grabbed onto Lopmon with their claws.

_"__Dark Claw."_

Lopmon began to cry out in pain.

_"__Metal Cannon!"_

Two iron balls slammed into the two Soulmon, forcing them to let go of Lopmon.

Jazz looked back, shocked at the sudden turn of events. Behind her was Andy, and at his side was a fox-like dragon… thing! But what surprised her the most was the creature at Andy's side looked like it was ready to _protect_ Andy.

Andy ran over to Jazz in concern. "Are you okay, Jazz?"

Jazz nodded. "Yeah… But Andy… what _is_ that thing beside you? And where is your plushy?"

Dorumon quickly stood in front of Andy and Jazz, standing beside Lopmon. The three Soulmon hissed angrily.

"Jazz…" Andy frowned. "... Dorumon isn't a plushy, he's my partner and friend. He's a Digimon."

"D-Digi-what?" Jazz was surprised at this. "Andy, _what_ is going on here?"

"I think it should be pretty obvious; we're under attack!" Andy snapped back. "This is _not_ the time to explain right now!"

Jazz looked back and saw Andy was right, for the Soulmon were aiming to come and get at the three of them. "Uh oh…"

_"__Finishing Trance."_

The three Soulmon created a large dragon-like skull and were intending to drop it on them.

"Move!" Andy yelled, grabbing Jazz's arm and pulled her away.

Dorumon and Lopmon jumped away as well just before the large skull crushed the area they were standing in seconds ago.

Jazz looked at Andy before looking at the fox-like dragon, known as Dorumon. Looking back at the ghost things behind her, she frowned to herself. _Those things look strong… But whatever is going on here, it _definitely_ involves Andy._

Andy remembered seeing that Lopmon's ice attack seemed to have an effect on the Soulmon, so he took out his Frigimon card. Andy took out his D-Arc. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!_" Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. _"Frigimon's Icy Breath activate!"_

Dorumon shot out the Icy Breath at two of the Soulmon, freezing them quickly in ice, but the third one managed to escape.

"Look out!" Lopmon warned.

Soulmon reached out its claws. _"Dark Claw."_

Soulmon grabbed onto Dorumon's neck._ "Energy Drain."_

Dorumon cried out as he felt the energy from his body being drained. His body glowed with a sick purple color, almost making him look darker than usual.

"No! Leave him alone!" Andy shouted in desperation.

_"__Blazing-"_ Lopmon began to take a deep breath before another Soulmon grabbed him from behind.

"Where are these things coming from?" Jazz frowned.

There was sudden fire coming from the building.

The fire burst out several windows, sending glass towards the Soulmon holding Lopmon. Soulmon hissed, distracted by the glass. Lopmon then smacked the Soulmon with his ears.

"You can't let yourself give up just because things get hard!" Lopmon called. "I only survived as long as I did by not giving up! Even if I lost my status, my form, my friends… I refuse to give up!"

Andy looked at Lopmon, hearing his determined words. He remembered how Dorumon had refused to give up when he kept tackling Vlad and Tsukaimon, even if Dorumon was clearly outclassed in every way. He remembered Vlad's question. _"Why do you keep trying so hard?"_

_Why do we…?_ Andy asked himself as he gripped onto his D-Arc tightly._ Because… we want to see a better tomorrow. We want to survive, and live. By giving up, we're essentially allowing ourselves to die._

Dorumon looked at Andy. "Andy… we have to fight back… Lopmon is correct. He won't quit just because things look hard."

Andy looked around for a moment before he grabbed onto an empty food tray on the ground and threw it as hard as he could at the Soulmon that was gripping onto Dorumon. The tray didn't hit the Soulmon, but it hit its hat. The tray bounced off of the hat, which caused the hat to slide off of the Soulmon. The Soulmon, now hatless, gasped.

Andy then took out another card and slid it across his D-Arc. _"Digi-modify! Devidramon's Red-Eyes activate!"_

Dorumon's eyes glowed red, staring right into the Soulmon's eyes. Soulmon was instantly paralyzed, its entire body going stiff.

Dorumon was dropped to the ground and landed on his feet before stumbling over to Andy's side. He gave Andy a smile. "Heh… Not bad…"

Andy hugged Dorumon. "I'm glad you're okay."

"It's not over yet!" Lopmon shouted, finally able to get out of the Soulmon's grip.

The Soulmon, now angry, seeing its friend frozen in paralysis, and the other two frozen in ice, started to charge at Andy, Dorumon, and Jazz. The three of them looked up in shock. Then suddenly, it stopped. The Soulmon frowned, before he turned around, grabbed onto the paralyzed Soulmon. The other two frozen Soulmon broke out of their ice and flew away with the Soulmon. Two more Soulmon came out from the building, following the other 4 Soulmon into the sky.

"Okay… That was weird…" Jazz noted. "Those two things that fled from the store were burned as well…" She then remembered the rabbit creature. "Ah…"

The rabbit creature jumped down and walked over to them. "... You may call me Lopmon."

Dorumon looked at Lopmon. "Nice to meet you, Lopmon."

Jazz gave a slight nod. "Ah… Hi. I'm… Jazz." She was unsure of what to make of all this though.

Andy looked at his D-Arc as a holographic image of Lopmon appeared. "Let's see… Lopmon… Rookie level, Data type. Lopmon is an Animal Digimon. It is an extremely precious Rookie Digimon that is a twin to Terriermon. Lopmon has three horns growing from its head and has the personality of a lonely crybaby."

"Okay, that last part is a lie, I'm not a lonely crybaby," Lopmon huffed.

"Well, if the way you handled those Soulmon was any indication, you are braver than that." Dorumon chuckled.

Jazz then looked at Andy. "Okay, Andy. I want an explanation as to _what_ is going on here!"

Before Andy could say anything, they heard something coming out of the building. They looked up, seeing Danny Phantom flying away into the sky. Jazz paled, as if she just remembered something. She rubbed the temples of her head, it was almost too much.

Lopmon noticed Jazz's actions. "Are you okay?"

Jazz looked back at Lopmon. "Um… Yeah. Just have a bit of a headache…"

"Come on, Jazz, let's get you home, I'm sure this is all a bit overwhelming. I can explain everything on the way," Andy promised, sounding more like his usual self.

Jazz nodded at Andy, feeling a bit better knowing that he was sounding more like his normal self again. "Okay, Andy. Let's go."

"But wait… Dorumon," Andy looked back at his Digimon partner.

Dorumon nodded before fractal code surrounded him, surprising Jazz, and he degenerated back into Dorimon, Andy's 'plushy'.

Jazz blinked. "So that plushy is Dorumon?" _It would make sense if that is the case, why I thought it was alive, because it _is_ alive!_

"Yeah… but his name is Dorimon now while in this form," Andy chuckled.

"What?" Jazz frowned.

"Come on… I'll explain while we walk," Andy sighed.

Lopmon looked at them for a moment, before he ran over to Jazz, and climbed up to her head suddenly. "If that Digimon can pretend to be a toy, then so can I."

Jazz looked up at Lopmon. "I don't know… Our parents can get a bit… excited when it comes to unnatural creatures…"

"Do they get excited if they think the 'unnatural creature' is a stuffed animal?" Lopmon questioned. "Or a hat?"

Jazz blinked. "Um… no. I _guess_ it's okay, as long as you don't move or anything like that."

Lopmon smiled at Jazz's response.

* * *

It was late evening by the time Jazz and Andy got home. Danny and Takuya were already in Fenton Works. Andy had finished explaining about Digimon, how they worked, and what they are to Jazz, with some helpful input from Lopmon and Dorimon.

Jazz knew it was hard to wrap her head around, but having seen the 'Digimon' in action, she found herself accepting it, which was hard to believe for her. Lopmon was also a friendly little Digimon from what she saw, and quite strong too for a 'Rookie-level' as Andy had explained to her. Lopmon definitely had a story behind him.

"So what's your story?" Andy asked Jazz suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Jazz questioned.

"I've told you about Digimon and my partner Dorimon," Andy pointed out. "But you haven't told me what you saw when you saw that ghost boy flying away earlier."

Jazz frowned. She wasn't sure how Andy would take it, or if he even knew at all what Danny's secret was. "I…"

Andy looked into her eyes, as if searching for something. He then gave a small chuckle. "... Those are the eyes of someone who has seen things… You've seen… who that ghost boy was, didn't you?"

"Um… Maybe?" Jazz replied.

"It's alright, Jazz… I already know," Andy admitted. "You don't fight ghosts and Digimon on a daily basis without finding things like this out."

Jazz felt oddly relieved at hearing that. "Good. I wasn't sure how you would take it if I told you." She had a small smile on her face.

"Of course, that does lead to a lot of concerning questions… the fact that our brother is a ghost… well, half ghost, is something that is… unknown territory for all of us," Andy stated.

Jazz gave a nod to Andy. "It seems to be. I mean, what could a half-ghost be capable of? How will it affect them mentally? That is stuff we don't know yet."

"I know, that's why I can't help but worry for Danny," Andy sighed. "But I guess I got a little too caught up with my own problems lately. Danny's been… pretty upset lately, and I've been… too much of a coward to say much."

"Andy… You're not a coward." Jazz said with a frown. "You never were. It's probably been because you don't want to make Danny even more upset."

"I don't, of course… but… I also felt scared… of Danny," Andy admitted. "I didn't know what he was capable of, and I was worried if he got too angry, he… might become violent… and he might do something he would regret later on. There had been stories about ghosts that could eat a person's emotions or souls..."_ And if Tucker could turn malicious, and Vlad… who's to say Danny wouldn't either?_

Jazz frowned. "Andy, Danny would _never_ do that to you. You're his brother! Even as a half ghost, Danny still cares about you, and would do his best to help you."

"I know he wouldn't! … At least, not intentionally…" Andy hesitantly added, before shaking his head. "I wanted to get stronger with Dorimon in hopes of helping people, but… I guess I also wanted to get stronger in case I would… ever have to defend myself…"_ From Danny, or maybe even Takuya..._

Jazz wasn't liking the way the conversation was going. "Okay, Andy… But I think we need to focus on helping Danny. He seems like he is under intense stress lately." _Maybe it will get Andy's mind out of this deep rut he is in._

"I think we all are," Andy sighed before he walked up to the front door of Fenton Works and opened it.

Lopmon quickly jumped down from Jazz's head. "I sense that the Warrior of Flame is in this house. Perhaps I should go hide somewhere."

"What? Why?" Jazz asked. "Warrior of Flame?"

Andy blinked as he looked at Lopmon. "Do you have some kind of relationship with… um… this Warrior of Flame?"

Lopmon frowned. "You could say that…" The way he trailed off indicated he didn't want to talk about it at the moment.

Then they heard Jack and Maddie coming into the living room. Jazz quickly picked Lopmon up, and Lopmon had to go still and quiet to act like a plushy.

"I'm telling you, Maddie, this thing will work on any ghost like a charm!" Jack assured as he held up the Fenton Peeler. "I'll even give a demonstration!"

"Not the couch, honey, this is the 10th one we had to replace this month," Maddie spoke up.

Jazz blinked as she saw her parents. "We should go into the kitchen before they start testing that thing."

"Hey kids!" Maddie smiled when she saw them. "Had a good day at school? Ooh, that is an adorable rabbit plushy, Jazz, where did you get it?"

Jazz's mind raced for an answer before she had one. "The mall. It was a free give-away item."

Jack laughed boisterously. "Better watch out, Andeedee, or else your sister will have the cutest plushy."

Andy blushed, it wasn't often Jack called him by his nickname, but when he did, he felt embarrassed since 'Andeedee' sounded like a girl's name. "Yeah, well, her rabbit's cute, but it's got nothing on my little… fox toy."

Jazz looked at Andy with a smile. "It doesn't matter who has the better plushy. All that matters is you like yours and I like mine."

Andy nodded. "Um… Mom, Dad, we're going to head into the kitchen for some dinner."

"There's some frozen turkey dinner in the fridge, just heat it up for 3 minutes in the microwave," Maddie said as her two kids started walking into the kitchen.

Lopmon felt tense in Jazz's arms as they went into the kitchen. Andy and Jazz stopped when they saw Danny sitting at the table, picking at his food. He had the turkey dinner on his plate, but he wasn't eating it. Takuya sat beside him, also looking just as dejected about something, and picking at his mashed potatoes.

Jazz stared at Danny for a moment, making Danny perk up as he picked up on her stare. "What?"

"Nothing." Jazz said with a smile.

Andy elbowed Jazz to the side and whispered. "Nothing? You're staring at him like he's some kind of new species of animal you've never seen before."

Jazz sighed and looked down at Lopmon before looking back at Andy. "You're right." She then had an idea. Jazz placed Lopmon on her head like a hat. "Here. This way Lopmon looks like a stuffed animal hat."

Dorimon was giggling while Lopmon just kept looking nervously at Takuya, who hadn't looked at them yet.

Takuya perked up when he heard Dorimon's giggles, and saw Jazz, Andy and Dorimon there, along with a rabbit creature that he felt he had seen before. The rabbit creature was on Jazz's head, and it made him wonder if that was a new Digimon.

Jazz approached Danny. "Hey, Danny… you know that I think you're great, right?"

Danny looked at Jazz, feeling skeptical. "That's not what I've heard."

"Then you've heard wrong. You know that… even though I can be bossy, overbearing, and maybe even a jerk sometimes… I love you, and I care about you," Jazz explained. "I would never say or think anything that would insult you, Danny. And I want to be there for you as your support. And even though you don't think I would understand, you can talk to me about anything."

Andy put Dorimon down on the table while Jazz was saying this to Danny, and walked over to the fridge to take out some of the turkey dinner. _Heh, cheesy Jazz, very cheesy, but I get the feeling it's something Danny needed to hear._

Danny looked down, unsure for a moment. "Um…" He really looked like he was going to go through with telling Jazz too, though Danny was also curious about the rabbit plushy on Jazz's head.

Before Danny could even ask about it, or talk to her about whatever was going on, there was a sudden explosion and tremor that came from the living room. This alarmed all of them, and Takuya was ready to evolve if he had to. They all ran to see what happened in the living room.

"Jack, what did I tell you?" Maddie sighed. "That's the 11th couch this month. We really need a better target for you to test our inventions."

"Sorry, Mads." Jack apologized, actually looking sheepish here. Then it faded as he became excited. "I'm just hoping that if we can find that ghost at Jazz's school, we can have it peeled like an onion!"

"Peeling is fine, but why does it destroy our furniture? Maybe we need to tweak it a little more so it only affects ghosts and ghostly things instead of our furniture," Maddie sighed. "It would be too dangerous to take it into battle if it would cause harm to other people and their properties."

Jack gave it some thought. "You know, Mads, you're right. We do need a better target if we're to properly test our inventions and make sure it only hurts the ghosts and ghost objects."

"Besides, if we test the Peeler more thoroughly, we could also get some remains of a ghost to study as well, because it would not completely eliminate the ghost too." Maddie pointed out.

The kids went back into the kitchen after seeing that it was just Maddie and Jack testing out the Peeler. Andy started the microwave for the turkey dinner.

"I don't feel like talking about it right now," Danny sighed to Jazz, having lost his confidence to tell her after watching their parents talk about peeling a ghost apart. "Besides… I'm not sure if I can take you seriously with that rabbit on your head."

Jazz blushed a bit at remembering Lopmon was on her head, but she had to admit Danny had a point. "Yeah, it probably would be hard to do…" She still gave Danny a smile.

Jazz then walked over to Danny before giving him a kiss on his head. And for a moment, Danny gave a smile, before he realized what she just did. "Oh, gross!"

"Aww, I thought it was sweet," Andy chuckled.

Jazz then walked over to Andy, and gave him a kiss on his head as well. "Now you won't be left out."

Andy stared at Jazz before his face started blushing, he hadn't expected Jazz to kiss his head after she made her speech to Danny. Takuya was chuckling when he watched his cousins getting flustered by their older sister.

"I think that's sweet." Takuya joked with a grin. However, his gaze drifted to the rabbit on Jazz's head at that point and he frowned a bit. _But is that rabbit on her head a Digimon? Or is it a plushy?_

When Andy's turkey dinner was done, he used some papers to hold on to it so he wouldn't burn his hands, and carried it over to the table. Danny sat down beside him to continue his dinner, looking much better than before.

Andy looked over at Danny, seeming to consider something before he nodded to himself. "Hey, bro? Meet me in our room after dinner, alright? There's something I need to talk to you about."

Danny looked at Andy in confusion, but nodded in agreement. "Okay." _I wonder what Andy wants to talk to me about._

* * *

**Titanic X****: DarkFoxKit: **Yeah, Lopmon is adorable, perhaps one of my favorite Digimon-line as well.

**ZAFT:** He looks like a plushy~

**GirlFish****: ZAFT:** You will see soon enough. No spoilers~ ;3

**DarkFoxKit: **I don't know about Kwan yet, but Dash here is much smarter than canon Dash will ever be. I always thought Zoe's Beast Form was a bit… odd. I mean… it looks like a woman with feathers and wings, how is that considered a beast?

**ZAFT:** I have no idea… ^^' As for Lillthmon and Ophanimon, you will have to see what we have planned down the road. :)

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Things are going to be a little hectic. We ended up juggling more characters than we needed. ^^'

**ZAFT:** But expect them to make appearances from time to time. :)

**It1023****: DarkFoxKit:** Well… I'm going to assume you read this chapter before seeing this reply, so… no, no Lopmon didn't get Danny as a partner. Lopmon's line also doesn't use ice very much, it's only the Rookie form that uses ice.

**ZAFT:** Danny's partner is going to be a surprise, so just keep reading to find out. :)


	21. Secrets and Planning

**DarkFoxKit:** A new chapter, hooray! And… uh… Andy, did I see Takuya earlier?

**Andy: *Shrugs*** I don't know, why?

**DarkFoxKit:** I thought I saw him earlier, but I left the Digimon Frontier running.

**ZAFT: **Oh boy… ^^' ***Reaches behind a counter*** Here he is!

**Takuya:** Aw man! How did you find me?! ***Pouts***

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh good, so he didn't see the anime that I left running.

**Takuya:** Anime? What anime?

**ZAFT:** Nothing! No anime to be found!

**Andy:** Uh yeah, there's no anime running! … Um… not any anime you'd know!

**ZAFT:** Why don't we get the chapter up before Takuya sees what is up… ^^'

**Takuya:** What anime?

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh look! New chapters! ***Grabs Takuya and rushes to the chapter***

* * *

**Chapter 21: Secrets and Planning**

With dinner over, the twins headed up into their room. Andy was carrying Dorimon with him, though he did make sure to feed Dorimon before they left. Leaving Jazz and Lopmon alone with Takuya.

"So what is it, bro?" Danny asked.

"That rabbit on Jazz's head…" Andy said softly. "Maybe I shouldn't say anything, but… you already know about Digimon, and it could potentially be dangerous if I don't tell someone I trust just in case things get dangerous. I'm not strong enough to always keep Jazz safe in case something does happen. I trust you, Danny, so that's why I'm going to tell you that the 'plushy' Jazz has is a real Digimon."

Danny blinked in surprise. "Wait… _Jazz_ has a Digimon on her head?! And she _wasn't_ freaking out?!"

"She had her freak out earlier," Andy said softly._ Though most of it was likely due to the fact that she saw you turn into a ghost right before her eyes._

Danny frowned, noticing Andy was hesitant about something. "Andy… what happened?"

"We were attacked by Soulmon," Dorimon spoke up. "Back at that… Els… Pharmacy place. Lopmon, that's the name of the Digimon Jazz has with her, came to defend her. I digivolved, so Andy and I helped out as well. We were getting overwhelmed though. Agunimon was busy, and you were fighting with that ghost again, so it was just us."

Danny gave a bit of a wince at that. "Yeah… Sorry about that…"

"It's okay, bro, you didn't know, and you had to fight that ghost that was terrorizing people," Andy reassured. "We were lucky that the Soulmon decided to retreat when they did, or we could've gotten seriously hurt."

Danny frowned at that. "Yeah… And that would have been my fault because I couldn't defeat the ghost to get to you in time."

"There were 6 Soulmon last we checked. There seems to be more of them lately." Dorimon frowned.

"... Wait, Danny, that ghost you fought… was it the same blob ghost we faced the other day in Spectra's office?" Andy asked.

"Um… Yeah, it was. Though it seems to be able to shapeshift into different creatures," Danny replied. "Why?" Danny had a confused look on his face.

"And that day yesterday at school, that ghost you were fighting, that was the same one too, right?" Andy asked. "The big wasp ghost?"

"I think it's possible, when the wasp ghost spoke, he had the same voice," Danny answered.

"And each time you fought with that ghost, the Soulmon would appear as well," Andy noted. "Whatever that ghost is doing, he apparently needs these Soulmon for something. But what could it be? I've been wondering about that for a while… but…"

Andy frowned a little. "I'm not sure about it. I could be wrong, so I'd rather you don't tell anyone, not Takuya or Jazz, about what I'm about to say next."

Danny blinked before frowning. "Okay, but you need to tell someone at some point."

"I am," Andy said as he looked at his brother. "I'm telling you. Since you have ghost powers, you're the only one who could get the proof I need to see if my theory is true."

"Okay…" Danny said, a bit unsure but willing to help his brother. "What is this theory you have?"

"When you said that ever since you've been talking to Ms. Spectra, you've been feeling worse," Andy started. "And I've noticed that after my own session with Ms. Spectra, I began having doubts, a lot more doubts than usual, so much so I was afraid to even breathe the 'wrong way'. I've also noticed the school was starting to get more… quiet. Ms. Spectra was said to be a renowned teen therapist… but how does she help them exactly?"

Andy paced around Danny's room as he got caught up in his thoughts. "When a kid gets loud and obnoxious, wanting attention, adults see them as a problem child. But when a kid is quiet, and does what they're told to do without complaint, what do adults see? A compliant, good behavior kid. They don't notice a problem, but kids aren't naturally supposed to be quiet and obedient. Something is wrong with them, but they get ignored. They're depressed, and might end up suicidal later on in life. That's exactly what Spectra is doing. All the kids in Casper High going quiet, looking pale and messy… she's making them miserable."

Danny blinked. Now that it was mentioned, he had to admit, that _did_ make sense. "You think Ms. Spectra is doing this on purpose?"

"Yeah… and not just that… I think there's more reason than just making kids 'obedient' and 'quiet'," Andy added as he stopped pacing and looked over at his brother. "It's possible that she's also absorbing their misery. For food, for power, for something else, it doesn't matter, but I've noticed every time she touches me, I would feel really drained. I'm sure you felt the same way."

Danny's eyes widened. "So… you think Ms. Spectra is a ghost?"

"I think it's a possibility. Some myths about ghosts did mention that they could absorb human emotion, and could maliciously bring out their negativity to get stronger," Andy explained. "As for the Soulmon, I feel that Ms. Spectra, and her assistant Bertrand, who I believe could be that shapeshifting ghost you've been fighting with this past week, she and Bertrand must be planning to use them for something big."

Danny's eyes grew wider. "Then… She isn't helping anyone at all! This is a plan we need to stop, whatever it is!"

"Okay, Danny, calm down and bring yourself back for a second," Andy quickly said, getting Danny to blink. "Like I said before, this is all just a theory. I have no proof that this is even the case. Ms. Spectra could be human with ill intentions, or she truly thinks she's helping people. This is why I said your ghost powers will come in handy here. You can go into Ms. Spectra's office after she finishes her sessions. You can go invisible and see what she and Bertrand are doing behind closed doors. You'll have to keep your own powers as suppressed as possible so they won't sense you if they are ghosts."

Danny looked down in thought. _Andy does have a point._ He then looked back up at his brother. "Okay, bro. I will see what I can find out about Ms. Spectra."

"But that'll be for tomorrow. She and Bertrand are probably home right now, and we have no idea where that is," Andy chuckled.

Danny blushed. "I knew that…"

Dorimon was just running around their room as Andy was talking, he enjoyed being able to run once in a while, and he felt that it was important that the brothers just had their talk with each other.

"And there's one more thing…" Andy spoke up.

"What is it?" Danny asked.

Andy wanted to tell Danny that Jazz saw him transform, but he knew there was a reason why Jazz didn't tell Danny that she knew, well, other than the fact that Takuya was there as well. "... I think that you should tell Jazz that you're half ghost, if not now, then some time soon. She and Lopmon may end up becoming partners at some point, and it would be best if she didn't remain in the dark about your ghost half."

Danny frowned at that. "I… I don't know…" He rubbed the back of his head. "But… I will consider it. It may be of some help down the road."

Andy gave a small smile. "If nothing else, I know Jazz will be understanding and supportive. You know I was before I even knew you were half ghost and thought Phantom was a separate being who was living inside you. And maybe think about telling Takuya as well at some point."

Danny gave a nod. "Okay. I will think about it."

* * *

Meanwhile, after Andy took Dorimon and Danny upstairs into their room, Jazz put Lopmon down on the kitchen table so she could head without accidentally having Lopmon falling down from her head. Lopmon, however, was looking at Takuya nervously.

Takuya looked at Lopmon, and while he was sure he had seen Lopmon before, it had been four years since then, so his memory was a bit fuzzy. Of course, he had to know if Lopmon was real and not an actual plushy.

Jazz looked at her cousin, noticing that he had been staring at Lopmon for a while now. "... So… is there something about this plushy that interests you, Takuya?"

Takuya swore to himself in his mind as he realized he had been staring again. "Um… not really. It just looks so… life-like… Like it's alive…" He trailed off here, unsure of what to say next for fear of revealing he knew about Digimon.

"Yeah… I suppose it does seem pretty life-like," Jazz agreed. "I'm starting to see why Andy is so attached to his plushy. Maybe we should get you and Danny one too, it might help relieve some stress."

"No… There's no need to do that, Jazz." Takuya replied. "It's fine." However, he looked back at Lopmon again. He swore he could see Lopmon blink at him. "Um… Did that 'plushy' just blink at me?"

"Why would a plushy blink at you? Maybe you're just so stressed this week that you're starting to see things," Jazz stated in concern. "Maybe you should try to get some sleep earlier tonight."

Takuya frowned at that, but decided it was for the best. "Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe I _am_ seeing things…"

"But…" Jazz spoke up suddenly. "... You know… if there's anything going on, even if you don't think I'll understand, you can talk to me about it. I promise to keep an open mind."

For a moment, Takuya _did_ want to tell her about his ability to evolve, but decided against it. It was best he kept it to himself for now. "Okay, Jazz. I'll keep that in mind." He gave her a small smile.

"Great. Now eat your dinner before it gets cold," Jazz chuckled.

Takuya nodded and began to chow down.

* * *

Later, that night, Takuya couldn't sleep. He needed to know if that Digimon with Jazz was real or not, and something about that Digimon was familiar enough to send bits of warning bells through his head.

He sat up in bed, his hand on his D-Tector. Takuya got up and proceeded to creep out of his room and down towards Jazz's room. _Normally I wouldn't be doing this, and I _know_ it will tick Jazz off, but I need to know who that Digimon is._

As Takuya walked down the hallway, he stopped at the twins' door for a moment. He opened the door just a crack to check in on his twin cousins for a moment. Both Danny and Andy were asleep soundly in their beds. Dorimon was curled up at the foot of Andy's bed, almost like a little dog. Takuya couldn't help but grin at the scene before he closed the door and made his way over to Jazz's door. To his surprise, he saw the lights were on on the other side of the door.

Takuya pondered opening the door, but decided against it. Instead, he put his head to the door to see if he could listen in on anything Jazz might be doing.

Takuya did hear Jazz's voice. "You sure about this?"

Then a voice that sounded both familiar yet unfamiliar spoke back. "Yes, I am. I have been chased since I got to this world after going after Seraphimon, and I really would appreciate some shelter here. I know that you're not familiar with Digimon, but I can tell that you're a pure hearted person who only wants to help her brothers and cousin."

Takuya narrowed his eyes as he listened in. _Did that Digimon mention Seraphimon? And why is the little guy being chased?_

"But what if those other Digimon find out you're here?" Jazz asked.

"Then I'll leave. I won't put you or anyone in your family in danger," The other voice promised. "But… I don't have anywhere else to go, nor do I have many others who I can trust. Those who I thought were my friends have been turned against me. And the Legendary Warriors… may not trust me at all."

Hearing that, Takuya felt his heart beat quicken. _Who _is_ this Digimon? They know of the Legendary Warriors, but then again, so does the rest of the Digital World so it's not a surprise. But us not trusting this Digimon? Who would we not trust?_

"What… or who are these Legendary Warriors that you mentioned?" Jazz questioned.

"Right… humans in this world aren't familiar with them…" The voice noted. "They are… really powerful Digimon spirits, they are able to transform anyone they deem worthy into a Digimon, and grant them the ability to fight like Digimon. There are ten of them, each with their own human and beast spirit forms, and they are also masters of their own elements. They are known as the Legendary Warriors who saved the Digital World, the world I came from, from a malicious and powerful Digimon called Lucemon. And they did it again recently."

Takuya pondered what was being said. _The information is not all that new, but… it doesn't tell me who this Digimon was, or is._

"Okay, but they sound like heroes… why wouldn't they trust you?" Jazz asked. "Did you have some kind of history with them yourself?"

At this, Takuya listened carefully, grateful that his smart older cousin asked that question.

The other voice hesitated for a moment. "... Well… I do have a history with them… but it wasn't… the greatest history."

"... What's wrong? What happened between you and these Legendary Warriors?" Jazz asked, her voice sounding concerned.

Takuya pressed his ear closer to the door. _Nice going Jazz..._

"I… I was the reason why they were called into the Digital World in the first place… and the one who triggered Lucemon's reawakening… I corrupted Digimon, and sent them to fight with those kids who had inherited the spirits of the Legendary Warriors, I even tried to brainwash one of them under my control… I was… corrupted myself…" The voice answered softly, filled with regret.

_That_ jogged Takuya's memories as his eyes went wide. _Lucemon's reawakening… brainwashed one of them… Corrupted himself… _Cherubimon?!

Memories of Cherubimon flooded into Takuya's head, he remembered how hard it was to take down that rabbit. Even after he and Koji unified evolved to stop him, Cherubimon still put up one hell of a fight. He and the others had suspected Cherubimon might have been corrupted again, and was responsible for Seraphimon's recent corruption.

But something seemed off. Takuya narrowed his eyes at the conversation as he played it out in his head.

"Who were these kids? You mentioned before that 5 human kids from Japan were called into the Digital World, and that they inherited these Legendary Warrior spirits, but you didn't say who they were," Jazz questioned.

"I don't think those kids would want their identity to be revealed," The voice, whom Takuya believed had to be Cherubimon, answered.

Oddly enough, Takuya felt grateful to the once corrupted Celestial Angel Digimon for that save. The idea made him wince internally. _Wow… That's something you don't get to feel every day..._

"Right… I guess that's understandable…" Jazz sighed. "Kind of like Danny…"

Takuya perked up at hearing that. _Hold on… Did she mention Danny? Can I find out Danny's secret?_

"I believe it would be a very similar situation," Cherubimon agreed. "Still… even though I know who the Legendary Warriors are, I can't trust that they wouldn't attack me on sight as well."

"It's not your fault with what happened, Lopmon," Jazz said gently, speaking the Digimon's name. "You were corrupted, as you said."

Takuya gave a slight gasp at the name. _No wonder that voice sounded familiar and yet not… That's Cherubimon's Rookie form! How did I forget about that!?_

"Even so, I lead myself to become corrupted. I started a war that shouldn't have been started with Seraphimon and Ophanimon. I felt like the beast type Digimon were getting the short end of the stick when it came to equality and power. I felt Seraphimon was putting in too much law and order when some things should be left to chaos and the wild. Beast Digimon thrive on chaos and living in the wild after all, much like how animals in your world do," Lopmon explained. "While I did what I thought was for the best… I just ended up hurting my fellow beast types as well, and became hungry for more power."

Takuya frowned as he heard this. _I guess I never considered Lopmon's side of the story before… I guess there is more to a person, or Digimon, than what is first assumed..._

"I understand… sometimes war are started over misunderstandings…" Jazz said softly. "But… you seem to regret your actions now."

"Of course. All I wanted after I was cleanse from my corruption was to start over with Ophanimon and Seraphimon, and become friends again. And it looked like I would get my wish when we were reborn together," Lopmon sighed. "But… well… things were looking up. After the kids saved both our world and yours from Lucemon, after creating a miracle called Susanoomon, they went back home. Time passed in the Digital World, while it might have been a short time for them, it was several years to us. They were already being mentioned in history books. Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and I all digivolved into our mega forms again, and we decided to better listen to each other from now on to avoid what happened before."

Then Lopmon paused for a moment.

"But something went wrong?" Jazz pushed.

"Indeed…" Lopmon sighed. "Something odd was going on with Seraphimon lately. He told us he saw something going on at Death Crate, it's what we called the big hole where Lucemon came out of, so he went to go check it out. But when he came back, he was starting to act weird. He began talking nonsense about wanting to go to the human world, and asking why should we be stuck here when the human world had more to offer, after all, the Legendary Warriors chose humans to inherit their spirits. And it was humans who saved both worlds. Ophanimon and I explained to Seraphimon that Digimon can't live in the human world, just as humans can't live in the Digital World forever."

Takuya narrowed his eyes as he heard that next bit. _Huh… So Cherubimon _isn't_ behind the corruption of Seraphimon?_ He shook his head. He wasn't about to believe it just because it was told to Jazz. _No, I need to get more evidence before I assume what Lopmon is saying is true..._

"So what happened after that?" Jazz asked, sounding curious.

"Seraphimon started becoming more aggressive. He began to snap at Ophanimon when she tried to discourage his line of thinking. He even almost attacked me when I told him to stop," Lopmon continued. "Then, Seraphimon suddenly began flying somewhere, saying how he 'found it'. Ophanimon and I were concerned about Seraphimon's behavior, so I told Ophanimon I would go see what's going on with Seraphimon while she stayed at the tower to keep a watch over things. So I followed Seraphimon, and I found him looking at something. I wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like a barrier of some kind in the sky."

Takuya blinked as he heard this next part. _Wow… I guess I'm learning more than I expected here. I just wanted to know who the Digimon was, not a whole story._

"I called out to Seraphimon, and he sounded like he had gone mad. He kept saying that he would break through the barrier between our worlds. I tried to stop him, but he ended up attacking me. We both started fighting. I was trying to knock him out, and hopefully find out why he's been acting this way. But our battle was strained, and because we were so close to the barrier, it must've finally shattered during our battle. With the barrier broken, it sucked both of us in. The next thing I knew, I woke up somewhere completely different. I knew it wasn't the Digital World, and I was in this smaller form you see before you now."

Takuya frowned to himself. _Okay… I think I have enough information. I should get back to my room so I can get some sleep._ He stood up from where he had been kneeling and crept back to his room, deciding to let his mind process the information he had just heard as he slept. _Perhaps I can make a decision on what to do tomorrow..._

Even though Takuya went to bed, Jazz still had more questions.

"Why were you being hunted though?" Jazz asked.

"I can only assume Seraphimon brainwashed them into believing I was evil again, though he was also using Digimon who are naturally evil to try to capture me as well," Lopmon answered. "Do you know why I'm telling you all this, Jazz?"

Jazz shook her head. "No, I don't."

"Because I feel I can trust you, and it would be best if you knew what was going on," Lopmon explained. "Your brother with the Dorimon, and you, I feel like you both can work together to put a stop to whatever Seraphimon plans to do."

Jazz blinked before she smiled a little. "That's nice to hear, Lopmon, but I think, based on what you said, this should be left to these Legendary Warriors."

"The Legendary Warriors are scattered right now. Even if they weren't, only 5 of them are here, while the other 5 are… unavailable, without all of them here together, it would be impossible for them to unify and create stronger Digimon to fight back against Seraphimon. And even if they were all here, Seraphimon knows them, he knows how they fight, he had watched them throughout their adventure," Lopmon warned. "He doesn't know much about Tamers, however, that's why I feel your brother and Dorimon have the advantage."

Jazz frowned. "That is true…" She put a hand to her chin in thought. "So that's why you said Andy and Dorimon are the best bet right now…"

"Yes…" Lopmon paused for a moment. "I don't know much about Tamers either myself, like how they're chosen to become partners with a Digimon. Or if they choose each other instead of destiny choosing them. With the Legendary Warriors, the children had to be chosen to inherit the spirits. This… this is something new for me."

Jazz blinked before she put a hand on Lopmon's head. "Well, it seems to be new for all Digimon since this has never been done before. I think it will be interesting to see what comes of this."

"It has happened before. There were ancient stories about Digimon becoming partners with humans, but the stories were unsure if the human and partner were chosen by destiny or if they had chosen each other," Lopmon informed.

Jazz chuckled here. "Well, regardless, it will be good to see which stories are true and which are not. If the humans can choose to be partners with Digimon, you will know. And if it is the other way around, well, that can't be that bad either, right?" She rubbed Lopmon's head playfully.

Lopmon blushed at being rubbed on the head, though Jazz was careful not to touch his three horns.

"Yeah… since you agreed to help me, I'll try my best to protect you from those ghost creatures that seem to pop up in your town a lot. And I'll try my best to protect you from other Digimon if I can," Lopmon replied.

Jazz smiled a bit at that. "That's sweet, but against the ghosts, I think we can leave that to my parents and brother Danny since they are the real ghost fighters. Against the Digimon though, I appreciate it."

"I will say that your ghost brother does fascinate me, he appears to be a ghost, yet not a ghost," Lopmon muttered.

"It's good to be fascinated." Jazz assured Lopmon. "But don't let Danny know that. He may freak out."

"Heh, I do look forward to meeting him though," Lopmon chuckled. "If he's anything like Andy, I'm sure he'll be a pleasure to talk to."

Jazz smiled at hearing that. "Oh, you will like him, trust me~"

"But for now, we better get some sleep. I've already kept you up longer than you should be on a school night," Lopmon stated. "And yes, we do have school in the Digital World as well."

Jazz blinked. "Wow." She then smiled again. "I guess Digimon and humans aren't all that different." She then yawned. "But yeah… I have to give a speech tomorrow anyway…"

* * *

_The next morning, at Casper High_

"Dash… um… are you okay?" Andy asked his former bully in concern, seeing Dash looking pale, his hair was a mess, and he looked tired seeing the bags under his eyes.

"I've been up all night looking for those Soulmon… haven't found them…" Dash yawned. "I feel so useless… I think Ms. Spectra had a point in saying I may just end up with a dead end job after I graduate high school."

Andy shook his head. "You shouldn't listen to Ms. Spectra. You're doing a lot better in class, and you're passing your own tests instead of getting a nerd to do it for you lately."

Dash looked at Andy with a smile. "You're right. I _have_ been doing better lately…" He seemed to regain some energy, but it wasn't enough to snap him out of his depressed state. "Or maybe I think I am… I don't know…"

"Dash, you decide your own future, not the school, and certainly not the self proclaimed teen therapist," Andy said firmly. "You weren't chosen by a Legendary Warrior spirit for nothing, you know?"

Dash couldn't help but yawn, and shake his head.

"Maybe you should take an early nap or something." Andy frowned in concern. "You look like you're about to keel over."

_In fact… everyone looks like they could use a nap…_ Andy noted, seeing how everyone else around them looked pale, drained, unmotivated, and depressed._ How could the school staff look at this and think there's nothing wrong?_

Dash gave a look to Andy. "Maybe I do need some rest." He yawned again. "Ugh… Late nights are _not_ my friend…"

Dash began to walk away, but stumbled a bit before hitting one of the lockers. Dash shook his head, trying to get himself lucid before walking away. Dorimon peeked out from the backpack.

"He doesn't look so good," Dorimon noted.

"Everyone looks like they're half dead," Andy agreed, though he chuckled a little at the pun he made.

"I don't know whether I should laugh or not…" Dorimon said with a deadpan look.

"Hey, it was a good one," Andy pouted. "Oh, here comes Danny, finally."

Danny, Tucker, and Sam walked over to Andy.

"Jeez, is it just me or is this the worse Spirit Week in the history of spirit weeks?" Sam asked, looking around the school.

"Indeed, you guys look like you're colorful in this world of misery gray," Andy chuckled.

Danny chuckled as well. "Don't say that, bro. My ghost form has _no_ color."

"Yes it does. You still have your skin color, your eyes are green, and technically black and white are colors," Andy pointed out. "And it's brighter and more vivid than the entire school right now."

Danny groaned. "Forget I said anything…" He smacked his head against a locker.

"What's his problem?" Tucker asked.

Danny sighed. "Bad joke on my part."

"At least there's someone here who's not letting everyone's depression get to her," Andy chuckled, looking over at Jazz, seeing her walking down the hall with a big smile on her face, he could see Lopmon's ears sticking out of her backpack.

Danny perked up at seeing Jazz with her 'plushy'. "Wow, Jazz has her plushy with her? I didn't think you would rub off on her, bro~" He gave Andy a teasing grin with that last sentence.

"I'm going to need to talk to Jazz about talking to you about her 'plushy' later," Andy groaned, not liking that there were so many secrets between his own family that it was making his head spin._ How did I end up as the medium for all of their secrets?_

"So what did you want to tell us about Dr. Spectra?" Tucker asked, preferring to call Ms. Spectra 'doctor' instead. "Danny just told us to talk to you about it."

"I can tell you my suspicions about her," Andy said. "And you two may be able to help confirm it, but if you do, I should warn you that you'll be used as bait, and you're very likely to get depressed and drained like the rest of the school."

Tucker looked at Sam, who gave him the same look before both looked back at Andy.

"We will do what we can to help." Tucker said. "I _do_ find it weird the students are all depressed after seeing Dr. Spectra myself."

Andy nodded before he went on his explanation about what he thought Spectra was doing, how she could be a ghost who was absorbing people's misery as food, making herself younger or more powerful, at least Andy believed that was what she was doing from what he was seeing.

"But if Spectra was a ghost, wouldn't Danny's ghost sense let him know?" Sam asked.

"No, because Spectra keeps her room really cold," Andy answered. "I've noticed that all of our breaths that come out look very similar to Danny's ghost sense, it was likely due to the fact Spectra is a ghost that it affected our misty breaths, and also to throw off Danny's ghost sense, or at least make him not realize his ghost sense was going off."

Tucker blinked. "That… makes a surprising amount of sense." He could recall when he had his own ghost sense due to Desiree. His ghost sense had reacted to other ghosts, and a ghost would _want_ to hide if Danny was able to pick up on them with it.

"It's also possible that those Soulmon are working for Spectra and her assistant," Dorimon spoke up. "At least we think they are."

"But the question remains… why? Why do they want these Soulmon?" Andy stated. "This is why we need Danny to go into Spectra's office and find out what's going on."

Danny gave a look to his brother. "Don't worry, bro. I will do that and hopefully, if we can find out what those Soulmon are up to, we could get those Legendary Warrior guys to help us." He then remembered Andy's last battle with the Soulmon. "Um… no offense! I just think it would be helpful in case we get overwhelmed!"

Andy sighed. "We probably will, especially since there seems to be more Soulmon every time we see that shapeshifting ghost, who I think is Bertrand."

Tucker blinked. "Bertrand is that ghost?"

Danny looked at Tucker. "Yeah, at least, Andy told me that he suspects Bertrand of being the ghost anyway."

"So how can we help?" Sam asked.

"You two are the only ones in this school who haven't had a session with Dr. Spectra, and Takuya, but I don't know where he is right now," Andy answered. "So the idea is that you both go see her for a session, and after that, Danny sneaks in while she's distracted so she doesn't sense him."

Tucker nodded. "Sounds straightforward enough."

Sam smirked. "This will be interesting."

"Just remember not to take any of her so-called advice to heart… I would never forgive myself if she messed both of you up for life," Andy said softly.

Sam gave Andy a hug. "That's sweet, Andy. And don't worry, we won't take it to heart."

Andy hadn't expected Sam to hug him, but he did appreciate the comfort. "Thanks Sam… now go hug Danny before he gets jealous~"

Sam went as red as a tomato when Andy said that. "Andy!" She exclaimed, but it came out as a squeak, which Danny found somewhat adorable.

"What are you waiting for, Sam? Hug him~ you know you want to." Tucker smirked, to which Sam punched him in the shoulder. "Ow! Hey! Why do_ I_ get punched?"

"You know what for!" Sam countered, her face still as red as a beet. She gave a glance at Danny, who also went slightly red in the cheeks.

Dorimon was giggling in Andy's backpack.

"Ahem… Okay. Let's go, Sam." Tucker said as he grabbed Sam and began to pull her away towards Spectra's office. Both Sam and Danny still were glancing at each other, still blushing slightly before Sam turned away and yanked her arm out from Tucker's grasp, walking beside him still.

"Did you have to make it awkward, bro?" Danny grumbled.

"Until you and Sam confess to each other, yes, yes I will," Andy answered back.

"I don't even know if she likes me back," Danny hissed.

"Then you must be really clueless, bro." Andy rolled his eyes. "Or you're making yourself be clueless."

Danny pouted at that.

"But enough about that, you should get yourself ready for operation; spy on Spectra. I'm going to go look for Takuya," Andy stated.

Danny nodded before he went off in the direction of Spectra's office, leaving Andy to search out their cousin.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** You will see soon~

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, well he's not bummed out, he's more unsure of himself and anything he does.

**ZAFT:** Yeah, he can be fun to write like that sometimes. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** As for Jazz, we figured her learning Danny's secret was a great time for her to learn about Digimon. :3

**ZAFT:** But there is still more to learn, and one more secret that will be revealed later on~ ;3


	22. To Overcome Doubts

**ZAFT:** Well, we forgot to update again, but what can we do? We are at a very intense and fun point in the story. :P

**Takuya:** Don't forget next time… ***Grumbles***

**DarkFoxKit:** Sorry! It gets easy to forget sometimes!

**Andy:** I need to put a sticky note or something to make sure you guys remember when to update.

**DarkFoxKit:** Hey, we're updating now!

**ZAFT:** No sticky notes needed, Andy. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** Besides, knowing you, you'll make something melt or explode.

**Andy:** No I wouldn't!

**Takuya:** Um… actually, you seem to have a love for explosions, Andy… ^^'

**Andy:** Says the firebrand!

**Takuya:** Why you…

**ZAFT:** Um… let's just get to the chapter before these two destroy the A/Ns… ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 22: To Overcome Doubts**

Danny went down to Spectra's office, hoping that Sam and Tucker would be okay. He waited, invisibly floating outside of Spectra's door, Andy warned him not to go in until after Tucker and Sam came out, or else Spectra would sense him. He needed Spectra to be distracted with absorbing Tucker and Sam's misery to sense him, assuming that Andy's theory was right.

Then, the door opened and Sam and Tucker came out, both looking miserable.

"I hate my life…" Tucker grumbled. "I know we're not supposed to take what Spectra said seriously, but she is right, I will never find a girl who likes me, and I couldn't survive without technology, I'm way too dependent on it…"

"I hate your life as well…" Sam muttered. "At least your parents accept you. Mine don't, and I do know what Andy said. But she does have valid points, as in my parents don't care about me at all…they only care about having a model they can show off rather than the person."

Danny frowned as he watched his two friends walk away in misery, a part of him wanted to call after them to try to help cheer them up, but he knew if he did that now, then his friends' sacrifices would've been for nothing. Spectra came at the door, giving a peppy smile at the two people who were walking away with dark clouds over their heads. Danny couldn't help but notice some wrinkles on Spectra's face as she waved to Tucker and Sam.

"Buh bye! And remember, there's an 'I' in 'misery' if you spell it that way!" Spectra said before she shut the door. That gave Danny the cue he needed to turn intangible and go through the door into her office.

As soon as Danny was inside the office, the first thing he saw was bright green energy circling around Spectra, who was grinning, then she moved the green energy into her nose, inhaling it. As soon as Spectra inhaled the energy, her wrinkles disappeared, and she looked younger than she did minutes ago.

Danny gave a slight gasp, which went unheard by Spectra thankfully due to inhaling the energy. _Andy's theory was right! She _does_ feed off of misery!_

"Man that's good!" Spectra gave a satisfying smile before she looked down at some files on her desk. "I'm going to miss these kids, they're a waterfall of misery. Humans can be so cruel to each other and their own kids, even more so than ghosts."

Just then, the shapeshifting ghost, Bertrand, came in through the wall, grinning evilly. Spectra turned her head to face him with a smile.

"Did you hook up the device?" Spectra asked, almost eagerly.

"But of course." Bertrand smiled proudly. "Once the 'spirit sparklers' go off, it'll trigger the signal. All the Soulmon we've been gathering will rip out the souls of those children so we'll be able to feed off of their misery for a long time to come~"

Danny felt his body get chilled at hearing that, and that was saying something because he was _half-ghost_!

"We do have to be wary of those Legendary Warriors though." Bertrand continued. "They could show up and ruin things for us."

"I wouldn't worry about them. I have a back-up plan in mind for if the Legendary Warriors decided to interfere." Spectra smirked. "With all those Soulmon we have, the Legendary Warriors will be powerless to stop them all, and even if they could somehow manage, the Soulmon are charged up enough to be able to fusion evolve into one big, powerful Digimon. With the ghost kid too miserable to fight back, and the other kid with the annoying fox Digimon lost all his confidence, those Legendary Warriors will have nobody to back them up. We've got this in the bag for sure, Bertrand~"

Danny gave a silent gulp. _Crap… This is _not_ good!_

Then the school bell rang.

"Well, there's the bell, shall we go hear a speech, and take our dinner to go?~" Spectra smiled as she and Bertrand held each other's hands, which told Danny they may have a relationship with each other.

The two went through the wall in a flash of light, just as Danny landed and turned tangible again. "Oh no… Jazz and Andy… I'd better find them and warn them! … But… maybe I can still stop them before it's too late!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Andy had been trying to find Takuya or Dash, he even tried to find the Japanese twins since he knew they were the other two Legendary Warriors who fought alongside Agunimon and Arbormon.

"Where are they?" Andy questioned.

"I think they're looking for the Soulmon right now," Dorimon guessed. "Their scents are all over the place, so I can't pinpoint them."

"Great, they just had to go off on their own, didn't they?" Andy grumbled.

Dorimon gave Andy a look. "You know, you can contact them via your D-Arc, remember?"

Andy paused for a moment, before he facepalmed himself. "... No, I didn't remember…"

_Would've saved me a lot of grief if I hadn't forgotten._ Andy grumbled to himself before he took out his D-Arc from his pocket and tapped on the call button. "Takuya? Hello? Can you hear me?"

The symbol of Flame appeared on the D-Arc's screen. _"Andy? Is that you?"_ Takuya's voice asked.

"Yes, it's me. Where the heck are you? I've been looking for you all over this school!" Andy questioned.

_"__I've been looking for the Soulmon."_ Takuya replied. _"Why are you wondering?"_

"I'm going to need you, and your friends, including Dash, to get to the gym right away for the spirit week speech," Andy answered.

_"__Why? Is something wrong?"_ Takuya asked, concern showing in his voice.

"I… don't know yet for sure, but I think it's possible that the Soulmon may show up at the gym," Andy said, his doubt showing again.

_"__Well, that would explain why we haven't found any around the school yet…"_ Takuya's voice grumbled. _"Okay, we'll meet you at the gym."_

_"__How do you know that he could be right, Takuya?"_ Andy heard another voice saying from nearby.

_"__How else do you explain there being no Soulmon in the entire school, Koji?"_ Takuya's voice shot back to the speaker, now revealed to be Koji.

_"__That they're in hiding? This could just be a waste of time, it could just be a ploy to get you to hear his sister's big speech or whatever."_ Koji's voice grumbled, making Andy frown.

_"__Well, whatever the reason, we have to at least check it out."_ Takuya shot back to Koji. _"It wouldn't be a waste of time. _If_ Andy does get proven wrong, we can just leave and look some more."_

_"__Tch… whatever."_

Andy hesitated before he spoke up. "Um… Takuya…? Not that I'm ungrateful, but… why do you believe in me?"

_"__Why wouldn't I?"_ Takuya replied back. _"You're my family member, and besides, you weren't yourself in that last fight. I know you are able to do better than that. And besides… you haven't steered us wrong when we really needed you. I don't know where you got the idea that we didn't need you."_

Andy thought about Spectra for a moment and frowned. "Thanks, Takuya… that means a lot to me."

_"__No problem, buddy!"_ Takuya chuckled. _"We'll meet you at the gym."_ There was a slight pause before Takuya spoke up again. _"And…by the way, why is your symbol a pink heart? When you called me, it showed up."_

"What?" Andy blinked. "What do you mean? As far as I know, I don't have a symbol."

_"__Well, it has shown up each time you called me. I didn't think much of it until now."_ Takuya replied.

"... Um… maybe it's just what my D-Arc defaulted to?" Andy shrugged. "I don't know why it's a pink heart, I didn't even know I had a symbol at all."

_"__Well, we can figure it out later. We have some Soulmon to hunt down."_ Takuya said. _"We can deal with that symbol issue after this."_

"Okay. I'll see you at the gym then," Andy answered before hanging up, he turned to look at Dorimon. "Ready to face some Soulmon?"

Dorimon gave a toothy grin. "Do you even need to ask?"

Andy started heading to the gym, hearing the school bell ringing earlier._ I hope I don't get there too late._

* * *

By the time Andy got to the gym, he saw a bunch of depressed kids just sitting at the bleachers, looking like they were contemplating their life choices already, and the cheerleaders just kind of stood there in the middle of the gym's floor, not moving around, they just held their pom-poms, and monotonically saying a 'cheer'.

_Jeez, these kids look more half dead than Danny…_ Andy frowned.

Mr. Lancer apparently thought so too, as he snatched up the pom-poms after giving the cheerleaders a scolding, and began to do the cheer himself.

"We've got the spirit, yes we do! We've got the spirit, how about you!?" Mr. Lancer cheered as he was surprisingly flexible for his age and posture.

Despite Mr. Lancer's best efforts to pump up the spirit, nobody made a sound, they all just kinda stared at the man with little to no enthusiasm whatsoever.

Mr. Lancer frowned to himself, wondering what was going on. Behind him, Jazz spoke up, unsure of what was going on herself. "Okay…?"

Andy frowned as he didn't hear from Danny yet, but he couldn't just leave this alone either. He didn't like seeing all his fellow students suffering from self pity and depression that Spectra was, no doubt, responsible for. Despite his doubts, Andy walked over to Mr. Lancer since Jazz wasn't quite ready to give her speech yet.

"Mr. Lancer… I need to tell you something," Andy said to the teacher.

"And what would that be, Andrew?" Mr. Lancer asked as he looked down at Andy to make eye contact with the boy.

Andy resisted the urge to look away. "Um… I think that… maybe that teen therapist you hired… may be responsible for why nobody's… gotten into the spirit."

Mr. Lancer blinked. "Are you alright, Andrew? That's quite a serious accusation you are making."

Andy wanted to back down, since he had no definitive proof until Danny would come over, but he felt a nudge from in his backpack, he knew Dorimon was trying his best to encourage him.

"I know it's serious, which is why I didn't want to say anything, but I don't want this to escalate any further," Andy said. "Ever since Ms. Spectra came into office, haven't you noticed that the other students have become quiet and more withdrawn? How some of them are worried about seemingly random things, not paying attention in class, seeming hesitant to say anything?"

Mr. Lancer frowned at hearing that. _Now that I think about it…_ "You do have a point, Andrew. I _have_ noticed it lately, even in my English class."

"I'm not saying that I'm accusing Ms. Spectra, I'm just saying maybe you should investigate her just to be safe," Andy stated.

"Well, if this worries you so much, and because it is _so_ wide-spread at the school, I will have Ms. Spectra investigated." Mr. Lancer assured Andy. "If she is such a renowned therapist, then why are students so miserable?"

"... When a kid is loud, obnoxious, and rambunctious, you see a troubled kid. When a kid is quiet, obedient, and doesn't complain, what do you see?" Andy quietly asked.

Mr. Lancer had to give Andy credit for that question. "A good, well-behaved student. But that is not always the case, is it?"

"Sometimes the most quiet ones have the most trouble going on with them," Andy answered. "Just… something for you to think about the next time you notice someone is being unusually quiet and obedient."

"I will take that to heart, Andrew." Mr. Lancer said. "Now, why don't you go and find a seat? Or if this bothers you here, seeing all these depressed students, you can leave if you so wish."

Andy shook his head. "I do still want to hear my big sister's speech." _And see what's going to happen._

Mr. Lancer nodded. "Very well. But if you ever wish to leave, you can."

"Thank you, Mr. Lancer," Andy said gratefully before he walked over to the nearest bleacher and sat down on it.

Jazz finally began her speech, she definitely had the most spirit out of the entire school. Andy was worried though, Danny still hadn't showed up._ Did he get caught or something? I probably shouldn't have left him alone._

"Andy?" A familiar voice asked from beside him as a hand tapped his shoulder.

Andy jumped at the sudden tap with how high his guard had been, his hand hit something hard behind him.

"Ow!" It was none other than Takuya. "Jeez, you can pack a punch!"

Andy turned, seeing Takuya rubbing his nose. "Err… sorry, Takuya… I'm a bit on edge right now."

"So I noticed…" Takuya grumbled, feeling for if his nose was broken, which it wasn't much to his relief. "I just got here. Is everything okay?"

"Considering the state the students are in, not really. Dash is looking a lot like them as well," Andy answered. "Danny isn't here yet, so I can't help but worry about him."

Takuya frowned at hearing that before he sat down next to Andy. "That's worrisome… Normally he is good about finding us before something happens."

Andy was nervously tapping his fingers on his pants. _Surely… surely he didn't decide to face Spectra and Bertrand on his own, did he? I know our last battle together didn't go so well, but… oh my gosh, he totally decided to face Spectra and Bertrand alone!_

Takuya nudged Andy. "Andy, are you okay? You looked freaked out."

"I… I think I have to go check something out," Andy said, looking ready to bolt to the door just to charge into Spectra's office.

Takuya frowned. "Alone? Or would you like some backup?"

"Whooooo!" Their trains of thought were interrupted when they heard Mr. Lancer cheering, or at least tried to cheer.

Andy and Takuya looked at Mr. Lancer and Jazz, seeing how Mr. Lancer tapped on a domino piece on a large table. The dominos began to fall on each other, slowly creating some words.

Takuya looked at the 'Spirit Sparklers', noticing something seemed off. "Um… Do those sparklers look like lasers to you?"

Andy looked at the Spirit Sparklers, something he hadn't been paying much attention to due to his minor freakout, and a bunch of other things on his mind. He squinted his eyes as the sparklers looked to be pointing up at the ceiling, and almost looked like focused satellites. Andy had never really seen machine Spirit Sparklers before, so he had nothing to compare it with.

"Lasers? No, they just look like machines to me," Andy shrugged._ Though I guess they do look kind of… high tech for Spirit Sparklers._

"I don't know…" Takuya murmured. "Spirit Sparklers shouldn't look that high tech, I think…"

As Andy watched the dominos falling on each other, he couldn't help but let his mind wander a bit. He remembered hearing Jazz talk about the domino thing being Spectra's idea, and while she thought it was a bit much, she didn't see any reason not to do it. Jazz also told Andy how Spectra wanted to make the Spirit Sparklers bigger than they ever had been for this year's Spirit Week, so they set up a machine for it. The machines that were a bit close to Jazz. As if something just clicked, Andy realized that the 'Spirit Sparklers' were a trap just as the last domino fell onto the trigger button for the machine.

"Takuya! Get Jazz out of there!" Andy suddenly shouted.

Takuya looked at Andy in surprise, but he stood and bolted to where Jazz was in a matter of seconds. As soon as he reached her side, Takuya tackled Jazz, and knocked her down to the floor and away from the 'Spirit Sparklers'. There was no time to Spirit Evolve, so he had to do it as a human.

Not a second later, the 'Spirit Sparklers' fired some kind of white beam at where Jazz was, and suddenly, dozens of Soulmon appeared. If Jazz had been standing there, they would have consumed her soul in a second.

Takuya, still next to Jazz with one arm around her, looked up. "Ugh… Great…" He then looked at Jazz. "Are you okay, Jazz?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, thanks," Jazz answered, looking a bit shaken up.

The students started to cry out in fear as the Soulmon began to fly around the gym. The Soulmon put up barriers around the exits, making it so nobody could escape.

_Shit… I can't get out to Spirit Evolve!_ Takuya thought as he saw that.

Andy ran over to Takuya and Jazz. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah… I'm fine." Takuya replied as he sat up.

"I'm okay…" Jazz added, looking shaken up still.

Despite everyone being half dead before, they still had some sense of self preservation, and were trying to run as the Soulmon were surrounding them. One of the Soulmon floated in front of a student and reached out its claws at them.

_"__Dark Claw."_ Soulmon reached into the student's chest, and brought out their soul, leaving the empty husk of a body to fall to the ground.

More Soulmon were grabbing the other student's souls.

"We have to do something! Takuya, where are the others!?" Andy asked frantically.

Takuya looked around, but he only saw Dash there. Koji and Koichi were nowhere to be found. _Maybe they found a place to evolve?_ "I… think they went and 'hid'."

There was a loud booming sound coming from outside the gym. Andy didn't know if that was the other warriors, or Danny fighting with Spectra and Bertrand.

"Well, we're on our own right now," Andy said, seeing how they were behind the stage. "Jazz, come with me. Takuya, you stay here and… do what you have to do."

Takuya nodded as he saw Andy and Jazz run off.

Takuya then held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

"Jazz, you have Lopmon with you, right?" Andy asked after he had pulled her away from behind the stage, and they were now hiding under the bleachers.

"Yes, I do." Jazz replied. "He's currently in hiding under the domino table. Why?"

"He may be able to help us, like before," Andy answered. "And… if I'm right, you two might be able-"

A kid screamed, another soul was taken.

"Try to get to Lopmon, Jazz. Dorimon and I will try to slow these Soulmon down before they take anymore souls," Andy quickly instructed. "Dorimon!"

Dorimon jumped out of Andy's backpack, and glared at the nearest Soulmon.

"Give me your soul," Soulmon commanded.

"Not on your afterlife!" Dorimon snapped.

Andy's D-Arc glowed, and Dorimon was surrounded by fractal code.

"Dorimon digivolve to… Dorumon!" As soon as Dorumon had digivolved, he jumped at the Soulmon._ "Dash Metal!"_

The attack landed on the Soulmon, knocking it back into another Soulmon and away from Andy.

Jazz was concerned as Andy jumped out to follow Dorumon, she didn't want one of her little brothers put himself in danger like that, but she knew there wasn't much she could do on her own. Deciding to listen to Andy, Jazz hurried over to the domino table, seeing Lopmon crawling out to see what was all the commotion.

"What the? Where did all these Soulmon come from?" Lopmon frowned.

Jazz looked back as Lopmon crawled out. "Lopmon! We're going to need your help for this!"

"I'm sorry, Jazz… I don't know how much help I can be, there's too many of them, and they're already getting stronger with each human soul they take." Lopmon frowned.

Jazz felt her face pale at hearing that. "Then… there's nothing we can do?" She didn't like hearing that news at all.

A Soulmon started to fly towards Jazz from above. Lopmon reacted quickly and jumped, headbutting the Soulmon with his three horns. The Soulmon yelped as it flew away to get an easier target.

"Maybe, maybe not…" Lopmon began. "How determined are you to fight back?"

Jazz looked down for a moment. True, this was not a fight she was confident in winning, but her brother Andy was in trouble, and with Takuya in hiding, she had to do something to protect them. She frowned before looking up. "I will do what I can to help protect my family." The determined look in her teal eyes said it all.

"If you choose to fight now, you may not be able to go back on it. It'll be dangerous, you could die. Are you willing to take that risk?" Lopmon questioned, looking up at Jazz in the eyes.

Jazz nodded. "If I don't do something, I will most likely regret it for the rest of my life, wondering 'what if I did something different?' every day."

"Then fight with me," Lopmon said, holding out a hand. "Fight with me as my partner."

Jazz reached out and took Lopmon's hand, clenching it tightly, but not too tight as to cause pain on accident. "I will, Lopmon."

Something suddenly glowed in their hands. Lopmon let go of Jazz's hand, and there was a device in the girl's hand. It was a device that looked very similar to Andy's, it was clearly a D-Arc, but its colors were different. It had a golden body, while the screen outline and buttons, and strap, were pink.

Jazz stared at the D-Arc. "Is this… What Andy has?"

"It's a D-Arc," Lopmon said before turning to face the other Soulmon that were now looking at them. "Here they come!"

Andy ran over to Jazz, seeing the light show himself. "Jazz, what was-"

Andy was surprised to see the D-Arc in Jazz's hand.

Jazz smiled at Andy. "Andy, I got a partner Digimon! I agreed to be Lopmon's partner!"

Before Andy could answer, a Soulmon nearly pounced them. _"Metal Cannon!"_

The Soulmon was hit by an iron ball, and Dorumon ran over to them. "Shock later, focus now!"

Jazz realized Dorumon was right and nodded. "Right." She then stood up and faced the horde of Soulmon, D-Arc in hand as she clenched it tightly. "Let's go, Lopmon. Andy and Takuya need our help."

Jazz and Lopmon charged into the action. _"Tiny Twister!"_

Lopmon was able to hit multiple Soumon by spinning around quickly and slamming her ears into them while bouncing between Soulmon.

Andy started writing something on his notepad while Dorumon was trying to keep the other Soulmon away from him.

Just then, a Soulmon tried to pounce on Andy, slipping past Dorumon's defenses, Andy gasped at seeing how close the Soulmon was, and it was reaching a dark claw towards him, only for a familiar voice to cry out across the gym. _"Pyro Darts!"_

The small flaming darts hit the Soulmon, forcing it back as Agunimon landed beside Andy. "Sorry it took a while. There were Soulmon lurking everywhere."

"Boy am I glad to see you!" Andy said in relief.

"How many Soulmon are there? There must be hundreds of them!" Dorumon groaned.

"They're taking souls faster than we can take them." Andy frowned.

"There have to be at least 50, but that is just my best guess." Agunimon admitted with a growl before he round-kicked another Soulmon away from them. "They just keep coming!"

"With this barrier, the other Legendary Warriors can't get in," Andy realized. "Why didn't they come into the gym?"

"Dash was at home, he passed out during class, so the nurse called his parents to take him home earlier," Agunimon answered. "Koji… didn't think you were right in your suspicion, so he and Koichi decided to keep looking around while I went to the gym myself."

Dorumon frowned. "So we are three Legendary Warriors short… This is not good odds for us."

"But we do have my sister and Lopmon helping us out," Andy said. "So the situation isn't all bad."

Agunimon frowned a bit at hearing that, but he didn't voice any objection to it.

"I'm going to see if I can make an explosion that will take out most of the Soulmon. Agunimon, try to keep the other students out of the blast range," Andy instructed.

"I can't make any guarantees, but I will definitely try my best." The Warrior of Flame assured Andy before he turned to see if there were any students close by that he could help.

Andy tore off the page from his notebook and slapped it onto an iron ball that Dorumon spat out earlier. Dorumon grabbed onto the iron ball before throwing it into the center of the gym. Agunimon, seeing the paper on it, knew that iron ball was a grenade. He grabbed onto as many panicking people as he could.

"Move! Get to a wall! Hurry!" Agunimon shouted.

Andy couldn't detonate the iron ball as long as there were people too close to the blast range. The Soulmon were starting to wise up, however, they could see the students seemed to be running towards the walls for some reason. The Soulmon began to fly up quickly. By the time the other students and Mr. Lancer were far enough away from the iron ball, Andy had Dorumon detonate it, but most of the Soulmon had already gotten out of range, so only a few were hit.

_Damn it! Too many people around, I couldn't catch them by surprise!_ Andy hissed.

Unfortunately, this caused the Soulmon to see Andy as a real danger, so they began to fly towards him.

Agunimon, seeing that, felt his heartrate increase rapidly. _No!_ He ran as fast as he could to Andy, using his enhanced abilities to his advantage. "ANDY!"

Jazz looked back, only to see all the Soulmon still around converging in on Andy, and she began to panic. "ANDY!" Her voice was filled with panic and fear as she ran towards Andy as well, hoping to save her baby brother from getting his soul taken out. "RUN, ANDY!"

Andy and Dorumon were trying to get away, but the Soulmon began to circle them.

_"__Necro Magic."_ The cries of the dead quickly began to weaken Andy to his knees.

One of the Soulmon floated to Andy. Dorumon jumped to attack, but another Soulmon bodyslammed Dorumon into the ground.

"Stop! Let me go! LET ME GO!" Dorumon shouted, struggling against the Soulmon that had him pinned.

Andy struggled to move as the Soulmon came up to his face. _"Dark Claw."_

Andy let out a gasp as a dark claw phased into his chest. Agunimon was running towards them as fast as he could move, he shoved the other Soulmon away. Agunimon's eyes widened when he saw something being pulled out of Andy. It looked like that Phantom kid, the same white hair, the ghostly aura, the only difference is that he didn't seem to have any clothes on, and his eyes were purple instead of green. He looked really weak too.

_W-what is… Is Phantom living inside _Andy_ too?_ Agunimon wondered before he realized that Andy was still in danger. Not taking any more time to ponder the situation, Agunimon rushed towards Andy and the Soulmon that was trying to remove what looked like that Phantom kid from Andy. "Get away from him!"

The Soulmon let out a screech as Agunimon tackled it away from Andy and the supposed Phantom kid, it sounded like it was in far more pain after being cut off from the soul it was trying to take.

Agunimon had a pissed off expression on his face, revealing his sharp fangs to the Soulmon as he then kicked the Soulmon back into another set of three Soulmon, sending all four to the ground.

Agunimon quickly looked back at Andy in fear that they might have taken his soul, but he saw the Phantom kid(?) slipping back into Andy's body. Andy groaned, coming out of the daze he was in.

Relief filled Agunimon's body at hearing that. _Andy's going to be okay…_

"Look out!" Andy suddenly warned.

Agunimon felt sharp pain in his back, a Dark Claw had phased into his armor.

Agunimon couldn't help but let out a scream of pain before he felt something lift his body and then, the next thing he knew, he was airborne before he finally hit something really hard, most likely a wall. A groan escaped the Warrior of Flame before he fell from where he had smacked into the wall, landing on the ground limply. There was even a slight blood splatter on the wall from where he had hit his head.

"Ta- Agunimon!" Andy called out in worry.

Dorumon rushed over to Andy, since the Soulmon was off of him now, he was worried about Andy since his soul was just pulled from his body. "Are you okay?"

"A little dazed, but I'm fine. But Agunimon is knocked out, and we're on our own." Andy frowned.

"Andy!" Jazz called as she and Lopmon made their way to him. "Are you okay!? Did the Soulmon hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Jazz. I just feel a little dazed from the experience, but I'll be fine," Andy reassured his sister. "But we have to stay focused or it'll happen again, and this time they'll actually take it."

Jazz frowned, but nodded. "You're right. We need to defeat these Soulmon." She looked around as she stood up from beside Andy. "But there are too many."

"Such pure soul, such lustful taste, such power, must have it!" The Soulmon that had grabbed onto Andy's soul earlier roared, it was the first time a Soulmon spoke up from their monotone voice.

Jazz stood in front of Andy with Lopmon at her side. "No way, creepy sheet! That's _my_ baby brother!" Her D-Arc gleamed in the light of the gym's lights as she clenched it tightly.

Lopmon and Dorumon stood in front of Jazz, ready to defend their partners. The one Soulmon that had apparently reawakened itself, and wanted Andy's soul, let out a loud call, the other Soulmon stopped what they were doing and looked up at the one that called them. Then, they began to fly to the Soulmon that called them, coming together like an amalgamate.

"What are they doing?" Andy asked.

"They're fusing," Lopmon spoke up. "They're going to try a fusion evolution!"

"Fusion what?" Jazz asked, confused now.

"It's when a Digimon digivolves by fusing with others. The digivolution will make them far stronger than if it was a normal digivolution," Lopmon explained.

Jazz felt her face pale at that. "I don't like the sound of that…"

A bright fractal code surrounded the amalgamation of Soulmon, shortly after a flash, the fractal code dissipated, revealing a huge ghost-like Digimon, its body was a gray cloth looking thing, it wore a crimson red cape, and a crimson hoodie that covered up most of its face, they could only see two gleaming blue eyes under the hoodie. There was a skull head at the top of the hoodie. It wore a necklace with a pale pink orb, and a red glowing energy inside it, it also had chains around its cloth-like arms, holding a pendulum at the end of one of the chains, and a golden scythe with its other arm.

Jazz looked at Lopmon. "What Digimon is that?" Her D-Arc glowed, making her look back at it as a holographic image of the Digimon showed up on it.

"Phantomon, an Ultimate level Digimon, and a Virus type. Phantomon is a Ghost Digimon. A Reaper-like Digimon holding a gigantic sickle and chain. There is a crystal shaped like an eyeball hanging from its neck, and similar to Mammothmon's crest, it is able to foresee everything with its power of clairvoyance, in order to perceive those that are close to death," Jazz read out loud.

"No way, that thing is ten times bigger than most other Phantomon!" Dorumon shouted.

"Well, this isn't a normal Phantomon since we saw several Soulmon fuse into it." Jazz pointed out. She then looked at Lopmon. "Do Digimon have certain advantages against one another or disadvantages?"

"Yes… unfortunately, we're the ones at a severe disadvantage," Lopmon warned. "Both Dorumon and I are Data types, we are weak to Virus type Digimon, and we are also currently at Rookie level, two levels lower than Phantomon."

Jazz blinked with a frown on her face, not liking what she was hearing at all. "What about that Legendary Warrior? Does it have an advantage against this Phantomon?"

"Agunimon is considered a Vaccine type, but he is more of a Free type," Lopmon answered. "And he is unconscious right now."

Jazz looked over, seeing that was indeed the case. "Oh boy…"

"We're not giving up," Andy spoke up, getting back onto his feet. "We'll find a way to beat this thing. I know Danny wouldn't give up."

"That's right, it's too early to give up now," Dorumon agreed.

"Then we'll keep fighting until our last breath," Lopmon replied.

Jazz sighed before looking up as well. "Okay then… Let's see if we can beat this thing!"

Dorumon and Lopmon took a deep breath.

_"__Metal Cannon!"_

_"__Blazing Ice!"_

Their attacks hit the Phantomon, but it didn't phase the ghost Digimon, not one little bit.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" Phantomon asked.

Jazz gaped. "I...I thought that Phantomon was similar to Soulmon! It can talk with ease?!"

"All Digimon can talk, they were being controlled before," Dorumon answered. "Andy's soul must've woken them up somehow."

"Why?" Andy asked.

"You likely have a strong soul, the stronger the soul, the more a Soulmon wants it," Lopmon guessed.

Jazz blinked but didn't say a word on the guess. They had bigger issues with the Phantomon to worry about right now.

Phantomon held up its scythe, and it began to glow with dark energy._ "Shadow Scythe!"_

"Look out!" Dorumon and Lopmon tackled their partners away from the attack, only to get swept up in the scythe themselves, they let out a loud cry as their fractal codes began to show.

"LOPMON!" Jazz shouted in fear. "NO!"

"Dorumon…" Andy's eyes widened, seeing that his partner was about to be taken away from him in front of his eyes.

"DORUMON!" Andy screamed in worry.

"Fractal code, a Digimon's soul, it's just as tasty~" Phantomon purred as he began to float down to Dorumon and Lopmon.

Just then, a loud explosion echoed from one of the doors, which was blown wide open. Smoke was seen before a green blast of ecto energy came out from the smoke and slammed into the Phantomon, forcing it away from the two Rookie-level Digimon. A form came from the smoke, a black and white blur that was _very_ familiar. Two green eyes were blazing with anger.

"BACK AWAY!" Danny shouted.

"D-Danny!" Andy and Jazz both said in shock at seeing their ghostly brother.

"Sorry it took a while." Danny said as he floated down in front of them. "I had to deal with Bertrand and Spectra. One ghost was caught, Bertrand, one, Spectra, got away."

Phantomon hissed angrily, despite being a high level Ultimate Digimon, it appeared to be in pain from Danny's ghost rays, Andy noticed a couple of green holes were smoking on Phantomon's cloak.

"You were able to break through the barrier?" Jazz asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Apparently ghost energy can break through Digital energy and vice versa." Danny replied. "Andy explained that to me."

Danny then looked at Phantomon. "What is that? Are you sure that's not a ghost?"

"It is but it's also a Digimon," Andy replied. "It's called Phantomon, it's an Ultimate level Digimon, it was made from all the Soulmon that fused together."

Danny scowled. "Phantomon… I don't like it. I mean that's _my _name!"

"Worry about the name later!" Jazz exclaimed. "We have to beat that thing first!"

"You will pay for defiling my sacred clothes, ghost boy!" Phantomon snapped before raising his scythe. _"Shadow Scythe!"_

Danny gasped before he flew up and away from the attack, using his flight abilities to his advantage. He was quicker in the air than the Phantomon thought.

While Danny was distracting Phantomon, Andy and Jazz hurried to their Digimon partners. They appeared to have recovered enough to bring their fractal codes back into their bodies, but they were still injured and unconscious.

"They're out cold…" Jazz frowned. "How can we wake them up? We need to help Danny!"

"I know we do," Andy sighed. "But how…?"

_I let Takuya get hurt, I let Dorumon get hurt… I almost let them take my soul… somehow I created this monster… Danny could get hurt next… what if they try to eat him because he's a ghost right now? If that scythe gets to him, what will it do?_ Andy looked up at Danny, seeing that he was trying to dodge Phantomon's attacks._ He can't dodge forever. I don't think the Fenton Thermos will work on a Digimon, even a ghostly one._

Danny flew around the next attack with ease, but he was slowly getting tired. It was taking a lot to just dodge the attacks.

Then Phantomon called out his next attack. _"Diabolic Star!"_

Dark energy surrounded the scythe and the pendulum's chains. The chains acted alive, and shot towards Danny. Danny's eyes widened, having not expecting that, before his body was wrapped in chains. The ghost let out a scream of pain and agony before Phantomon threw him to the ground, still having Danny wrapped up in chains that were slowly draining his energy away.

Andy stood up. "Jazz! It's now or never! I can't stand by and watch our brother get beaten up!"

Jazz looked at Andy, surprised, but she stood up as well. "I'm with you, Andy."

Both of their D-Arcs glowed brightly, they looked at their D-Arcs for a second before they pointed the screens at their Digimon partners. The bright light shot out from the D-Arcs and surrounded Dorumon and Lopmon, both of their eyes shot open.

**"****DIGIVOLUTION."**

Dorumon was surrounded by fractal code as he felt the energy of Andy's will fill him. His skin began to peel away from his face and head, then his stomach and his tail was last to lose the skin. But as he regained his skin, his claws and legs came back first, then his wings came back with skin, flaring open to reveal their larger size, his tail swung around once as it regained the skin, and then his head and face were last to regain their skin.

Lopmon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Lopmon's legs gained shoes and yellow pants with a belt and yellow top that matched, two blades appeared as his hands regained their skin and red gloves, grasping the blades in both hands. The skin on Lopmon's head and face came back, just as a blue bandanna appeared around his neck as well.

The fractal code vanished, revealing the two new Champion Level Digimon.

_"__Dorugamon!"_ The newly evolved Dorugamon called out.

_"__Turuiemon!"_ The newly evolved Turuiemon exclaimed.

Jazz gaped at what she was seeing, and she was fairly certain Andy was reacting the same way.

"Are you seeing this, Andy? Tell me I am not the only one seeing this!" Jazz exclaimed.

"Both of our Digimon just digivolved!" Andy exclaimed as well.

"What level are they?" Jazz asked, trying to process what she had just seen happen.

Turuiemon and Dorugamon jumped at Phantomon as Danny was weakening.

_"__Cannonball!"_ Dorugamon shouted as he shot out a huge iron sphere from his mouth as he was flying towards the Phantomon.

The large cannonball slammed into Phantomon's back, causing it to fall to the ground. Turuiemon hopped on top of the Phantomon's back, smirking. _"Gauntlet Claw!"_

Turuiemon began to rapidly punch the Phantomon's back with his fists and the metal spikes on his fists, digging into the Phantomon's cloth-like back.

Jazz felt a bit of a grin cross her face. "Andy, I think we may have a chance now…"

"Yeah…" Andy then looked at his D-Arc, seeing that Dorugamon's data was registered.

"Dorugamon, a Champion level, it's considered a Data or a Vaccine type. Dorugamon is an Animal Digimon and a carrier of the X Antibody. It is a ferocious Digimon that possesses the disposition of a beast and a dragon," Andy read.

Jazz then checked her D-Arc for Turuiemon. "Turuiemon is a Champion level. It's a Data type. Turuiemon is an Animal Digimon. It is a martial artist Digimon that was discovered within the hinterlands of a Chinese mountain province."

Jazz then looked back at the two Champion-level Digimon. "I wonder if two Champions can take on an Ultimate level and win." This was said with some musing.

"Maybe… but…" Andy looked over at Danny, who was still tied up in chains. "That doesn't mean we shouldn't help. Come on, we need to get Danny out of those chains!"

Jazz nodded. "Right. Let's go!" She ran over to where Danny was, intent on getting him out of his bind, literally.

Andy hurried over to Danny as well. Danny opened his eyes, surprised to see his siblings.

"Heh… aren't you two a sight for sore eyes?" Danny chuckled weakly.

"No need to make jokes, Danny." Jazz sighed. "We're going to get you out of those chains, so don't worry." She began to look at the chains for a way to get them off.

"These are digital chains…" Andy noted. "I wonder if it's possible to override their code."

Jazz looked at Andy. "You have an idea on how to do that?" She had seen him working on something with Dorumon's iron ball earlier, but she didn't know what he had been doing.

"No… this isn't from my Digimon, so I'd have to hack into it in order to change the code, this would be something Tucker could do… but maybe there is something I can still do," Andy observed before looking over at one of Dorugamon's huge iron ball that rolled off of Phantomon. "Jazz, help me get that iron ball over to Danny."

"What? That thing is bigger than a freaking cannonball!" Jazz pointed out.

"Yeah, which is why I need your help," Andy responded.

Jazz sighed before she and Andy ran over to the iron ball that was half their size, and began to push it to get it to roll towards Danny.

Meanwhile, Dorugamon and Turuiemon were still fighting with Phantomon.

_"__Shadow Scythe!"_ Phantomon swung his scythe at the two Champion Digimon.

Dorugamon flew upwards and away from the blow while Turuiemon jumped up and onto the bleachers before jumping off and landing on a basketball hoop support.

"That was close." Turuiemon noted while panting a bit.

"You're telling me… I rather not get hit by that scythe again," Dorugamon agreed before he landed. _"Fighting Spirit!"_

A purple aura began to surround Dorugamon as he began to power himself up.

Meanwhile, Turuiemon got ready to attack again to buy Dorugamon some time. _"Ninja Fist!"_ He jumped off the basketball hoop support and began to attack with stealthy attacks while jumping around to get to new locations to attack from.

Phantomon glared from under his hood, obviously losing his patience. "It should not be difficult to take down two Champion Digimon."

Phantomon then took a deep breath. _"Words of Death."_

A giant Japanese Kanji for 'death' appeared in front of Phantomon, before it started to charge for the two Digimon. Dorugamon flew up, and Turuiemon jumped out of the way.

_"__Diabolic Star!"_ Phantomon wrapped the chains around Dorugamon's tail and began to pull him down.

Seeing that, Turuiemon directed the next strike of his Ninja Fist attack at the chains and severed them before Dorugamon could be caught like Danny had been.

"Thanks," Dorugamon replied gratefully.

Turuiemon smiled before jumping away to avoid the chains himself.

Phantomon then began creating illusions of itself, throwing Dorugamon and Turuiemon off guard. Dorugamon's forehead gem began to glow before he turned to Turuiemon, seeing the Phantomon above him about to use its scythe.

_"__Cannonball!"_ Dorugamon shot out an iron ball that was even bigger than the last one right at the Phantomon's scythe, causing a loud CLANG as the two attacks hit each other.

Turuiemon looked back at the sound and had never felt so glad for Dorugamon's intervention. "Nice shot! That would have done some damage had you not intervened."

"Yeah, but it's not over yet. This Ultimate level isn't easy to take down," Dorugamon responded, seeing more illusions being created.

Meanwhile, Andy and Jazz managed to get the iron ball close to Danny. Both siblings were out of breath, but they couldn't rest for long, the chains were still draining Danny, and he was getting weaker by the second. Andy quickly began to write something in his notepad. Then he stuck the paper onto the iron ball. Suddenly, half of the iron ball began to melt down into liquid, the liquid started to crawl onto the chains and started melting them like acid.

Jazz blinked, surprised. "Wow… That's impressive, Andy! You can manipulate your Digimon's attack's coding!"

"Only the physical attacks, like the iron balls he leaves behind," Andy answered. "It wouldn't work out so well if you tried to put a piece of paper on one of Lopmon's Blazing Ice since the paper would turn to ice on contact."

Jazz smiled. "Well, it's something interesting to see you do. It gives you more of an advantage than for me."

Andy couldn't help but blush at the compliment. With the chains weakened from the metallic acid, Danny was able to wiggle his way out of the chains before the chains broke apart.

"Are you okay?" Andy asked Danny in concern.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, but that attack drained me quite a bit."

Then Danny looked at Jazz, before remembering he was in his ghost form. Jazz looked at Danny, while Danny gave an awkward grin at her. Then suddenly, black claws came up from underground and grabbed onto Danny's shoulders, almost piercing through his hazmat suit. Danny let out a yell as he was suddenly pulled away from Jazz and Andy, and was pinned into a wall.

"DANNY!" Jazz shouted in worry. She wanted to run towards Danny, but looked back at Andy. "What should we do?!"

Andy dug into his pocket for the Fenton Rod, only to realize his pockets were empty._ Where the crap did I put my Fenton Rod!?_ "Do you have any Fenton weapons with you?"

"I brought the Fenton Peeler…" Jazz admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed. "But only because I was worried about ghosts attacking!"

"Okay, use it then, but be careful not to hit Danny with it. I'm going to see if I can wake up Agunimon," Andy quickly said.

Jazz nodded and ran after to help Danny while Andy ran over to the still unconscious Legendary Warrior of Flame, pulling out the Peeler as she did so. _Hang on Danny! I'm coming!_

"You're no help to your friends or your family, you're just some creepy little boy with creepy little powers, you scare them, you make them unsure about you, how would they know you wouldn't just one day snap and attack them? How would you know your ghostly instincts wouldn't make you turn on them one day? After all, as your parents said, all ghosts are evil, right?~" Spectra sneered with a wicked grin.

Danny groaned as he tried to struggle out of the shadow ghost's grip, but her words cut deep into his heart, and Spectra began to absorb his doubt, worry, and misery.

Jazz reached Danny and Spectra, aiming the Fenton Peeler. "I would like to call a rain check on that claim, wispy!" She pressed the button and the Peeler began to form armor on her body to protect her from Spectra in case she tried to attack.

The Fenton Peeler Jazz was holding out had turned into an arm cannon, and it fired out a bright green beam at Spectra. Danny managed to open his eyes to see Spectra's forms were peeling off of her like a banana, and each form that was peeled looked like an older version of her human disguise, each version kept getting older and older until she was nothing but a wrinkly old lady.

"Wow… Talk about having nothing within…" Danny mumbled to himself.

"What… what have you done to me!?" The old lady who was Spectra screeched.

"I peeled away your powers." Jazz replied as she glared at Spectra from behind the glass that protected her face. "No one harms _my_ baby brother!"

"Uh…" Danny looked at her in surprise before he opened the cap of the Fenton Thermos he had with him, sucking the feeble old lady ghost into it.

Once Danny closed the Fenton Thermos, he looked over at Jazz. "Jazz…? You… you know who I am?"

Jazz then realized she had just said something she shouldn't have said. "Uh…" _Oh, darn…_ "Sorry, no, you just look like my brother, that's all."

Danny rubbed the back of his head before sighing. "No… you're right, I am your brother, well one of your brothers. I'm… Danny. Andy… suggested that I should consider telling you, since it would be dangerous to keep you in the dark if you started fighting together with us with a Digimon of your own. And… you did get a Digimon of your own. So… it would be best not to keep secrets from each other."

Jazz smiled a bit. "Well, I'm glad you told me." She then walked over and hugged Danny. "And I couldn't be any prouder of you, Danny."

"You… aren't freaked out by the fact that I'm a ghost?" Danny asked, surprised.

"You're still my brother, whether a ghost or not. And Andy is still my brother despite having a Digimon partner." Jazz replied. "Heck, Andy could _be_ a Digimon and I wouldn't care either way. Besides, Andy found out that I found out about you, so he did tell me about the accident, and how you're now a half ghost. He believed it would've been better if I was told of the situation before I started making my own assumptions."

Danny grinned sheepishly. "Probably for the best… I wouldn't want you thinking I actually died or something."

Jazz then rubbed Danny's glowing white hair. "C'mon. We have a Phantomon to beat."

Danny smiled. "Right!"

Fired up with new confidence, both siblings rushed towards where the battle was taking place. Meanwhile, Andy was trying to get Agunimon to wake up.

"... How do I wake up a fire warrior…?" Andy wondered for a moment.

The boy walked away for a few minutes, then he came back with a bucket of ice cold water. "Sorry about this, Takuya."

Then Andy splashed Agunimon with the ice cold water.

There was a slight groan from the Digimon, but it was all Andy got aside from a slight movement of his head. It was enough to let the boy know he was still alive at least.

"Too bad I don't have a card that heals…" Andy frowned. "Hmm… would reverting him back to human heal his head wound? His wounds usually disappear when he reverts… but how can I get him to revert?"

Andy put his hands on Agunimon's chest armor. "There's got to be a way… Maybe the D-Tector might be the key?"

But before Andy could reach for the D-Tector, Dorugamon cried out and landed near Andy with a loud CRASH. The Phantomon had gotten the jump on him. Andy ran over to Dorugamon.

"Dorugamon! Are you okay?" Andy asked in concern.

"Think I'm going to be feeling that in the morning…" Dorugamon groaned.

Turuiemon landed next to Andy and Dorugamon. "I've noticed something about the Phantomon. It seems to be getting weaker the longer we fight."

"The souls it consumed as Soulmon must be losing energy," Andy theorized.

"Then that's our ticket to winning!" Dorugamon realized.

"Wait, will we be able to get the souls back from Phantomon if we defeat it?" Andy asked, seeing the bodies of lifeless students lying on the gym's floor.

"I believe so, yes." Turuiemon replied. "Phantomon and Soulmon take souls, but they can't keep them if the Soulmon or Phantomon gets defeated since the souls of the living are… not exactly data in this case."

"Okay, Turuiemon, is there any way to revert Agunimon back to his human form?" Andy asked, remembering Jazz telling him how Lopmon had a history with the Legendary Warriors.

"Yes, but I would rather not tell you right now because one, your sister is coming back, as I can sense her energy through our bond created by the D-Arc, and two, what if the students wake up before you can revert him?" Turuiemon pointed out.

Andy frowned.

"Don't worry, we'll beat this thing, and get Agunimon home safely," Dorugamon promised.

Turuiemon nodded. "Dorugamon is right. Let's beat this Phantomon!"

Dorugamon flew towards Phantomon. Danny flew with him.

"Wow, Dorumon, looks like you got big!" Danny chuckled, having seen him and Lopmon digivolve earlier.

"Let's say it's thanks to Andy and his determination to help you." Dorugamon chuckled back.

When Danny and Dorugamon flew up to Phantomon, Danny fired his ghost ray, leaving holes in Phantomon's cloth body, and causing it to scream out in pain.

"Dorugamon! Keep looking at it in its eyes!" Andy called out before he took out his D-Arc and a card.

Andy looked up as the card spun before he caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the car slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. _"Devidramon's Red Eyes activate!"_

Dorugamon's eyes flashed red into Phantomon's eyes. This time it worked, the Phantomon's body became stiff and unmoving.

"Now's your chance! Attack it with everything you've got!" Andy called out.

Dorugamon nodded and focused all of his energy on his last attack. _"Cannonball!"_ He shot out a large iron ball at Phantomon, using his tail to hit it so it flew at an even higher speed to impact the Phantomon harder.

Seeing this, Danny got an idea, and fired his ghost ray at Dorugamon's giant iron ball, infusing his ghost energy into it. The Cannonball now glowed with green ghostly energy. Turuiemon jumped over Phantomon, before using Gauntlet Claw to punch the Phantomon right into the ghostly Cannonball. The ghostly Cannonball ripped right through Phantomon's face, nearly obliterating its entire body. Its fractal code immediately showed after that.

Jazz ran up, now out of the armor of the Fenton Peeler. "Andy! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, just have to take care of this," Andy said before he took out his D-Arc, a pink heart showed up on the screen, not that Andy saw it.

Andy began to slide the D-Arc's slider across the code. "Fractal code… digitized!"

Jazz blinked in surprise. "Wow… We can do that?" Then her own D-Arc flashed as she looked down at it. It was beeping, as if telling her something. "W-what's going on?"

Phantomon's fractal code turned into a card in Andy's D-Arc slide, and Phantomon reverted back to all the Soulmon, though the Soulmon were still stuck together, and they too were showing their fractal code as one big fractal code. Andy looked over at Jazz, seeing that her D-Arc was glowing.

"Jazz! Slide the card slider on your D-Arc against that ring of code!" Andy instructed.

Jazz looked at Andy, surprised, but did as he suggested. She held it up, unaware of a purple symbol appearing on the screen, one that looked like two circles connected together. "I hope I get this right…" She then ran the slider across the code. The fractal code of the Soulmon was absorbed by the D-Arc before a card formed on the slot, making Jazz blink as she took it out. "Wow… That was weird."

Andy took out the card from his card slot and looked at it. It was Phantomon's Shadow Scythe. Jazz, meanwhile, took out the card from her D-Arc, seeing it was Soulmon's Dark Claw.

"So… we get cards from scanning that code ring thing?" Jazz asked as she looked at her card. "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, if you slide it across your D-Arc, your Digimon will be able to perform that move," Andy explained.

"Uh, guys…" Danny spoke up before landing beside Andy. "What are we going to do with all those eggs?"

All the Soulmon who were fused, turned into eggs, there were a lot of them.

"And what are we going to do about the panicking students and Mr. Lancer?" Danny added, seeing the students and Mr. Lancer, who's souls didn't get taken, staring in shock.

The other students who had their souls taken, slowly started waking up, as when Jazz scanned the Soulmon, the human souls that were taken were released, and went back into their bodies.

"What are we going to do about the unconscious Agunimon over there?" Danny asked, pointing at the still unconscious Agunimon. "And how are we going to explain everything that's happened once the authorities get here?"

"... Danny… it's time to make everything disappear." Andy smirked evilly.

* * *

**Titanic X****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you!

**ZAFT:** We figured he would be a good partner for Jazz. :)

**It1023****: DarkFoxKit:** Well, we never said Danny isn't going to get a Digimon partner at some point. We just don't want to limit ourselves to an ice element Digimon though.

**ZAFT:** As for Andy's bio-merge, that is going to be revealed as the story goes along. No spoilers. :P

**GirlFish****: DarkFoxKit:** It's going to be a while before Lopmon can become Cherubimon again. Besides, it would be too OP if Lopmon can just go straight into his mega form at any time.

**ZAFT:** But they _will_ eventually become Cherubimon again. Just not sure when yet.

**DarkFoxKit:** As for Sam possibly being paired with Salamon… well, that'll be something for later. Paulina is… we won't say about her yet. As for Zephyrmon, or I guess Zoe in particular, she's not going to be in Amity Park for a while. We want to mostly focus on the DP characters since they don't have all the character development or power that the Frontier gang have. This is post Frontier after all. But that doesn't mean we can't still use them for further character growth later on.

**ZAFT: **As for Tommy and Youngblood, that is an interesting idea for further down the road. It will be noted and kept in mind. :)

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit: **Yeah, kinda makes you wonder why parents think school is a good learning environment.

**ZAFT:** But yeah, stressed out from Spectra, the stress of a ghost/Digimon attack, it would be stressful for anyone to deal with. :P


	23. Damage Control

**ZAFT: **I wonder where Andy is hiding…

**Takuya:** No clue, but he may be hiding with Dorimon.

**DarkFoxKit:** Why would Andy be hiding? … Did you two do something to him?

**Takuya:** ***Sweats a bit*** Um… no?"

**ZAFT:** No, I didn't… But Takuya may have, based on his reaction.

**DarkFoxKit:** Takuya… what did you do to my boy?

**Takuya:** Hey! I just put Bearbert in his room! I didn't know he would freak out like that!

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh boy… I better go find Andy before he decides to burn his room down with a flamethrower.

**Takuya:** I'm sorry! It was just a prank!

**DarkFoxKit:** You're the Warrior of Fire, go make sure Andy doesn't blow up his room.

**Takuya:** Fine… ***Grumbles as he leaves***

**Andy: *Passes by with a lit up lighter*** That Bearbert won't be bothering anyone anymore ever again~

**ZAFT:** Um… Okay…? I think I need to keep a tighter leash on Takuya…

**DarkFoxKit: *Sigh* **I'm going to go get the fire extinguisher. Meanwhile, you get everyone onto the chapter.

**ZAFT:** Okay.

* * *

**Chapter 23: Damage Control**

Danny was getting quite tired as he had been overshadowing every student, and Mr. Lancer, in the gym. Because it was night, the other school staff didn't witness this, so Danny was thankful he didn't have to overshadow them as well. The ghost boy remembered why he was doing this in the first place.

"Can you erase or block someone's memories? Or implant thoughts into their heads when you overshadow their bodies?" Andy had asked Danny.

Danny had flinched from the question. "Yeah… But I don't like to do that. It feels wrong when I do."

"It _is_ wrong," Jazz had agreed. "You shouldn't manipulate people like that."

"Well, it may be morally wrong, but we need it now. Unless you want everyone here to suffer from PTSD from getting their souls pulled out, watching their fellow students 'die' right in front of them, need years of therapy that may be too expensive for their parents, and poor Mr. Lancer may end up in the nuthouse after all this. Which do you think is kinder right now?" Andy had pointed out.

Danny had sighed. "You do have a point there, bro."

"I don't like it… but I also can't argue with you there, Andy," Jazz had groaned.

"Don't worry, you're doing this for their own good, I'm sure whatever higher up beings you believe in will understand," Turuiemon had reassured.

Dorugamon had frowned but agreed as well. "As long as it's only for this reason only…"

"I trust Danny will only block their memories of this event, or if you can't do that, at least implant the idea it was only a dream and to never mention it to anyone," Andy had stated.

Dorugamon had agreed with that statement with a nod of his head. "And I believe you have a Legendary Warrior to worry about now."

"And what about all those eggs?" Jazz had questioned.

"You and I will have to clean up the eggs, Jazz. We can convert the eggs into data, and bring them into our D-Arc until we can get in contact with a Trailmon to put all the eggs on board, and bring them back to the Digital World," Andy had explained.

Jazz had blinked but nodded. "Sounds easy enough." But then she had realized there were _a lot_ of eggs. "Or not…"

"Yeah… well, after Danny overshadows everyone, and we clean up all the eggs, Dorugamon can take Agunimon… somewhere safe and hidden. We do need to convince Mr. Lancer to have everyone go home or call their parents before we leave though, and make sure Danny's overshadowing worked," Andy had informed. "After that, then we can all go home. Any questions?"

Jazz had shaken her head, along with Danny and the two Digimon.

"Then let's get to work," Andy had announced.

That was over an hour ago. Danny had already been exhausted from the battle, especially with having both Phantomon and Spectra draining him earlier, but he was determined to make sure everyone thought it was a dream and to never mention it and forget about it. Danny had no idea how to block memories that were already there, so he did the next best thing and implanted the dream thought as Andy requested. Each individual he overshadowed, and left would fall unconscious to the ground, so that would give them time to rest and plan out their speech later when they woke up, and give merit to the 'it was a dream' thought.

Meanwhile, Andy and Jazz were converting over 50 or so eggs into their D-Arc, they were surprised at how many their D-Arcs could hold. Dorugamon and Turuiemon were looking at Agunimon, assessing his wounds.

"Wow! Who knew we could hold so many eggs in these things?" Jazz remarked as she loaded her 20th egg into her D-Arc.

"Yeah, I guess the D-Arcs have a really large storage despite their small sizes," Andy chuckled as he just loaded his 25th egg. "How are you holding up over there, Danny?"

"Fine…" Danny panted. "But this is exhausting! Do you know how many students I have had to overshadow right now?"

"How many?" Andy asked as Jazz loaded another egg.

"At least 50!" Danny groaned before he landed. "I don't think I can do any more…"

Andy looked over at the rest of the students. There were about 6 more and Mr. Lancer who were still watching in silence.

"I'd like to know what is going on. Why are two of my students in contact with these… monsters? And why are they talking with a ghost? Aren't ghosts evil?" Mr. Lancer asked.

Danny saw where Andy was looking and groaned. "Fine… I will see if I can handle the remainder…"

Andy gave a thoughtful look as he watched his exhausted brother flying into Mr. Lancer next._ I wonder if there's a way to revitalize a ghost when they're feeling low on energy… I'm going to have to try some tests… but how? I wouldn't want to put my brother in danger with these tests… maybe Mom and Dad might be able to help with something._

Jazz then noticed Andy was thinking. "Andy? You're thinking again…" She knew her brother well enough to know his mannerisms when he was in a thinking mood.

"What? Is that a bad thing? You're the one who's always going on about how using one's brain is good for them," Andy pointed out.

"That's true." Jazz admitted. "But I've never seen you this deep in thought before. I just finished loading up my last egg and couldn't get your attention."

"Ah… sorry Jazz, I was just thinking of a way to help our brother when he's low on energy, he's used up quite a bit with the overshadowing, not to mentioned he got drained a few times during battle… honestly it's a miracle he's still conscious right now, let alone in ghost form," Andy admitted. "Oh… did he tell you about his identity yet?"

Jazz sighed before she smiled. "He did. And I can't say how proud I am of him enough." She then rubbed Andy's hair with a hand. "It was a good thing Danny listened to you about telling me about his identity, considering you're younger by 2 hours~" It was of course all in good teasing.

"Heh, well, considering how everyone confides to me about their secret, I just felt that it would be best if Danny came clean about his identity to you. I didn't want to have to keep it hidden from him that you knew, and one day I might accidentally slip up. I… really don't want our family keeping secrets from each other either," Andy admitted before he looked over at Agunimon for a second. "I know how secrets can push people you care about away."

Jazz followed Andy's line of sight to the unconscious Warrior of Flame and frowned to herself. _Why was Andy looking at him like that?_

"I'm also glad I don't have to keep Dorimon a secret from you anymore. You had me worried with how crazy you were being before," Andy remarked.

"Yeah… I guess I was being a bit too paranoid and overprotective," Jazz admitted.

"But it did surprise me when I saw you had a D-Arc of your own. Did you and Lopmon choose each other?" Andy asked.

Jazz looked at Andy. "Yeah, we kind of did. I wasn't about to let you fight that Phantomon alone with Danny and Dorimon."

Andy smirked. "Heh, so it would seem that getting partner Digimon is a choice rather than destiny. Which means… it's possible more people could have Digimon partners in the future."_ And… even people like Vlad..._

Jazz smiled a bit. "I guess it does." She then looked over at where Agunimon was. "I think we should go and see if he is alright."

"Yeah. Danny should be done soon, and… if he passes out, one of us will have to take him home," Andy stated.

Jazz gave a nod. "Good idea." She then turned and made her way to where Agunimon lay on the ground. As she got closer, she could see where there was blood on the wall and from the Digimon's head. "That… doesn't look good…"

Andy walked over as well. "Dorugamon, can you tell what kind of damages he has?"

"He's got a nasty blow to the head, his hair and helmet saved him from brain damage though, but he likely has a minor concussion," Dorugamon analyzed. "It also appears he was struck hard on the back from where that Soulmon penetrated through his armor, as I can smell some slight blood from that area as well. His Digi-Core is stable though, so he'll be able to recover after a good night sleep once he… uh… degenerates to a weaker form."

"Digi-Core?" Andy asked, his first time hearing about that.

"It's kind of like a Digimon's version of a soul, it goes in deeper than the fractal code. You can scan and eat fractal codes, and the Digimon would just revert back to an egg and start their life over. But if their Digi-Core is damaged or taken, then that Digimon is destroyed or messed up for good," Dorugamon explained.

"I am surprised you can sense Digi-Cores, not many Digimon have the ability to," Turuiemon acknowledged.

"I'm not really sure why myself, I guess it's just something my species can do," Dorugamon replied, giving a shrug.

Just then, a slight groan came from Agunimon as he finally began to regain consciousness.

"Ah, he's waking up," Jazz noticed.

As Agunimon's eyes began to focus, he could see two of his cousins looking at him in concern, as well as two bigger Digimon that looked familiar standing behind them.

"Hey… Agunimon… how are you feeling?" Andy asked gently.

"My head hurts…" Agunimon admitted as he rolled over onto his back, wincing as he did so.

"Careful, you may have a minor concussion," Andy warned. "You hit your head pretty hard, hard enough to cause some blood to leak out."

Agunimon raised a hand to his head, feeling that was indeed the case, as his fingers felt the red liquid that gave life. He pulled his hand away, not that surprised to see it covered in blood somewhat. "That would explain it then…"

"Dorugamon can take you somewhere safe to recover," Andy offered. "He digivolved from Dorumon during the battle. Oh, don't worry, we defeated all the Soulmon and retrieved their eggs, so all that's left is just cleaning up the damages."

Agunimon hadn't even noticed the Soulmon were gone until Andy mentioned it, most likely due to the fact he had indeed sustained a minor concussion. "Good." He made to stand up, but dizziness enveloped his senses and he almost fell back down.

Dorugamon caught him with his back. Agunimon, for a moment, remembered DexDorugamon, and was a little worried about Dorugamon suddenly attacking him, but Dorugamon just gently helped him get on his back, and he didn't have any of those weird cybernetic parts on his body.

"I'll take him somewhere safe," Dorugamon promised as he looked at Andy and Jazz. "I'll meet you back home later, okay?"

"Okay, but…" Andy looked at Dorugamon. "Try to stay hidden until I get home, you are pretty big right now."

Dorugamon nodded. "I think I will manage… Somehow…"

With that said, Dorugamon made sure Agunimon was secured on his back before he began to fly out through one of the gym's windows. Thankfully the gym's windows were big enough to let a dragon fox fly out.

"Ugh…" Andy and Jazz heard a thud before a white flash.

Both of them turned around, seeing Danny Fenton lying tiredly on the floor. Both siblings rushed to their brother in worry. Turuiemon jumped over and checked Danny himself.

"It's okay, he had merely exhausted himself," Turuiemon assured.

Jazz sighed with relief. "Good… I don't want to have another person get hurt…"

"It looks like he was able to get everyone," Andy acknowledged, seeing how everyone, including Mr. Lancer, were unconscious right now.

It was then Jazz suddenly remembered Takuya. "Oh no! Takuya!"

"Easy Jazz… it's fine, Takuya's fine," Andy quickly reassured. "Look, why don't you take Danny home? Someone has to stay here to make sure Danny's overshadowing worked, and that everyone gets home safely."

Jazz frowned, but nodded. "Okay… And if you see Takuya, tell him to come home. I don't know if he got out or not."

Andy nodded. "I will, you just focus on getting Danny and yourself home. Turuiemon, I count that you'll keep them safe, won't you?"

Turuiemon nodded. "I will."

Jazz then turned and made her way over to where Danny was, picking him up so she was holding him in her arms. "He's… surprisingly really light… either he's not eating much, or it comes with being half ghost. Let's go. Mom and Dad will panic if I don't get Danny home." She made sure to direct that last comment towards her partner Digimon.

Turuiemon smiled. "Heh, don't worry."

Turuiemon folded in the metal spikes on his hands before he picked Jazz and Danny up with ease. "I'll get you two home quickly and safely."

Jazz smiled at Turuiemon. "Thanks."

The trio left, leaving Andy behind to deal with the students and Mr. Lancer.

Not long after Turuiemon left, the doors opened. Andy blinked when he saw Koji and Koichi rushing into the gym.

"What happened here?" Koichi asked, seeing the stage where Jazz had been speaking as a smoking mess, and all the students and Mr. Lancer lying unconscious on the floor.

"Is that blood on the wall?" Koji frowned, seeing Agunimon's blood on the wall.

"Hey, you guys missed all the fun," Andy called out.

The twins looked back at Andy.

"Can _you_ tell us what happened here?" Koji asked as he folded his arms.

"Well, a lot of Soulmon, like 50 or so, attacked, they put up some kind of soundproof barrier around the gym so nobody could escape or call for help, then they knocked Agunimon out by slamming him into the wall really hard, may have caused a minor concussion, then they fused, becoming this really big Phantomon. Danny Phantom somehow found us and made a hole in the barrier to come in and help. Two Digimon who were helping us digivolved into their Champion forms to fight back as well. Long story short, we defeated Phantomon and scanned its and the Soulmon's data," Andy summarized.

Koji blinked, as if stunned. "W-what?"

"I did also ask Danny Phantom a favor, to overshadow everyone here and make them believe everything they saw was a dream and not to mention it, that way rumors won't spread," Andy added. "So that's why they're unconscious right now."

Koichi blinked as well. "I… Okay, I think Takuya was right then, Koji. Maybe we _should_ have come here first…"

Koji gave a huff. "How was I supposed to know the skittish kid was right in his assumption?"

"Skittish kid can hear you," Andy grumbled.

Koichi just gave a nervous chuckle. "Okay… I think he gets it, Koji."

Andy gave a sigh. "I know I didn't give the best first impression when the Soulmon attacked the hallway earlier this week, but I let what a malicious ghost said get to me, so I lost a lot of confidence in myself. I know I'm not the strongest person ever, and I can't turn into a Digimon, but I do have my own uses. I always try to watch out for anything that seems suspicious, and I try to theorize what could happen before testing it out to prove or disprove it. I am able to manipulate Dorumon's iron balls a little with re-writing its code and data, so I could make his iron balls into a grenade, or a deadly liquified acid. We may not be the strongest, but we can get pretty creative."

Koji frowned, but from what he was hearing, he decided to give the kid a chance. "Hn. Make sure it doesn't happen again. If what you say is true, that is impressive and could come in handy for us."

"Oh, no, I'm just one of those people who lie and exaggerate things to sound impressive and strong," Andy nonchalantly said, before giving a mischievous smirk at Koji. "Or am I?"

Koji blinked, unsure of what to make of that, and his disbelief was showing on his face. "Was that a lie… or no…" He then sighed. "Great… I don't know if this kid is lying or not!"

Koichi couldn't help but laugh at this, he didn't expect Andy to mess with his brother like that. "I guess we'll see eventually if he's lying or not, Koji. After all, action speaks louder than words, right?"

Koji grumbled. "Yeah yeah… whatever…"

"By the way, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be heading home? No offense, but you do look like a mess, and exhausted," Koichi pointed out.

Andy looked down at himself, seeing his clothes were a bit torn up, likely from the claws the Soulmon used to grab him, and almost getting cut by Phantomon's scythe earlier, his hair was a mess as well. Andy couldn't see it, but he did have some bags under his eyes due to not being able to sleep as well throughout the week, his sleep had mostly been restless, especially last night after discussing his theory on Spectra to his brother, and then trying to convince said brother to tell Jazz about his ghost powers.

"I can't go home yet, not until I see that everyone wakes up, and gets home safely," Andy answered. "I also want to make sure Danny Phantom managed to successfully implant the 'it was a dream' thought as well."

Koichi nodded. "I see. Well, we'll see you later in that case."

"That's it? We're just going to leave?" Koji asked. "After all that time spent looking for those Soulmon?"

"Well, if you want, you could get in contact with a Trailmon so Jazz and I could release their eggs on it," Andy suggested.

Koji blinked when he looked at Andy. "Wait… what did you say?"

"Um…" Andy paused for a moment before remembering he hadn't mentioned Jazz having a partner Digimon to them yet. "Right… well, Jazz now has a partner Digimon, and she helped out in that battle."

Koichi blinked. "Really? Who is her partner Digimon?"

Andy hesitated. "I'm not sure if they would want me to tell you."

Koji frowned at that. "I see…" He didn't like not knowing who this new Digimon partner was, but if it was Andy's decision, he would respect it, after all when he didn't listen to Andy last time, he and Koichi completely missed the battle.

"You can talk to Jazz about them though if you really want to know," Andy offered. "Anyways, you two go ahead and head on home. I'm just going to finish up here."

Koji nodded. "Okay." He turned and walked off, Koichi following him, but not before the Warrior of Darkness gave Andy a friendly wave good-bye who returned it with his own wave.

* * *

Takuya woke up in his very comfortable bed, the morning sun's rays were coming through his blinds, which was what woke him up. He had a bit of a headache though, and he didn't want to get up from his cozy bed.

He groaned as he sat up, feeling like his back was aching slightly too. "Ugh…" His hand was on his head as he rubbed it. "That was a hard blow…"

Takuya remembered Dorugamon dropping him off at the front doorsteps of Fenton Works. He didn't remember how exactly, but Dorugamon used his claws to tap something on his chest, and he had reverted back to human. Then Dorugamon used his nose to ring the doorbell before he quickly flew away. Maddie answered the door and gasped when she saw an unconscious Takuya on her doorsteps.

Takuya managed to get out of bed, his head spinning a bit before the dizzy spell faded. _Okay… I think that battle really did a number on me..._

Takuya sat back down on his bed in fear of falling back down due to how dizzy he felt. He laid his head back down on the pillow and tried to think, to remember what happened exactly last night. He knew that Maddie and Jack likely took him into his room, despite the injuries he had as Agunimon, it thankfully didn't transfer to his human form, so he likely didn't have any physical injuries, but his head was still killing him.

Takuya also thought back to the battle with the Soulmon in the gym and how he got knocked out. He remembered acting rash when he saw one of the Soulmon pulling something out of Andy.

_What _was_ that I saw being pulled out of Andy? Was that Phantom? Or was it something else?_ Takuya wondered to himself.

From what Takuya could tell, it certainly looked like Phantom, he had the same white hair, the same face and facial structure, and a very similar feel to Phantom. The only noticeable difference he could make out was the fact that the Phantom kid wasn't wearing anything, and his eyes were purple, though his eyes were half closed when he was being pulled out of Andy's body, so Takuya couldn't be too sure about the eye color, or it could've looked purple due to the Dark Claw that was gripping the ghost kid's neck.

_It was so similar to Phantom, the feeling I was getting, and yet… I can't tell if that _is_ Phantom or not because it looked so weak…_ Takuya mused as he recalled how weak the entity being pulled from Andy's chest looked._ Should I talk to Andy about this?_

After another moment of thinking, Takuya shook his head._ No… that would just freak him out. Andy likely doesn't know about this himself, and considering how heavily focused and worried he was about Phantom living in his brother… Yeah, no, I really can't tell him._

Having made up his mind, Takuya sat up again, feeling a bit better and no longer as dizzy. _But maybe I can talk to Jazz about it. I think it would be best, since she likes the psychological aspect of the brain. She may not be a tactician like Andy, but she's the next best thing. Oh… but would she believe me? Sure she may believe in Digimon and ghosts now, but… she doesn't know about one of her brothers being Phantom's host, does she?_

Takuya groaned, now feeling a headache for a different reason. He hated it when he didn't know what to do or who to turn to. He was worried for both of his cousins now, and he wasn't sure if he could talk to Jazz about it yet.

_Wait…_ Takuya then perked up as he recalled something he had seen when he had regained consciousness. _Didn't Andy and Jazz have Champion level Digimon behind them? How is that possible? I know Andy had Dorumon evolve, but who was that last one?_

Takuya remembered it looked like a rabbit Digimon, the face kind of reminded him of Lopmon. _Was that… Lopmon's Champion form? It certainly had some similar features as Lopmon..._

Realizing that just thinking about it wouldn't give him any answers, Takuya decided it was time to get out of his room and talk to his cousins.

Standing up, Takuya was glad when his head didn't give a stab of pain, nor was there any dizziness. He carefully made his way to the door, making sure he didn't feel any dizziness before taking another step each time. He didn't want to fall down again.

When Takuya managed to open his door, he was surprised to see Lopmon himself carrying a tray of food with his ears. Lopmon stopped and looked at Takuya, very surprised.

Takuya's surprise on his face certainly made it look like he was seeing a Digimon aside from Dorimon for the first time. "Um…"

Lopmon looked like he was going to bolt for a moment, but he swallowed down his fear before he spoke up. "Um… I… didn't expect you to wake up so soon."

"I… didn't expect to either…" Takuya replied, still unsure of what to make of this. _Way to go, Takuya! You're sounding like an idiot right now..._

"... You had… quite a nasty blow to the head, we didn't expect you to wake up until tonight at the least," Lopmon added. "Danny still hasn't woken up yet. I was just taking breakfast to your room by Jazz's request in case you woke up and felt hungry."

Takuya's stomach growled at that point, making him blush. "Um… Thanks. I guess I _am_ a bit hungry…" '_A bit' is more of an understatement..._

"Well, here, I suppose this was better than just leaving it in front of your door," Lopmon remarked, carefully lifting up the tray of food with his ears.

"Thanks." Takuya said as he took the tray. "I'll be sure to thank Jazz later."

"She's in her room right now, her body is sore from last night's… event, so she's taking time to recover today. Danny is still asleep," Lopmon listed.

Takuya noticed that Lopmon hadn't said anything about Andy or Dorimon. "What about Andy and his Digimon partner? Are they doing okay?" _At least, I hope they are..._

"They're… well, I hadn't seen them since last night since after I got Jazz and Danny home, I degenerated and fell asleep pretty quickly. When I woke up in the morning, I didn't see either of them," Lopmon admitted.

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "I see… I will see if I can find them… After I eat of course…" He felt his stomach growling again.

"Okay, well… enjoy your morning," Lopmon said. "It's currently 10:24 AM."

With that said, Lopmon walked away, heading towards Jazz's door.

Takuya entered his room and shut the door before sitting down on the bed to eat the breakfast he was brought. _Maybe some food will help me get my thoughts in order..._

* * *

_Meanwhile, at the outskirts of Amity Park…_

Andy was wearing his practice hazmat suit, it was just him and Dorugamon. Andy was riding on Dorugamon's back while Dorugamon was costing in the air, not too far from the ground, he was just flying a little above the trees.

"Okay buddy, we're going to take this nice and slow," Andy said to Dorugamon. "If we're to work together while you're in your Champion form, I need to be able to get used to riding on you."

Dorugamon chuckled. "Then let's see how you handle my flying~"

Andy looked around for a moment, seeing how they were starting to head towards the pier. There weren't a lot of people around at this time.

"Okay, fly up more, then we'll try diving down," Andy instructed.

Dorugamon began to fly higher, but still went slow since this was Andy's first time riding on him, and his first time flying. After getting decently high, Dorugamon started to coast again. "You ready, Andy?"

Andy looked back for a moment, seeing Dorugamon's tail being blown back by the wind, Andy's own hair was getting blown as well. "Okay, here we go… let's do it, Dorugamon."

Dorugamon began to move down, pulling back the front of his wings, but he made sure to keep some parts of his wings open so he wouldn't go too fast. Andy was holding onto his furry back. As Dorugamon got close to the large body of water, Dorugamon opened up his wings to glide, moving around more, letting the tip of his wing touch the water.

Andy looked up as they were passing under a rock formation. "Wow… this is amazing. I can see why Danny loves flying so much in his ghost form."

Dorugamon looked back and chuckled again. "It sure is. Believe me, it gets even more amazing if you can fly yourself." He then turned and flew in a spiral up towards the sky.

Andy yelped as he held on tightly to Dorugamon's fur, not wanting to fall off. He remembered riding on Takuya when he was BurningGreymon in the Ghost Zone, but flying around in a strange world where everything was floating was different from being able to fly on Earth, where gravity was stable, and non-flying creatures were always grounded. The view in the sky was amazing, the city looked small yet big, Andy could see the cars moving on the streets, and how tall yet short the buildings were. Dorugamon flew up higher and higher, starting to get past the clouds. Andy began to feel a little more confident.

"This truly is amazing! I never thought I'd get this close to the clouds!" Andy smiled, his eyes twinkling with excitement and wonder.

"Reach up and touch one~" Dorugamon sang. "You could then claim to be the first human to actually touch a cloud."

Andy reached out to touch one of the clouds. "Cold and wet… heh, guess I should've expected that since clouds are made of water, but still… that's amazing! I wonder if Danny touched a cloud when he flew up here."

However, Andy hadn't been holding on tight enough since he got a little carried away with touching the clouds, the gravity began to set in when Dorugamon was flying higher in a more vertical way, and Andy began to fall.

"Dorugamon! I'm falling!" Andy shouted in alarm when he found himself getting further away from Dorugamon and closer towards Amity Park below.

Dorugamon felt something fall off and Andy's weight vanished, making him look down. Seeing Andy falling, he flew back down and underneath his partner, catching Andy on his back between his wings.

"Sorry about that! You okay?" Dorugamon asked, worried that he might have shaken up his partner.

"Yeah, that was… really exhilarating," Andy answered, a little shaken up, but none worse for wear. "We'll probably need a better way to signal each other in case I fall off of you or get blown off of you by an attack."

Dorugamon nodded. "Yeah, we probably will." He then turned and flew back towards Amity Park, keeping his distance above the clouds though.

"Okay, now let's work on attacks next. Try to aim for that rock formation," Andy instructed, pointing at a rock formation that was in the middle of the water, so nobody would see or care about what would happen to it.

"Alright," Dorugamon began to fly towards the rock formation._ "Cannonball!"_

Like a real cannonball being shot from a cannon, the iron ball moved fast through the air, and pretty much destroyed the small rock formation. Seeing this, the two of them kept going, looking for more rock formations to hit, that is until Dorugamon got a little too close to the water, and there was a lot of rock formations ahead of them.

"... Time to work on your agility!" Andy yelped before he moved Dorugamon's back a little, as if he was guiding him which direction to go.

Dorugamon felt Andy leaning on him and moved in that direction, keeping his course on target. Somehow, Dorugamon managed to zigzag, flip, spiral, and avoid every rock formation that was in their way, there were quite a few tight squeezes, but they somehow made it through and into the open waters.

"YEAH! Did you see that!? That was awesome!" Andy cheered.

Dorugamon chuckled. "It sure was!"

Andy looked up at the sun for a moment. "I guess we should head back now, Danny and Takuya might wake up soon."

Dorugamon nodded. "Good idea. I am wondering how they are doing myself." He then turned back towards Amity Park and Fenton Works, making sure his flight path was on target.

* * *

With Jazz in her room with Lopmon taking care of her, Danny still sleeping, and Andy and Dorumon nowhere in the house, Takuya felt that the morning was a bit too quiet and lonely. His aunt and uncle were currently working on something in the lab, so he was just sitting alone at the kitchen table, munching on some cereal.

Takuya was thinking about what he had seen with Andy and that 'Phantom' that had come from his chest during the attack. _I know I shouldn't be worrying about this so much, and Jazz would say it is not healthy for me, but I can't help but keep thinking about that… thing I saw that was pulled from Andy. Why did he have that? And was it really Phantom?_

The Soulmon were pulling out the other students' souls, so Takuya wondered if it was possible that what Soulmon pulled was Andy's soul, or ghost, or… perhaps, there is another Phantom that they didn't know about. When Danny got caught up in the portal accident, that Phantom kid formed inside him. Andy may not have been directly caught up into it, but Andy did admit being mentally affected by it. When Poindexter did something to Danny, Andy felt it too. _Is it possible that another Phantom formed in Andy during the accident, but it wasn't fully formed due to Andy not being exposed to the power and ectoplasm in the portal…? That would explain why that other Phantom looked so weak when it was being pulled out of Andy's body._

However, Takuya also felt like he was missing something to this puzzle. But even if he was missing something vital, his own theory did make sense too in a way; no matter now Takuya looked at it, it seemed more likely that a ghost had formed inside Andy and was now resting there, waiting to gain its own strength.

And that made Takuya worried. He still didn't know what Danny's relationship was with Phantom, and he didn't know what would happen to Andy if the Phantom inside him begins to gain its own strength. Takuya also wondered if the Phantom in Andy would be leeching off of his energy or emotions or whatever it was Andy said ghosts ate in order to get stronger.

_I wonder if I can do something to get that 'Phantom' out of Andy…_ Takuya mused as he continued to munch on his cereal. _Of course, it would have to be more discreet… And I'm not the best at that… Maybe I could try the Fenton Ghost Catcher, Andy did tell me that was how Danny got Tucker out of him when he was possessing Andy at the time. Andy didn't want to try it on Danny, because we were worried that Phantom and Danny were too closely connected that removing Phantom now could kill them both… but perhaps it's not too late to try to get the Phantom out of Andy since they're not as connected yet._

The living room's door suddenly opened. "I'm home! … If anyone's awake yet!"

Takuya perked up when he heard the voice and turned to face Andy's location. _That's Andy!_ "Andy! Where were you?!"

Dorugamon was back to his little In-Training form, and was relaxing on top of Andy's head, it almost amazed Takuya how that little Dorimon could turn into a big fox dragon, and back to that tiny form.

"Ah, sorry if I worried you, Takuya. I didn't think you'd wake up so soon," Andy chuckled sheepishly as he took his shoes off. "Dorimon and I just went out for a test flight."

"Wait… You went _flying_ with Dorugamon?!" Takuya gaped. _Is the Phantom inside Andy taking over quicker than I thought?!_

Andy raised an eyebrow. "No, we took the bus, of course I went flying with Dorugamon. Okay, maybe it was pretty dangerous to try that without you there as BurningGreymon in case something went wrong, but we didn't want to wake you up since you needed your sleep."

"You're letting Phantom take you over?!" Takuya exclaimed. _Crap, crap, crap! This _is_ worse than I thought!_

At that, Andy and Dorimon started at Takuya in confusion.

"What? What the heck are you talking about? Phantom wasn't even with us," Andy replied, confusion written all over his face.

"I didn't sense him nearby either," Dorimon agreed, sounding just as confused. "Where did you get the idea Phantom was 'taking over'?"

"Uh…." Takuya blushed as he realized he had probably sounded crazy there, his face hot from his blush. "Um… never mind…"

Andy frowned a little before he walked over to Takuya and sat down next to him on the kitchen table. "Are you worried about Phantom trying to possess me or something? When I said I was flying with Dorugamon, I meant I was riding on him, not actually flying myself, I mean… I thought that was obvious, clearly I should've been more specific though."

Takuya went even redder. "Um… Yeah. I was kinda worried about that…" _Aw man! Way to make yourself seem insane Takuya!_

Andy and Dorimon couldn't help but chuckle at how red the Warrior of Flame was at the moment.

"I understand that you're worried about me getting overshadowed again though, I should try to find a way to resist a ghost's control if one tries that again," Andy remarked. _I wonder if Danny could help me out with that… maybe I could convince him to try to overshadow me so I could have a better idea on how to mentally defend myself._

"Ah… So, did you have a good time flying with Dorugamon?" Takuya asked, trying to change the subject here away from his outburst from earlier.

"Oh yeah, it was fun! It was my first time seeing what it was like to fly!" Andy smiled as his eyes sparkled with wonder. "I got to see past the clouds, I even got to touch a cloud! Did you know they're cold and wet? We even flew near the water, and dodged a lot of rock formations."

"I even got to destroy a few rocks with my Cannonball~" Dorimon smirked.

Takuya smiled despite his embarrassment from earlier. "Sounds like I missed something awesome."

"Well, you missed my reactions, but you could fly as BurningGreymon, right? You ever tried flying higher than the clouds before?" Andy asked.

"I never really tried flying above the clouds before." Takuya admitted. "Although that was because I was more involved with fighting at the time…"

"Then perhaps we should take a flight one day, just for the heck of it," Andy suggested. "Flying's no fun if you're focused on battling after all. I also rode on Dorugamon so I could get used to it, he's likely going to be flying a lot in battle, and I didn't want to be left behind on the ground."

Takuya had to admit, that was a good reason. "That's true…"

"By the way… where is everyone else? They still asleep?" Andy asked when he noticed how empty the house appeared to be.

"Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack are working in the lab on some new invention, Jazz is upstairs with her Digimon partner, and Danny is still asleep." Takuya listed off.

"Okay… seems it's just cold cereal for breakfast then, Dorimon," Andy remarked as he stood up from his chair to get a box of sugary cereal.

"You have any good metal stuff I could eat?" Dorimon asked.

"You ate our last metal spoon, I just hope we still have some plastic ones," Andy pointed out.

Takuya groaned. "And you had better not eat my bowl…"

"Why would I want your bowl?" Dorimon made a disgusted face. "It's made of plastic."

"You eat metal." Takuya pointed out. "I've seen Digimon eat just about anything."

"That mostly depends on their type and species," Dorimon replied. "If you were Agunimon or BurningGreymon, you could eat actual fire. I don't nor can I eat fire."

"Um… Okay… Anyway, I wonder how everyone is doing after Spectra's defeat." Takuya muttered, trying to keep the topic on something sensible.

Andy was actually thinking about Takuya eating fire for a moment, before hearing the question. "They should be fine. After Phantom implanted the thought of everything they saw as just a dream, and to never mention it again, everyone seemed to be okay. Whatever Spectra did just seemed to have vanished, they looked much healthier, enough to complain that they wanted to go home, and didn't know why they were 'sleeping' on the gym's floor. Mr. Lancer did seem pretty suspicious though, I guess trying to change an adult's mind while you're low on energy wouldn't be very easy. I did tell Mr. Lancer to make sure everyone called their parents and that they would get home safely."

"That's good to hear." Takuya said with obvious relief in his voice. "I was concerned that someone would try to report what they saw."

"Yeah, we're getting lucky so far, but one of these days something is going to happen that we wouldn't be able to cover up so easily," Andy sighed before he poured his cereal into a plastic bowl. "Perhaps we should try to work on some battle tactics as well. The whole thing with Spectra really messed up our teamwork, and you got hurt in the process."

Takuya grimaced as he felt his head aching slightly. "Yeah… That was not fun. We probably should work on teamwork more…"

Andy poured some milk into his cereal, and managed to dig out a plastic fork before he walked over to the table and set his bowl of cereal down.

"Um… Andy, that's a fork," Takuya pointed out.

"I know. We're out of spoons. This is better than eating with my hands," Andy answered back before using his plastic fork to try to pick up the cereal, though most of the milk fell through the holes. "I may have to slurp up the milk though."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense." Takuya said as he felt a sweat-drop run down the side of his head. _I guess Andy _isn't_ being taken over by his Phantom yet. But should I try to remove his Phantom anyway? Hmm… first I'm going to see if he's even aware of it._

While Andy gave some cereal to Dorimon, Takuya cleared his throat. "So, uh… Andy… what was it like when the Soulmon was trying to take your soul? Did you… experience anything strange?"

Andy blinked before he thought for a moment. "It's… not really easy to put it into words… it feels like someone trying to rip you out of something you were really… comfortable in… like say you're wrapped up in a nice warm house on a cold, snowy day, then suddenly someone opens up the roof and grabs onto you before dragging you out of your bed and into the cold. It also felt… surreal, like I was there, yet wasn't. I felt dazed and weak, and I kept feeling like my energy was being constantly drained the longer I was being pulled."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. _That sounds a lot like when I got my Spirits removed unwillingly by Cherubimon when he stole my D-Tector._ "That… sounds painful and… unwelcome to experience."

"Yeah, it was," Andy agreed.

"I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have my soul, or I guess, Digi-Core removed like that," Dorimon shivered. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to help you…"

Andy put a comforting hand on Dorimon's head. "Hey, it's okay, buddy, don't blame yourself for that. At least it wasn't permanent."

Takuya looked down. "I sure made a mistake as well, not paying attention to that Soulmon that knocked me out. I was just so worried when I saw your soul being removed I just acted rashly." _And I was too caught up in seeing that you have a Phantom inside you. But it looks like you're not aware of it. If you were, you would've said something, or if you were trying to hide it, I would've noticed you becoming nervous._

"Yeah… I think most of us would act rashly when seeing a loved one being attacked. When… when I saw Danny being attacked, I just reacted, I didn't have time to think. That was what triggered Dorumon's digivolution, and… Lopmon's," Andy recalled.

Takuya looked back at Andy. "That seems to be how digivolution is triggered."

"We feel emotionally and mentally connected to our partners," Dorimon explained. "When I felt your courage and determination, as well as your love for Danny, that was when I was finally able to digivolve."

"So it's not just strength… it's an emotional need as well," Andy noted. "That would explain why you weren't able to digivolve before, despite the dangers we've been through, there hadn't been enough of an emotional push from me."

Takuya smiled. "Well, now you can reach Champion level, and that will come in handy down the road." _I just hope I don't have to bust out my Fusion form. That form is a last resort only..._

"Hey, maybe later we can check in on Dash to see how he's doing," Andy suggested. "I'd love to see how we could handle our spar now that Dorumon can reach Champion level~"

"Me too~" Dorimon smirked.

Takuya gave a grin. "It will get interesting, that's for sure~"

* * *

Throughout the morning and noon, when Maddie and Jack left their lab to do something else, or go out to get some groceries, mostly silverware since Dorimon had been snacking, Takuya led Andy down in the lab.

"What is it you wanted me to see?" Andy asked.

Takuya looked around before he saw what looked like silver and green ovaloids. "What are those?"

Andy blinked as he looked at what Takuya was pointing at on the table. Andy raised an eyebrow. "You… brought me down here to ask me what Mom and Dad made? How should I know? They usually…"

Andy stopped as he noticed something about the ovaloids. "Wait… I think these are made to be grenades, except they explode ectoplasm instead of explosives… I wonder if I could tweak these for some future battles? It would save me the trouble of needing to write an explosion code on Dorumon's iron balls…"

While Andy was focusing on the ovaloids, Takuya had crept over to the Fenton Ghost Catcher and was now preparing to tip it over so Andy would go through the glowing green part. He gave it a nudge, hoping this would work. _I'm sorry Andy… But this is for your own good..._

Andy noticed a shadow over him, he looked up at the last second to see something glowing green and a net over his head. The boy gave a surprised yelp when Takuya lowered it, making it phase through Andy's head. However, Takuya had the Ghost Catcher go all the way down to Andy's feet, and there was no Phantom. It was just Andy, standing there, giving a confused look at Takuya, before he scowled.

"That wasn't funny, Takuya!" Andy snapped.

Takuya blinked, unsure of what to make of the lack of a Phantom before he responded. "Oh! Sorry, Andy. I guess that _was _a bad prank…"

Andy stepped out of the Fenton Ghost Catcher before Takuya picked it back up. "What were you thinking? Were you trying to make sure I didn't have a ghost in me or something? Was I acting weird to you?"

"Um… Not exactly. I…" Takuya trailed off, unsure of how to explain this one. _Crap… I'm not that good a liar anyway..._

Andy picked up the ovaloids from the table. "Well, whatever, at least I got something interesting out of this weird prank of yours. I'm going to test these."

Takuya blinked as he realized Andy was too interested in the ovaloids to keep scolding him. _Wow, saved by the odd ovaloids… Never thought that would happen._

Andy walked out of the lab, and Takuya could hear him call to Dorimon. "Dorimon! Let's head outside and test these ecto grenades! … No, I'm not going to use them on you, stop worrying!"

Takuya sighed to himself. _It looks like Andy's Phantom isn't strong enough to remove…_ Then a thought he never imagined crossed his mind. _Wait… _Does_ Andy have a Phantom inside him?_ He shook his head. _No, I know what I saw. But if that is the case, then why didn't Andy's Phantom come out when I used the Ghost Catcher on him?_

Takuya looked at the Ghost Catcher for a moment. "Maybe Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack hadn't quite figured out how to make something that could remove a weaker ghost from someone, weak ghosts could be seen as 'lesser ectoplasm' which the net doesn't react to. I should know, this entire family has been exposed to ectoplasm a lot, if this thing could remove all of that, there would be ectoplasm everywhere."

Sighing, Takuya looked away from the Ghost Catcher. _I shouldn't worry right now. Andy seems to be fine, so I don't think his Phantom will be a problem yet. But maybe I should go with to see how those grenades work, just to keep an eye on Andy in case._

* * *

The ecto grenades seemed to work like a charm, when Andy detonated the grenades, purple, sticky ectoplasm was everywhere. Andy smiled as he believed it could be useful for trapping ghosts_ and_ Digimon, saying how sometimes less destructive explosions could have much better results.

Despite what Takuya thought about Andy's Phantom may not be a problem yet, he still wanted to try to find ways to get Phantom out. So Takuya looked up online how someone could try to drive a ghost out without using a exorcist. There was 'holy water' as an option, it would drive a ghost out of their host. Saying certain words using religion was another thing Takuya could try. While Takuya didn't normally believe this mumbo jumbo, he was willing to try anything at this point.

_I gotta find a way to get that ghost out of Andy…_ Takuya thought to himself. _But these options would make me look crazy. I can't just start chanting religious stuff in hopes of getting the ghost out. And where can I get holy water anyway if I am not a priest?_

Takuya then groaned as he realized what he needed to do. "I'm going to hate myself for this…"

Takuya found himself standing in Amity's Church. Since it was Saturday and not Sunday, he didn't have to wait for a long sermon before he could talk to the local priest, he just hoped the priest wouldn't do something that would freak him out, or worse, the priest somehow sees his Spirits and declares him the devil.

"Maybe I should back out…" Takuya mumbled to himself. He was having second thoughts about this.

The priest was, surprisingly, not an old, bald looking man like Takuya was expecting, instead, it was a young looking lady, with brown-red hair tied in a ponytail, she wore normal clothings instead of a formal dress or suit like most priests wore. The lady smiled when she saw Takuya.

"Hello there, young one, I take it you came here for something?" The lady asked with a friendly smile.

"Um… Yeah… I did…" Takuya muttered, feeling embarrassed about this. _How the _heck _will I ask her for the holy water? Is she even a priest? She doesn't look like one._

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners? My name is Kaitlyn Sweetwaters, but you can just call me Kate," The lady introduced.

"I'm Takuya…" Takuya mumbled. _Yeah… I really should back out…_ However, memories of Andy's Phantom kept him rooted to the spot.

"So, Takuya, what can I help you with?" Kate asked with a patient smile.

"Um…" Takuya finally decided to just get on with it. "I am wondering if you have any holy water. I think a close relative of mine is host to a ghost."

"Oh? You're worried that someone you know may be possessed?" Kate inquired.

Takuya gave a nod. His face was burning red from embarrassment. _I should have done some more research..._

Kate let out a small chuckle. "Well, normally I'd tell you to use the Word of the Divine to try to drive the ghost away, but I don't think you're looking for that answer. So…"

Kate walked to the back of the church, she grabbed onto a glass cup before she dunked it into a tank of crystal clear water. She then walked back to Takuya.

"Here, you can use this. It's blessed water, though the term you're probably used to is 'holy water'. Touched by the great Divine Himself, if you pour it on someone, they say their life will be blessed, or at least their day will be really good. But if you use it on a ghost…" Kate hesitated for a moment. "Well, I doubt the ghost will stick around in your relative."

Takuya nodded, taking the glass. "Thanks…" _I will look crazy to Andy for sure..._

"You can try having the relative drink it if you don't want to pour it on them, it would be just as if not more so effective," Kate chuckled at seeing Takuya's expression.

"I will do that," Takuya said, feeling a bit better now.

"I will see you later, Takuya." Kate smiled as Takuya began walking away. "You can keep the glass cup, it's better than metal~"

Takuya walked out, feeling odd when she said that. _What did she mean by that_?

* * *

When Takuya was back in Fenton Works, he saw that Jazz was already up. She was in the kitchen, reading something while Lopmon was standing by the microwave, waiting for some food to get done.

"Jazz, you have to take a break from studying once in a while and eat, you're already unhealthily thin, you need to put on some healthy weight," Lopmon remarked.

Jazz didn't look up. "I know, but I want to get this paper done before it's due."

"And your parents are busy with their own work? How did you survive 16 years of living here?" Lopmon frowned.

"Mom and Dad weren't always so busy with their inventions. Only after they opened the portal did things start to pick up with that because of ghosts." Jazz replied.

"Well, if they're going to be too busy to make sure their daughter gets fed, I'll have to do that for them. I'm not letting my partner starve herself because she was too into work," Lopmon grumbled.

Jazz sighed when she realized Lopmon wasn't going to drop the subject. "Okay, I guess a break _wouldn't_ hurt."

Lopmon smiled. "That's better."

Takuya couldn't help but snicker a little, he'd never thought he would see the day _Cherubimon_ of all Digimon would be the mother hen to a human.

He then realized he still had to get Andy to drink the holy water. "Uh, hey Jazz." Takuya gave a wave. "So you know where Andy is?"

Jazz looked up at Takuya and smiled. "So Lopmon and Andy were right, you are awake. I'm glad you woke up, I was getting worried, how do you feel? Does your head hurt at all?"

"Um… No, my head is feeling fine and I feel great," Takuya replied. "Thanks for asking."

The microwave beeped, and Lopmon put some oven mitts on his ears before he opened the microwave and picked up a plate of leftover waffles and bacon with his oven mitted ears, then hopped down from the counter and headed towards the table. Takuya couldn't help but wonder if Lopmon was more like Jazz's assistant.

"Jazz, I believe you've neglected to inform him of the whereabouts of Andy," Lopmon spoke up after he hopped onto the table and placed the plate down in front of Jazz.

"Oh, right!" Jazz remembered. "Last I heard, Andy said he wanted to check on Danny."

Takuya nodded. "Thanks, Jazz!" He turned and ran for the stairs before heading up to where Danny and Andy's room was. _I hope this works… Maybe I'll just tell Andy I got him some water from the water dispenser on the fridge. That should be a good cover story._

Takuya opened up the door, and saw Andy was playing on a handheld game on his bed with Dorimon curled up on his pillow. Danny was still sleeping on his bed.

"Hey, Andy." Takuya said in a lower voice so as to not wake Danny as he walked over to Andy. "How is Danny doing?"

"He's still sleeping, I'm not sure when he'll wake up," Andy answered. "He likely didn't get a good night sleep during the week, and his exhaustion made him collapse, so he's likely to be out for a while."

Takuya nodded. "Okay, that makes sense." He then looked down at the glass and mentally steeled himself for what he was about to do. "Hey, I got you a drink of water." He held out the cup.

Andy looked at the glass cup of water before pausing his game. "Where did you get that glass cup? It looks too fancy for something we have in the kitchen."

"Uh…" Takuya trailed off. "I… found it?"

"And why did you get me water? I didn't ask for water," Andy added to his questions.

"I just thought you would want a drink…" Takuya muttered.

"So… you poured water into a glass you just… found?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you thought I wanted a drink, why water? Why not soda?"

"Uh…" Takuya was lost for once. _Crap… I _knew_ I was a bad liar, but this is awkward..._

Andy noticed how Takuya was squirming, scrambling for an answer. "... Takuya… is there something I should know?"

In a panic, Takuya did the last thing he expected to do: he threw the water on Andy. Andy just stared in shock, his brain not quite comprehending what the heck just happened, he just knew that his head was soaked, and his hair was now dripping with water, and it was his cousin's fault.

After getting over his panic, Takuya realized that nothing was happening, no ghost was coming out of Andy, Andy wasn't violently compulsing as the ghost struggled to get away from the holy water, the only thing that was happening was that Andy was staring at Takuya like a puppy who just got dumped in water for no reason.

"... Takuya…" Andy finally said after taking a deep breath. "... Is there something you want to tell me?"

"I… No… I… just…" Takuya finally turned and just ran. _Dang it! Why do I keep doing this?! Why won't that Phantom just leave Andy's body?!_

After leaving Andy and Danny's room, only stopping when down near the front entrance of the house, Takuya finally managed to get his mental faculties under control. _Okay… I just need to calm down…_ He then began to think. _Okay… If I remember correctly, the Soulmon pulled out Andy's Phantom. So maybe… only another ghost can do that? Yeah, that makes sense._

After Takuya ran, Andy touched his wet hair for a moment and tasted the water on his finger. "... This certainly isn't normal water. What was he trying to do? Melt me? What, does he think I'm some kind of witch who took over his cousin? … Why would he even think that? What is going on with him?"

Dorimon blinked before giving a shrug. "I don't know. Maybe he saw something during that Soulmon fight that freaked him out?"

"Like what?" Andy asked. "It wasn't like it was any different from our other Digimon battles, except he was unconscious throughout most of it."

"What about the Soulmon attacking humans? Maybe he saw something during that time _before_ he was knocked out?" Dorimon replied.

"If he saw something, why won't he tell me?" Andy frowned. "I'm going to go dry off and change my shirt. Then I'll go see if I can talk to Takuya and find out what the heck he's trying to do."

Dorimon nodded. "Good idea." He then looked back at the direction where Takuya had run with concern.

* * *

After Andy dried off and changed his shirt, he and Dorimon left the bedroom to look for Takuya. However, Takuya snuck back into the bedroom after Andy and Dorimon walked off.

Takuya made his way over to Danny's bed, gently nudging his other cousin. "Danny, hey, please wake up!"

Thankfully, Danny didn't appear to be in a deep sleep, he just let out a groggy groan at someone trying to wake him up. "Five… more… minutes…"

"Danny, wake up!" Takuya pleaded more urgently. "I think your brother might be in trouble."

That got Danny up quickly. "What? What's wrong? What happened to Andy?"

Takuya looked quite freaked out. "I think a ghost may be inside Andy. When those Soulmon things were attacking and stealing human souls, I saw something that looked like a ghost being pulled out of him."

Danny blinked before rubbing his eyes, still feeling a bit groggy. "What…? Are you sure it wasn't just Andy's soul they were pulling out?"

Though Danny bristled at that, and he shivered. "... I felt that, you know…"

"What? You did?" Takuya asked, surprised.

"Yeah… I suddenly felt like half of me got really weak and cold," Danny admitted. "And somehow, I knew that Andy was in trouble. So I hurried to the gym after I ca- uh… talked with Bertrand."

"I know what I saw." Takuya replied with determination.

Danny frowned. "Okay… would it help if I _checked_ to see if there is a ghost in Andy? Would that solve this problem?"

Takuya nodded. "Yes, please!" Then he remembered that he wasn't supposed to know about Danny's supposed relationship with Phantom. "Uh… how?"

Danny shrugged. "I have my ways. Mom and Dad's ghost detection invention or whatever."

Takuya nodded. "Just check for a ghost inside Andy please. This has been driving me _crazy!_"

Danny noticed how one of Takuya's eyes was twitching, and how messed up his hair was. "... Yeah, I can see that…"

The older boy sighed, realizing how ironic it was that he was coming to Danny for help with Andy now.

"I look like a mess, don't I?" Takuya sighed.

"No… you… just might want to take a shower… and comb your hair… and maybe take a nap." Danny grinned sheepishly.

Takuya ran a hand through his hair, feeling how unkempt it was. "Yeah… I probably should do all that…" _After I find out if Andy does have a ghost in him._

* * *

"Okay, where the crap is Takuya!?" Andy groaned after having searched the whole house for him, and there weren't any signs of his cousin anywhere. "Dorimon, can't you sniff him out?"

"Sorry, unless he evolves into one of his Digimon forms, I can't really tell his human scent from others," Dorimon apologized.

"Great… did Takuya leave the house?" Andy grumbled. "I need to find out what's bothering him, and I'm going to find out even if it kills me!"

Dorimon shivered at that. With how unstable he had seen the older boy looking, he hated to admit that was quite the possibility. "Um… That is probably not the best thing to say, but I can agree with the sentiment behind that comment."

"Sorry, I think the fact that when someone close to me is hiding a secret, it drives me crazy because of what happened with Danny. I mean… when he hid a secret from me, he, Tucker, and Sam all pushed me away for a month… it was a very lonely month for me, you and Takuya weren't around yet…" Andy admitted with a sad sigh. "I don't want that to happen again, not when things are finally starting to get better."

Dorimon nodded. "Okay. I will back you up on this, Andy."_ Although I hope I don't have to attack Takuya if he decides to evolve for some reason._

"Thanks, buddy. I just need to get Takuya to talk, he looked like he was panicking earlier, so maybe once he calms down, he'll come back, and I can try to get him to talk," Andy finally decided before picking Dorimon up. "For now, let's go wait in my room. I'm a bit tired after that test flight and the test grenades. Not to mention I didn't get much sleep last night."

Dorimon frowned, but nodded. "Alright." _I will keep watch to see what happens. I don't want to not trust Takuya, but with how he has been acting, I have to be on guard for whatever he has planned, if he has anything planned at all._

Andy began carrying Dorimon back upstairs, however, when he opened the door to his room, he was surprised to see Danny wasn't in bed anymore, in fact, he didn't see Danny at all.

"Huh… I guess Danny woke up," Andy noted. "I wonder where he went though… I didn't see him walk out…"

Dorimon then looked up. "Andy, there's a ghost here, and… I think it's your brother."

"What?" Andy looked up, seeing the familiar ghost boy turning visible all of a sudden. "Jeez, Danny! You trying to turn _me _into a half ghost as well!?"

"No, but I want to talk to you about Takuya's behavior." Danny replied.

"... I'm surprised you know about it since you likely just woke up 1 to 10 minutes ago," Andy remarked. "But… wait, you know about Takuya's behavior?"

"He was the one who woke me up." Danny said as he landed on the floor. "Said something about seeing your soul being taken by the Soulmon that were attacking and taking human souls. I believe seeing that freaked him out."

"Okay, I get that seeing a loved one's soul being pulled out of their body can be a traumatic experience, but that doesn't really explain his actions lately." Andy frowned. "He tried to use the Ghost Catcher on me earlier, then he dumped water on me, which I'm 90% sure was supposed to be holy water."

"Well… Takuya mentioned seeing what looked like a 'Phantom' being taken out of you during that time." Danny explained. "I think _that_ would explain the two incidents from earlier today."

Andy blinked as he took that information in. Dorimon was blinking as well, although he was close to Andy when a Soulmon tried to rip Andy's soul out, he didn't see Andy's soul since he was being pinned to the floor.

"Wait… what? What do you mean Takuya saw a 'Phantom' being taken out of me?" Andy questioned in confusion. "My soul? How would he mistake my soul for a Phantom? For your current ghost form?"

"That's just what he said." Danny replied with a shrug.

Andy furrowed his eyebrows. "... So why are you in ghost form right now, bro?"

"Takuya wanted me to check and make sure you're not actually being overshadowed by a ghost," Danny explained. "I don't exactly believe that you are being overshadowed, since if you were, I'm like… 95% sure I would sense it, but I'm also doing this so I could see just what Takuya is talking about. You don't mind, do you, bro? I know that you're… uncomfortable with a ghost overshadowing you, especially after what happened with Tucker, but I promise I'm not going to take over your body or anything, I'm just going to check your soul to make sure everything's alright."

"Check my soul? You can do that?" Andy asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Each person has a unique soul, and from what I have observed during the few times I have overshadowed people, I have been able to see their souls." Danny replied. "I don't usually mess with a person's soul though, it just feels… wrong. Their souls usually just go into dormancy when I take over until I leave."

Andy was definitely fascinated by this. "So each human soul is unique, is there anything else about that that you discov-"

"Andy, check-up, remember?" Dorimon spoke up, trying to keep Andy from going off the trail.

"Right… right…" Andy sighed. "... It… really is an uncomfortable thought, but… I suppose that you are probably the only ghost I would trust with checking my soul. I mean I don't know if the Soulmon left any kind of damage or something when it grabbed it, so… I guess better safe than sorry, and to find out what Takuya saw."

Danny gave a nod. "Okay, bro. Get ready. I will only do it when you say it's okay to." He then turned intangible and waited for Andy's response.

Andy put Dorimon down on his bed. "Okay, bro, do it."

Danny flew into Andy's body, trying to keep his ghost powers in check so he didn't overwhelm his brother's body. When Andy felt his brother go into his body, he felt cold, like some kind of cold water just splashed into his body somehow. But it wasn't unbearable. Andy had to suppress the urge to try to force Danny out, he didn't want to accidentally hurt his brother, or hurt himself in the process. Danny wasn't being forceful like Tucker was, he was a lot more gentle and calm. It made it easier for Andy to relax.

Danny looked around when he was inside his brother, and stopped when he came up on his soul. Danny had never tried to overshadow his brother before, he never had a reason to, nor did he want to, so it surprised him when he saw what looked like another version of himself staring back at him. The only difference was that the white hair 'ghost child' before him had purple eyes, and he was wearing Andy's clothes. The soul blinked, looking at Danny curiously.

Danny wasn't sure of what to make of this. _Okay… This is unusual. Is this _Andy's_ soul? I can see why Takuya would be freaked out if this is what he saw._

Andy's soul suddenly floated closer to Danny, which surprised Danny. The souls he usually saw were either unconscious or they shrunk away from him. Not sure what to do, Danny just floated there as Andy's soul reached out and touched his face for a moment, as if studying him. Then Andy's soul suddenly wrapped his arms around Danny and began to cry into Danny's chest.

Danny blinked, but hugged the soul back. It was odd to comfort a soul, but he wasn't about to deny his brother's soul comfort it probably needed. The soul felt surprisingly warm, not that Danny had ever touched a soul before, but he didn't expect it to feel warm. The soul didn't seem to have a voice, despite it crying, there was no sound coming from it.

Danny wasn't sure how long he had been hugging the crying soul, but he didn't feel impatient at all, he felt… like he needed to do this. He felt worried and sad for Andy's soul. And then, he heard a voice in his head, or rather, it was more like a whisper. _"I miss you…"_

Danny felt the urge to hug the soul grow even more, and he didn't want to let go for some reason.

* * *

Andy couldn't explain what he was feeling, but he felt oddly comforted, happy, and relaxed, like he was just reunited with a long lost loved one that he didn't even know he lost. He felt like he was snuggled in that loved one's arms and didn't want to let go. He wanted to tell them how much he missed them, and how he wished he could be with them.

Andy ended up laying in bed, wrapping his arms around a pillow. The feeling was almost overwhelming, and he didn't want it to stop. It was like he just got over his grief despite not going through it. Dorimon was watching, but he didn't question it, he could feel what Andy was feeling through their D-Arc link, and he stayed quiet, wanting Andy to stay in that blissful moment for as long as he could.

The door then opened, and Takuya blinked when he saw Andy on the bed, looking somewhat blissful and it was beginning to freak him out. "A-Andy?!" _Uh oh..._

Takuya wasn't sure what was happening, but Andy almost looked like he was high on catnip.

"Andy?!" Takuya exclaimed as he ran in, concerned for Andy now.

"Hmm?" Andy slowly looked up at Takuya with a sleepy, content looking grin on his face. "Hiya cuz~"

"Andy? Are you… okay?" Takuya asked, his hand slowly creeping towards his D-Tector, not that he was going to evolve. It was more of a security comfort thing since he liked to know he still had his Spirits in case things went downhill.

"He's feeling very blissful right now," Dorimon spoke up for his partner. "Perhaps it would be best to leave him alone for a while?"

Takuya looked at Dorimon in confusion, but withdrew his hand from his D-Tector.

"I'm feeling fine, more than fine." Andy smiled.

"Uh… Okay…? I'll just… let you enjoy that then…" Takuya said as he slowly backed away.

"Aww, Takuya, why don't we hug? It's good to hug family members," Andy spoke up, getting up from his bed.

Takuya looked uneasy. "Um… No, that's okay… I… have some homework to do…" He kept moving towards the door.

Dorimon suddenly jumped onto Takuya's head, which stopped Takuya in surprise before Andy grabbed him in a hug.

"You're so warm, Takuya~" Andy blissfully smiled, leaning against his cousin like a lazy cat.

"Andy… please get off…" Takuya pleaded, feeling freaked out now. _Is this the result of Andy's Phantom waking up slowly?!_

"Noooo, I like this…" Andy softly whined.

Dorimon didn't seem to want to get off of Takuya's head either.

Takuya was seriously panicking now, only to feel a flash of heat through him. But it wasn't like when he felt a ghost or a Digimon. No, this heat was...comforting…? _For crying out loud! Even my Spirits are against me with this?!_

Andy snuggled on Takuya when he felt the comforting heat, and Dorimon was very content. Takuay grumbled, feeling stuck now.

* * *

Andy's soul finally calmed down enough to let go of Danny. He gave a smile to Danny before Danny heard a whisper in his mind. _"Thank you."_

Danny gave a smile before he flew back and out of Andy's body. He had done what he needed to do. _Now it's time to tell Takuya things are fine with Andy's soul._

As soon as Danny left Andy's body, however, he saw an awkward scene. Andy was leaning against Takuya with a satisfied looking grin while Dorimon was relaxing on Takuya's head. Takuya looked up at Danny in surprise. Danny blinked back at Takuya, trying to register as to what was happening. Not long after Danny left Andy's body, Andy blinked as he started to sober up from his strange blissful experience, and realized what he was doing, before he quickly let go of Takuya and moved away, his face blushing.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Takuya! I don't know what came over me!" Andy apologized, completely mortified.

"Forget it… It's fine." Takuya grumbled. " But two certain _somethings_ certainly weren't helping much either… Not you Dorimon. I meant other _'somethings'_."

Dorimon chuckled sheepishly before hopping off of Takuya's head. Andy was so embarrassed that he just wanted to hide now.

Danny blinked, trying to process what Takuya had just said. _'Two somethings'? What does that mean?_

"What are, or what were you doing, Phantom?" Takuya asked while Andy slowly slipped himself into his bed and went under the covers.

"Oh, I was… checking out Andy's soul. Your cousin Danny asked me to." Danny lied. "Just to check to see if that Soulmon thing did any damage to it. I did the check, and his soul is fine. A bit needy for comfort, but it's doing fine."

"Really…? You didn't see anything… unusual about the soul?" Takuya asked.

Danny frowned a little. "I… did see something I thought was unusual, but it shouldn't harm Andy in the long run… uh… I gotta go."

Danny turned intangible and flew through the window.

After Danny left, Andy popped his head out from the blanket. "Takuya… would you mind telling me why you told Danny to have Phantom look at my soul? And made me act all weird?"

Takuya sighed. "When that Soulmon pulled your soul out, it wasn't what I expected. I saw what looked like another 'Phantom', and I just… acted on impulse. I freaked out and thought a ghost was inside of you, just like with Danny." He then looked up at Andy. "I'm so sorry for the way I was acting!"

Andy blinked before sighing. "Oh… I didn't know…"_ My soul looks like Phantom? … That might explain why Danny took so long to come out of my body, and… why I felt the way I did, he must've been hugging it or something. That… is such a weird experience._ "Takuya… I… I think I know why my soul looks like Phantom."

Takuya blinked as he looked up. "You… You do? Why?"

"Because of the accident," Andy sighed. "While I wasn't in it directly, I definitely felt it in my soul. I felt Danny being torn apart by the portal. I… guess when his Phantom formed, it affected my soul's appearance as well."

Takuya blinked, taking in this information. "That… actually makes sense." He then rubbed the back of his head. "Wow… I sure made a fool of myself today, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did," Andy replied. "But I also made a fool myself just now, so I guess we're even. But next time you see something like that, please talk to me? I'd rather know if I might have a ghost inside me or something."

"You also had us scared with the way you were acting," Dorimon lightly scolded at Takuya.

"Yeah, I guess I did. Sorry. And I promise I will tell you next time if something like that is bothering me." Takuya promised.

"Thank you. Because I would rather you didn't splash me again with holy water for no apparent reason," Andy grumbled.

"I'm surprised 'holy water' exists…" Dorimon mumbled. "What's it taste like?"

"I don't know, and you probably don't want to know either," Takuya mumbled. "Besides, I don't want to consider the possibility of another one of my cousins gaining a Phantom inside them."

Andy blinked, before frowning. "Oh… right… that theory I had…"

Andy mumbled something under his breath.

Takuya looked at Andy. "Did you say something?"

"He's considering something," Dorimon spoke up.

"Oh, I definitely am," Andy sighed. "But for now… could you go get some lunch or something? I need a few minutes to recover from my… embarrassing experience."

Takuya nodded. "Sure." He then turned and left to go get some lunch since he was feeling a bit hungry, and relieved, knowing that Andy wasn't going to have a Phantom inside him.

When Takuya left his room, Andy grumbled.

"You can come back now, Danny," Andy sighed.

Danny regained visibility, he had been floating on the ceiling, waiting for Takuya to leave.

"Good." Danny said as he landed. "That was close."

"You really, and I stress this, _really_ need to talk to Takuya about your half ghost status," Andy grumbled. "Before I knew you were half ghost, I came up with a theory that you had Phantom living inside you, who takes you over from time to time when you're in danger from ghosts or Digimon. Since Takuya doesn't know the truth, that's the best thing he could believe in since you would disappear whenever Phantom appears, and vice versa."

Danny blinked. "Oh… Wow. Okay… So that explains the behavior and the assumption then." Danny then sighed. "But yeah… I guess you're right. I _should_ tell him, unless we want to go through this whole thing again."

"Yeah, considering that both Takuya and I were accepting yet worried about you when we thought you and Phantom were living like symbiotic beings. Of course, we didn't know what Phantom would do to you, so we were worried about that… but if Takuya knew the truth, I think that would just make things a lot easier. He kind of already knows some of the truth anyways, that you and Phantom are pretty much the same person," Andy remarked._ Though we do still worry about what being a half ghost would do to you. It is a lot less worrying than having a ghost just living inside you._

Danny nodded. "Yeah. I think I will tell him, if not because he deserves to know the truth, then because we want to prevent this incident from happening again."

"Heh, just be glad he didn't use the Ghost Catcher on you, or splashed you with holy water, I don't even want to know what holy water would do to you," Andy chuckled.

Danny gave a nervous chuckle himself. "Yeah… That would be the last thing I want to have happen to me."

"Perhaps you can discuss it with Takuya over lunch," Andy suggested. "And… _wha_t did you do while you were checking my soul? I was acting so… weird! I mean it felt good, but I wasn't really in control of myself."

"It was your soul. It was needy for comfort as it latched onto me in a hug, so I hugged it back." Danny replied. "It was weird, hugging a soul."

Andy blushed at that. "Ugh… great…"

Dorimon chuckled. "It makes sense why your soul would be all huggy with Danny. I mean how have you felt since Danny became half ghost?"

That question got both brothers thinking, and realization hit them hard. Danny was half ghost, Andy was all human. They were still brothers, but there was a gap between them now.

"Wow… I guess I never thought about it like that before…" Danny muttered, feeling a bit awkward now.

_Dorimon's got a point. With Danny being half ghost, what does that mean for us? I can no longer truly understand what Danny is going through anymore. I can't fly on my own, I can't turn invisible or intangible, I can't shoot ghost rays from my hand, and who knows what else Danny is capable of. We may be twins, but… we're not the same…_ Andy frowned._ Other ghosts might understand a little of what Danny's going through, but they wouldn't understand how his human half works, nor would they understand how both halves would work simultaneously. The only one who could possibly understand is Vlad. Now I'm starting to see why Vlad wanted Danny to join him._

Danny gave a small frown when he noticed Andy appeared to be deep in thought about something.

"Hey, bro? What's on your mind?" Danny asked.

Andy gave a sigh before he waved it off. "It's… nothing important, don't worry about it, okay?"

Andy didn't want to worry Danny about these thoughts, he also didn't want Danny to worry about how his halfa status may or may not affect him in the future._ That's a bridge we'll have to cross when we come to it, there's no point in worrying about that right now._

Danny frowned, but decided to let it go for now. "Okay, bro… If you insist."

"Hey, why don't you go and see if Takuya needs any help with that lunch?" Andy suggested. "I'll be down in a minute after cooling off from my… experience."

Danny gave a nod. "Sure." He then gave a grin. "You looked like you were enjoying it though~"

"Never bring it up!" Andy huffed, his cheeks blushing as Danny reminded him just how much he was enjoying it. "You realize I'm going to get back at you for this one day, right?"

Danny just gave a chuckle. "We'll see, bro~" He then made his way out of their shared room with a grin on his face.

As soon as Danny was out of the room, Andy sighed as he fell back onto his bed, Dorimon rolling off of his head and onto the pillow.

"I can tell that this is bothering you more than you're letting on…" Dorimon stated.

"Of course it does. I mean… Danny is a ghost… half ghost. I guess when he first told me, I didn't want to think too much about it. Danny was still Danny, regardless of being ghost, human, or something in-between. But I guess it's just now hitting me how… _different_ he really is now," Andy sighed.

"Is that… really a bad thing?" The In-Training asked.

"No… I mean… it's not. He's unique, he's got great powers, and he's using them to try to help people," Andy said. "And that's good. Takuya, Koji, Koichi, and Dash are similar, they have great powers, and they're using it to help people. While I may not have great powers myself, I have you, just as Jazz has Lopmon, and we're trying to help people as well. But…"

"There's something else that's worrying you," Dorimon finished.

"It's not about the powers, or the forms," Andy sighed. "It's about how this will affect Danny in the future. For now, he seems fine. He's still new to being half ghost. To him, it's just the same as having some kind of super power, like Superman, or Spiderman. That's all well and good, but what will happen when things start to become too much? Ghosts will keep attacking, eventually Danny will have more trouble balancing out his regular life and his ghost hero life. And that's not all… it's possible that with his body being half ghost, he might start to exhibit strange behavior, things that none of us really know much about, nor would we be able to explain if it's normal or not."

Andy sat up from his bed. "I've seen stories about how that could happen. When a kid who was born half fairy, but was raised with humans. The kid kept exhibiting weird behavior, it scared the other humans because it wasn't… human behavior. It got to the point that they started treating the kid like an unknown animal. The kid became scared and violent towards the humans who raised him because they were treating him like he was dangerous. And for all we know, Danny's ghostly behavior _could_ become dangerous to humans. Spectra feasted on misery emotions, who's to say Danny may not one day start eating emotions as well? Or something else? It's all… speculation, but it's impossible to say whether or not it may happen one day."

Dorimon frowned. "We can't assume that though. Those are just stories. This is real-life. And besides, wouldn't the same be said for Takuya and his friends, not to mention Dash?"

"I'm not as unsure about Takuya and the others, because Takuya had his Spirits for four years now. He also knew a lot about Digimon, travelled in their world for a while, even saved it. He knows how his biology works, and he's not always half Digimon, he just triggers the Spirit to transform him when he needs it, same goes for the others who inherited the Legendary Warriors. With Danny, he can't just turn off his ghost side and be pure human again, even in his human form, he still has his ghost side there. He can still turn invisible or intangible as a human," Andy explained. "While it's true there could still be something unexpected that could happen with the Legendary Warriors, they at least do have the option to turn off their Digimon side. And even then… at least I trust Digimon more than I trust ghosts. Ghosts have been used as scary stories for a long time for a reason."

Dorimon nodded, taking in that explanation. "Okay. I think I understand why you are so worried for Danny now."

"Yeah… let's just hope most of my fears become unfound though," Andy sighed.

* * *

**Titanic X: ****ZAFT:** That _was_ epic, wasn't it? :3

**Unknown user****: DarkFoxKit: **We already did. Now _posting_ them takes weekly. XP

**ZAFT:** Just for the weekly updates. They come every Monday, sometimes on a Tuesday if we forget to update on Mondays, but the schedule is pretty consistent.

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Well, Andy had a more elaborate scheme in mind since he needed to ensure nobody remembered the incident, lest they have a panic attack.

**ZAFT:** This chapter will reveal what it is, but you will like it just as much as this one, I'm sure. :)


	24. Who Let the Dogs Out!

**DarkFoxKit:** It's another hot, hot day where I am. How's it looking for you, ZAFT?

**ZAFT:** Muggy and hot, but not too bad. :P

**Andy:** Uuugh, I hate hot days.

**Takuya:** I don't see what the problem is. I think it's refreshing.

**Andy:** Says the pyro maniac.

**ZAFT:** No arguing you two. I don't want to experience a fire fight between you two. ^^'

**Andy:** Did you mean that literally? Because I'm not half ghost, so I don't have a fire c-

**DarkFoxKit: **Upupup! No spoilers, Andy! You're not supposed to know about that either.

**ZAFT:** I meant figuratively… ^^'

**Takuya:** Well choose your words a little more carefully, because that was a nice hot pun.

**Andy: **No it wasn't, and you just said that for the sake of saying a fire pun!

**ZAFT:** Should we get to the chapter before these two burn the A/Ns? ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** Yes, let's. I'm going to go get a fire extinguisher just to be safe though.

* * *

**Chapter 24: Who Let the Dogs Out?**

Gargomon found himself bowing to a very angry goat-like Digimon with bat-like wings.

"Tell me, Gargomon, what good are you if you couldn't even hunt down Cherubimon while he was trapped in his weaker, Rookie form?" The goat-like Digimon growled.

"I apologize, Mephistomon, but Cherubimon had escaped into a school while the sun was rising. I couldn't go in there without being exposed," Gargomon quickly apologized.

Mephistomon raised a hand in anger and smacked Gargomon across the face, sending the Champion-level Digimon to the ground. "SILENCE!"

Gargomon whimpered as he tried not to move around too much.

"Cherubimon is a menace to all, as you know! If he is allowed to roam free, then everything and everyone will be corrupted just like before!" Mephistomon snapped.

"I-I understand, Mephistomon, but we weren't allowed to be seen by humans, it would cause a mass wide panic!" Gargomon quickly said.

"That will not matter if Cherubimon manages to get his hands on the Legendary Warriors! He could corrupt their power to his side and then _no one_ would be safe!" Mephistomon countered.

"B-but what can I do? I can't move around much in the city of humans like this!" Gargomon explained.

Mephistomon growled before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Yes, you are right. It is important that humans have as little exposure to Digimon as possible. It would be dangerous if our existence is discovered. You may don on a human disguise while you look for Cherubimon. But if you fail again, I _will_ degenerate you, and send you back to the Crater."

Gargomon shivered with fear at those words, and bowed his head. "I promise I won't fail you this time, Mephistomon." _But how will I disguise myself as a human?_

"See to it that you don't," Mephistomon hissed, before there was a little chime that wrung throughout the room. "My partner is calling me. Get out, and get back to Amity Park."

Fractal data formed around Mephistomon before it got much, much smaller, smaller than Gargomon even, before the data dispersed, revealing Tsukaimon.

"I won't tolerate failure again," Tsukiamon warned before he flew away, leaving the now very worried gun rabbit alone.

Gargomon looked down, unsure of what to actually do, or where to begin his search.

* * *

_At Casper High_

Danny found himself running away from a very angry jock, who got a D on his spelling test. It wasn't Dash, surprisingly enough, but it was Calvin.

"I'm gonna take this D I got on our spelling test out on your hide, Fenton #1!" Calvin yelled as he ran after Danny.

"Why does every jock who fails decides to come after me!? Do I have some kind of neon sign on my back that only jocks can see whenever they get angry!?" Danny groaned as he kept running.

Calvin just let out an angry shout as he continued to chase Danny.

Danny turned around a corner, darting past Andy and Takuya who were coming from another class. The two of them blinked in surprise when they saw a white and blue blur running past them, and not that far behind was Calvin, who was roaring louder than any Digimon they've ever heard.

Andy and Takuya looked at each other, their eyes wide, before they started running after Calvin and Danny to try to stop the inevitable beat up Calvin was sure to do as soon as he caught Danny.

However, as Danny was running, he missed the 'wet floor' sign he was passing by, and he was coming up to a small group of popular kids. Paulina was drinking hot chocolate she got from the school cafeteria, standing beside Kwan. Valerie approached them with a proud smile on her face, wearing a new purple blouse.

"Hey Valerie. Like, I so like that top you're wearing," Paulina complimented before sipping up her hot chocolate.

"Isn't it sweet? $579 dollars and worth every one of my dad's pennies." Valerie replied with pride.

Just then, Danny turned the corner, and saw he was about to run into them. He quickly tried to stop, but the floor was wet, freshly mopped by the janitor earlier, and thus, Danny was unable to stop right away as his feet slid across the floor until he all but crashed into Paulina, who let out a yelp as she accidentally let go of the cup she was holding. The cup's lid came loose before it splattered all over Valerie's face and blouse.

Valerie gave a shout of anger before she looked at Kwan with anger in her eyes. "Please hurt him, Popular Boy, for me!"

"Hey, it was just an accident." Kwan said, but then when Valerie pulled his shirt so she could glare into his eyes, he relented. "Alright, alright!"

Kwan looked over at Danny, slightly apologetic, but knowing he had to do this, Danny quickly began running back the way he came while Kwan called out. "FENTON NUMBER ONE!"

Danny now found himself sandwiched between Kwan and Calvin.

Calvin was about to pounce Danny as Danny stopped, knowing he had nowhere to go. He could use his ghost powers, but he was too close to both jocks, they were certain to see something if he tried to escape with his ghost powers now.

Suddenly a purple and white ball was thrown at Calvin's head. Though Calvin couldn't see it, something purple and furry covered up his face, making Calvin panic and squeal like a girl.

"AHHH! SOMETHING'S ON MY FACE! GET IT OFF BEFORE IT LAYS EGGS IN MY LUNGS!" Calvin screamed and jumped around.

As Calvin ran around, a leg stuck out from the next hallway over and Calvin wound up tripping to the ground, the furry ball rolling off of the jock's face and away from the now dizzy Calvin.

Kwan was staring in shock at the fallen Calvin, which distracted him enough for Danny to see Andy down the hallway, waving his arms, gesturing for him to follow him.

Danny took the chance and ran down towards Andy's location. The furry ball rolled along beside him, making Danny wonder if that was Dorimon. When Danny got close to Andy, Andy kept gesturing for him to follow. Danny followed Andy, with the furry ball bouncing after them, outside of the school. Both brothers, and the ball, headed towards the back of the school.

"Okay, we should be safe here until the heat dies down a little," Andy concluded. "Good work, Dorimon~"

The furry ball popped out a face, ears, and legs, giving a proud smile. "That was fun, let's do it again some time!"

Danny looked at Dorimon. "Um… Okay? Did you throw Dorimon onto Calvin's face, bro?"

"Yeah, I had a clear aim since he was just running straight towards you," Andy answered. "And Dorimon had some… face sticking experience before."

Danny blinked. "Do I _want_ to know about that?"

"... No," Andy shortly answered.

"Heh… let's just say it was how I showed affection before I could talk," Dorimon blushed.

Then suddenly, a blue mist came out of Danny's mouth, and Dorimon turned his head, glaring at something. Andy was quickly on alert, knowing these signs meant a ghost was nearby.

Looking around, Danny was ready to turn into his ghost form when he looked down and saw what looked like a little puppy, except _this_ puppy was glowing green with red irises. Its tail looked wispy, and its tongue was purple instead of pink or red.

Danny, Andy, and Dorimon blinked at the strange little puppy ghost. Andy noticed that the ghost pup had a collar around its neck, a black spiked collar, and a metallic tag with what appeared to be a neon blue capitalized letter 'A', there appeared to be electrons around the 'A'. Andy squinted his eyes, he felt like he saw that kind of 'A' somewhere before.

Danny smiled and reached down, picking up the puppy ghost. "It's like Calvin, but with better breath." He smiled as the puppy licked his face happily.

"Hold on, two things, one, did you just call Calvin a dog? And two, why the heck did you pick it up?" Andy deadpanned.

"Well, Calvin charged at me like a pitbull for one, and two, this ghost is harmless." Danny said in a reassuring tone to Andy.

"Really… to me it sounded like Calvin was trying to imitate the T-Rex from the movie. And it's a ghost, Danny, they're never harmless!" Andy hissed as Danny put the puppy down.

Dorimon was looking at the ghost pup himself, feeling on edge.

"This is something I can handle easily, bro." Danny said confidently as the puppy ghost started to glow, before growing to a giant size, and Danny then realized what he had just said. "Or… maybe not…"

"I hate my life," Andy groaned.

* * *

Takuya hoped that the brothers managed to get away. He was to step in and try to redirect Calvin and Kwan after Andy and Dorimon managed to get Danny out of the building.

"Where is Fenton?" Kwan asked.

Calvin was rubbing his face. "And what hit me!? Whoever did that is going to pay!"

Takuya looked at the two jocks. "I have no idea where Danny went, and as to what hit you Calvin, I have _no_ idea." _Oh, I know alright. It's just I'm not saying what it was. It was funny too~_

"You're useless, Kanbara!" Calvin snapped before shoving Takuya aside to storm off.

Kwan sighed in relief at not having to beat Danny up over a girl's clothes.

Takuya looked on as Calvin stormed off before glancing at Kwan. "You seem relieved, Kwan."

"No, I just didn't feel like chasing after Fenton," Kwan quickly covered. "Don't mention it!"

Kwan then walked away, trying to retain his tough guy act.

"What was all that about?" Takuya heard Koji asking from nearby.

Takuya looked back at the Warrior of Light and sighed. "_Someone_ wanted to beat up my cousin Danny because of a bad grade, then someone else wanted Kwan, who just walked off, to beat up Danny for another reason, but I don't know what that reason is."

"Does your cousin always get targeted by bullies?" Koji asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Pretty much." Takuya admitted.

"Why? Did he do something to get on their bad side?" Koji asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Takuya sighed. "Andy just told me that he and Danny are the lowest when it comes to the 'popularity scale' of the school, so the jocks tend to go after them."

Koji rolled his eyes. "Seriously? That's the reason? And the school staff is allowing this?"

"They… more or less, turn a blind eye to it," Takuya sheepishly replied.

Koji frowned at hearing that. "Why is that?"

"Something to do with the popular kids and funding." Takuya replied as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not really sure how it works, but that's the reasoning Mr. Lancer told us before."

"That's stupid," Koji said. "School is supposed to be a place for kids to learn, not be harassed on a daily basis just because their parents aren't funding the school. Someone really needs to do something about this."

"Believe me, I would have tried, but here, we are just students, kids who don't know much of anything and our words go unheeded." Takuya admitted. "I don't like it anymore than you do, but we just have to find a way to deal with it for now."

"Yeah, well, there's always petitions, I guess… not that those ever go anywhere," Koji grumbled. "Shouldn't you go check your cousins?"

Takuya gave a thoughtful nod. "Yeah, I'd better before something else happens. Knowing them, trouble always seems to find them."

Takuya hurried off to find his cousins. Koji, however, began to walk down the hall, before he spotted another fellow student, who was also Takuya's cousin. Jasmine Fenton, if Koji remembered right.

Though it wasn't Jasmine herself who caught Koji's attention, but rather the 'stuffed animal' she had in her backpack. He could see the ears poking out.

_Hold on… Why would Jasmine have a stuffed animal with her?_ Koji wondered, deciding to follow her and see what was up.

School was already over for the day, so most of the students were heading home. Jazz often stayed in school longer for extracurricular activities. However, Jazz wasn't going to any clubs at the moment, she was going into an empty classroom.

Surprised at this, Koji went towards the empty classroom, opening the door slightly. His eyes widened when he saw Jazz taking her 'stuffed animal' out of her backpack, and gave it some kind of granola bar.

Koji watched as the 'toy' took the food and began to nibble on the granola bar. _Wait… Is that a Digimon?!_ The thought was not impossible, but as far as Koji knew, there was only one Digimon partner here and that was Andy's. _Since when did _Jazz_ here get a Digimon partner?_

"Once we get home, I can get you some better food," Jazz said to the Digimon.

"Thanks. This will hold me over until then," The Digimon answered back.

Though the voice was different, it sounded familiar to Koji.

_Where have I heard that voice before?_ Koji wondered with a slight frown on his face. _I know it sounds familiar, but why?_

* * *

Valerie liked to think she wasn't super spoiled like Paulina. She wasn't going to deny that she was pretty spoiled. Her dad was a high up employee for Axion Labs, the owner seemed to favor him as their security system operator. Because of this, he got paid quite handsomely. While Valerie didn't always go showing off her father's wealth in school, there were times she wanted to pick something nice up for herself, like the blouse she saw at the mall the other day, and was hoping to get a little bit higher in the popular rank with it. Paulina looked like she liked it, and Valerie was excited.

That was, until that Fenton kid came and ruined it for her. Valerie sighed, she knew she was a bit harsh on Fenton, he is, after all, Andy's brother, and while Andy was the one who spent time to talk to her, she knew Danny can be as nice as Andy was, even if he was a little shy with talking to someone like her. But in a bout of anger, Valerie just couldn't resist sending Kwan after him for ruining the expensive blouse she _just _bought, and was about to climb higher in the popular ranks.

_I'm sure Fenton will be fine, he's used to this, right?_ Valerie thought to herself, trying to ease her guilt a little as she was sitting on her chair, not able to focus on her homework.

"Valerie," Damon, Valerie's dad, spoke up. "Hey, sweetheart, had a rough day at school? I see you got a nasty stain on that new blouse you bought yesterday."

Valerie sighed. "Don't remind me…"

"Hey, why don't you come with me to tour the lab? I'm about to show off my hard work to the boss." Damon said with a smile. "It might cheer you up."

Valerie looked back at her homework, seeing how she really couldn't muster up the motivation or concentration to deal with it right now. "Yeah, I guess having some time away from school and homework would be good for me."

Damon smiled. "Great, get ready to go, we leave in a few minutes." He turned to leave, but not before he gave Valerie a warm smile. "I just want my baby girl to be happy again, not this sad mess you are now. If my boss is impressed with the new security system I came up with, I might be able to get you something to replace that blouse of yours."

"Thanks, Dad, you're the best." Valerie smiled.

So now, Valerie found herself walking down a very impressive hallway in the Axion Labs. Damon's boss was walking beside him while Damon went on, telling his boss what he came up with for their newest security system for Axion Labs. Valerie couldn't help but feel a little out of place when she looked at the two, tall, buff, uniform wearing guards behind her.

But Valerie was relieved, from the sound of it, Damon's boss was impressed.

"Well done, Damon, you can feel free to bill me the remainder of your fee," The boss said.

Valerie smiled._ Which means, I can replace this blouse. The day started out rocky, but now I can find something better than this blouse!_

Unfortunately for Valerie, things were about to get worse for her, much worse.

* * *

_Outside the Axion Labs_

"For a big dog, this thing is hard to hit!" Andy groaned.

Andy was currently riding on Dorugamon's back, since they had to chase a flying enemy across the skies. He didn't want to remain grounded or behind, and he didn't want to burden Danny by carrying him, so riding on Dorugamon was the best option to keep up with Danny and the big ghost dog.

"You're telling me!" Dorugamon grumbled. "I'm the one who has to shoot at it, aside from your brother of course." Sure enough, three of his Cannonball attacks had either missed, or had gone through the ghost dog when it went intangible.

"I really need to get a longer range weapon better than this tiny wrist gun." Andy frowned.

The wrist gun wasn't all that useful since it could only fire a weak, small beam of ecto energy, it wasn't very long range either. Andy's only other weapons were ecto grenades, that would very easily miss in a chase like this one, and the Fenton Rod, which was a combat melee weapon. Andy also couldn't add in codes to Dorugamon's Cannonballs while he was riding on him in the air.

"Maybe we could try cutting off the ghost dog." Dorugamon suggested. "Besides long range attacks lacking, we are still faster than the ghost dog, so we could try and herd it towards your brother so he can blast it."

"Yeah, let's try that," Andy agreed before he raised up his voice to call over to Danny. "DANNY!"

Danny blinked, stopping his ghost rays when he heard Andy calling to him. Danny flew closer to Dorugamon. "Yeah!?"

_We really need a better way to communicate when we're flying._ Andy thoughtfully decided. "Dorugamon and I will try to fly on ahead to cut off the ghost dog's route, we'll see if we can herd it back towards you!"

Danny blinked before nodding. "That sounds like a good idea! Let's try it!"

"Let's go, Dorugamon!" Andy shouted.

"On it!" Dorugamon began to fly ahead, almost making a whistling sound, but not quite.

The ghost dog kept running through the air, seeming to be heading somewhere. Dorugamon flew faster over the dog's head. Andy noticed a large, high tech looking building not that far in the distance._ Is the dog heading there?_

When Dorugamon was now ahead of the ghost dog, he flew down to try to stop the ghost dog head on. The ghost dog slammed into a tackle, Dorugamon holding it back. Danny flew in close, ready to use the Fenton Thermos to catch the dog in, however, the ghost dog suddenly turned intangible and flew right through Dorugamon and Andy, both of them were shivering from the sudden intangible ghost passing through them.

"Okay… _That_ is disturbing!" Dorugamon exclaimed once the feeling had passed.

"Ugh! I can't believe I didn't take something as obvious as intangibility into account!" Andy groaned, facepalming himself.

"I forgot about it too, you know!" Dorugamon deadpanned.

"Nevermind that! The dog is getting away!" Danny called out, flying past them.

Dorugamon quickly flew after Danny.

But they were getting too close to the Axion Labs. "Wait! Stop!" Andy called out.

Dorugamon landed, and Danny stopped as well, floating down towards them. "What's wrong?"

Andy frowned when he saw the ghost dog had phased itself into the Axion Labs. "Dorugamon and I can't go in there. Too much security and strong walls. And it's also dangerous, there's a lot of high tech experiments going on in there."

Danny frowned upon hearing that. "Yeah, that _is_ a problem…"

"You're not thinking about going in there alone, are you?" Andy asked in concern.

"I have to, bro, that dog is in there and it could be causing all sorts of chaos, and might even put people's lives in danger," Danny pointed out.

"You could put yourself at danger if you go in there," Andy argued.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm also the only one who can, bro." Danny pointed out. "Besides, of the two of us, I have the best chance of getting at that ghost dog right now."

Andy frowned. "But-"

"I'll be back soon, okay? You and Dorugamon just wait out here in case the dog comes back out," Danny stated before he turned intangible and flew through the walls, going into the Axion Labs before Andy could argue.

"... That heroic idiot…" Andy frowned.

"He has a point though." Dorugamon said. "I hate to admit it, but Danny _is_ the only one who can chase down that ghost dog. I'm a giant fox-like dragon. I would probably set off that security. Danny, as a half-ghost, won't."

Andy sighed, rubbing his head a little, feeling a little dizzy all of a sudden. Dorugamon noticed Andy wobbling a little.

"Andy? Are you okay?" Dorugamon asked in concern.

Andy suddenly saw an image of someone wearing a red suit, and a mask covering their face, they were riding on a metallic hoverboard, and were shooting some kind of gun at Danny and the ghost dog.

Andy shook his head for a moment, the images disappearing. "Y-yeah… I'm okay."_ What was that?_

"Are you sure? You looked dizzy for a moment." Dorugamon said as he looked at Andy's face, concern showing in his yellow eyes.

"Yeah… I guess I'm just not used to high speed flying chases yet," Andy answered, trying to assure his partner.

Dorugamon frowned, but he didn't press the issue. "Okay…"

* * *

Danny liked animals, he also liked Digimon, at least the ones that didn't attack him or his family. He even wanted a puppy at one point. But now, Danny hated this dog. It kept loudly shouting random words, like, "Toy!" "Where is my toy!" "I want to play!" "Give me my toy back!" "Fetch toy!"

Danny managed to find the ghost dog as it was sniffing around the lab. "Hey, you're not supposed to be in here, boy!"

The ghost dog gave a snarl to Danny. "TOY!" To others, it might have sounded like a bark, but to Danny, he heard words instead.

Not that hearing words made much of a difference, Danny couldn't understand what this ghost dog was trying to do. The ghost dog then tackled Danny, which caused Danny to fall towards a closed door. Danny activated his intangibility before falling through the steel door, before his intangibility dropped and he hit the ground instead. Danny was surprised to see people, and they were looking down at him in surprise and confusion. Two buff looking uniformed guards, a middle aged man who looked half bald, wearing glasses, and a fancy suit, a dark skinned younger looking man wearing a normal suit, and a familiar teenage girl with a stained blouse were staring at him.

It was the girl who spoke up. "What are you!?"

Before Danny could answer, the ghost dog stepped up, before shaking its head and sending ecto-goop everywhere, even on the assembled humans.

Trying to lighten things up a little, Danny stood up and answered Valerie's question. "I'll tell you what I'm not; coated in dog saliva."

This made Valerie scream out in anger.

_Okay, maybe not the best time for jokes…_ Danny realized.

The ghost dog lunged at the two teenagers, forcing Danny to shove Valerie aside before chasing after the dog himself. "No...bad dog! Get back here!"

"Toy must be close! Must keep looking!" The ghost dog shouted as it turned intangible, heading straight for another sealed door.

Seeing this, Danny turned intangible himself, before both ghosts phased through the door. The dog just came into the room, and was already wrecking havoc. The dog was pouncing on the people's chair, pushing them out of it, grabbing onto a skeleton model that was hanging on some lockers, pulling it and causing the lockers to fall over, which in turn, caused a domino effect and slammed into other things, which slammed into another thing. Thankfully, the people were fast enough to get away before being crushed.

Danny jumped onto the ghost dog's neck, clinging to the collar it wore. But the attempt to slow it down did nothing to stop the dog's rampage.

"Slow down! You're causing a lot of trouble!" Danny shouted, trying to get the ghost dog to stop.

"Fetch! Must fetch!" The ghost dog shouted.

"Fetch what?! Fetch what?!" Danny demanded. "Slow down!"

"Halt! HALT!" Danny heard someone shouting, not that he could turn to see who was yelling at them to 'halt'.

_Trust me, I wish I could halt!_ Danny groaned.

Then red lasers were being fired at them, though whoever was aiming was doing a lousy job at hitting them, and instead was hitting the pillars, causing the top observant floor to fall down. Then there was a loud alarm as some kind of black and red disco ball came down from the ceiling, and it began firing red lasers everywhere. The other people in the lab quickly scrambled to get under something for protection. However, since these were just lasers, and not ecto lasers, all the ghost dog and Danny had to do was go intangible and they were perfectly fine.

A net launcher came down from the ceiling and fired off a net to catch the two, but because both Danny and the ghost dog were intangible, they just went right through the net instead of getting caught. Danny hoped that the people would be alright as the dog ran through another wall.

* * *

Takuya ran to the outside of Casper High, looking for Danny and Andy, but he didn't see any sign of the twins. _Huh… I swear Andy and Danny were supposed to be here._

Takuya then stepped on something gooey. He frowned before lifting up his shoe, seeing green glowing ectoplasm on his shoe, and on the ground.

_What the…? Was there a ghost here?_ Takuya wondered, seeing the green ectoplasm. _That would explain where the ectoplasm came from… as well as where Andy and Danny possibly went!_ His eyes widened at that last thought.

Takuya was about to run off to try to find where his cousins were, but he ran into someone.

"Oof! Ouch… jeez, Takuya, you didn't have to run into me…"

Takuya recognized that voice, it was Dash. Dash was rubbing his chest, which was what Takuya had bumped into.

"Sorry, Dash…" Takuya apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't see you there."

"You okay? You look worried about something. Though I heard what you did to Calvin earlier, that was pretty funny," Dash chuckled.

"Yeah, it was." Takuya agreed before he sighed. "I was about to go find my cousins. I think they went off to fight a ghost."

Dash frowned. "Another ghost? These things just pop up everywhere. Well… I think I might be able to help you find them. I've been working on a few tricks with my Digimon form."

"Really? What kind of tricks?" Takuya asked, curious now and wondering how it could help find Andy and Danny.

"Let's… go somewhere private first," Dash said quietly.

Takuya realized what Dash meant and nodded. "Sure. Just lead the way."

Dash led Takuya somewhere to central park, a place filled with nature. With so few people around, it made it easy for Dash and Takuya to find a place to hide. "Now… watch this."

Dash held up his D-Tector as the dark tan colored form of his second Spirit emerged on the screen and a ball of Fractal code appeared around his left hand. Dash then swiped the coding over his D-Tector and called out the phrase he could come to know by heart. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ The fractal code surrounded Dash as he cried out, the energy of the evolution making him do so. His skin became bark-like, and he fell onto his hands and knees, his feet becoming more like the hind legs of an animal while his arms and hands became like the front legs of one. A tail grew from his spine as leaves sprouted from his back, and a large flower appeared around his neck. His head became like a large iguana's almost, and his tail sprouted large thorn-like needles from it. He landed, crying out his name._"Petaldramon!"_

"Wow, nice, you managed to Spirit Evolve into your beast form," Takuya chuckled.

"Not what I wanted to show you," Petaldramon rolled his eyes. "Now stay quiet for a moment, I need to concentrate."

Takuya did so, wondering what Petaldramon was up to.

Petaldramon stood on his hind legs, and dug his two tails into the earth. He closed his eyes as the breeze blew through the leaves on his neck. To Takuya, Petaldramon almost resembled a tree with the way he was standing there so still.

After about a minute, Petaldramon opened his eyes. "I see them, or at least Andy and Dorugamon. They're on a hill, near the Axion Labs' building."

Takuya blinked. "Okay, I'm impressed! How did you do that?"

"I am the Warrior of Wood, which is another way of saying I'm the Warrior of Nature. I realize I can talk to plant-life, like trees, flowers, bushes, even the grass. I can connect with the nature around me. We don't talk in the normal sense like you and I do, but I can hear their voices and thoughts, and they let me see what they see. That was how I found Andy and Dorugamon. Danny is likely inside a building somewhere, where I can't see him," Petaldramon explained.

Takuya blinked before he grinned. "That's amazing!" Then he frowned. "But why are Andy and Dorugamon outside this Axion Labs place? Maybe I should evolve and head down there."

"Then you better make it fast, I feel something is coming out of the Axion Labs, and it isn't human, whatever it is," Petaldramon narrowed his eyes.

Takuya nodded. "Okay." Takuya then invoked the power of his Beast Spirit. The red outline of his second Spirit roared and appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as he invoked a ball of fractal coding on his left hand. Takuya swiped the D-Tector over the coding and called out the phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ He felt the primal power of his Beast Spirit flowing into him as his clothes ripped away and his body became surrounded by the coding. Takuya cried out as the power flooded into his body. His body grew in strength and power as well as size, with red, yellow, black, and white armor forming on his body. A tail extended out from the base of his spine as two large orange wings appeared on his body. His head became like a dragon's almost, but not exactly, and the top of his head was white. His eyes turned sky blue, but had a feral edge to them as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"BurningGreymon!"_

Now evolved, BurningGreymon flared his orange wings and took flight, hoping to find Andy before things got out of hand.

"You want me to come with you or would you prefer to handle this yourself?" Petaldramon asked.

Looking down, BurningGreymon had to consider for a moment. Finally, he sighed. "If you think you can stay out of sight, back-up would be useful."

"Of course," Petaldramon chuckled before he surrounded himself with fractal code. _"Slide evolution! Arbormon!"_

"I'm much less noticeable like this, and I can even ride you," Arbormon stated.

BurningGreymon chuckled. "Yes, yes you can." He held out a hand and helped Arbormon onto his back, making sure the Warrior of Wood was seated between his wings. "Now let's go. Andy may need our help."

* * *

Jazz was walking towards the exit of the school, when Mikey, a school nerd, suddenly called out to her.

"Jazz? Where are you going? You haven't attended the math club at all this week," Mikey said.

"Oh, sorry, Mikey, I may have to start cutting some of my extracurricular activities," Jazz apologized.

"Why?" Mikey asked with a frown. "You're not one to normally do that."

"I know… and I'm sorry. But… things have started becoming busier for me. College is only one and a half years away, and it's starting to get a little overwhelming with all the extracurricular activities I've been doing. And with all this… weird stuff going on lately, my parents want me to be better prepared for it. You know how it is, right?" Jazz said.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Mikey admitted. "I know you have said you want to get into the best colleges possible, so that can be tough."

Jazz nodded. "Yeah. I'm confident enough that I have more than enough for what I need to get into the best colleges though, but I still need to prepare for my future. Thanks for all those great times I had in the math club, you really know your numbers, Mikey."

Mikey smiled. "I wish you luck then, Jazz. I hope your future plans work out."

Jazz gave a wave to Mikey before she walked out of the school.

"You know… while one's future is important, it shouldn't be the only thing you think about," Lopmon spoke up as Jazz walked away from school. "Because the best thing you can do is enjoy the present time you have now, because once it passes, that's it, you never get it back again."

Jazz looked at her partner Digimon. "That is true. That's another part of why I decided to drop out of some of the clubs I am in. I figured that if I am to be helping my brothers with these ghosts and Digimon, I need to be free to do so."

"I'm very glad to hear that." Lopmon smiled before frowning. "Hmm… seems you're not walking home alone…"

Jazz looked back, not seeing anyone at first. "I don't see anyone."

"But I can sense someone following you." Lopmon said, looking in a direction away from Jazz.

Jazz glanced in that direction, only to stop walking when she saw a shadow of a person that was out of sight. "Oh…"

Jazz turned towards the shadow. "Whoever you are, come on out! You shouldn't be stalking after a girl, you know, it's creepy."

From behind a building came a male student who wore a bandanna that was dark blue with black stripes on it, almost like claw marks, a dark blue jacket with a white T-shirt underneath it, dark grey pants and blue and white sneakers on. He had long black hair tied back at the nape of his neck, and he had blue eyes as well. "How was I supposed to know what I was doing was stalking?"

"I know that you came from Japan, but you really should look up on what 'stalking' means, because you following me in the shadows is pretty much what it is," Jazz pointed out. "Why were you following me anyways?"

The boy froze, unsure of what to say to that. His face showed a nervous expression, which told Jazz many things, some of which she assumed were not good.

Finally, the boy turned his head. "I don't have to answer to you."

"I have the right to know since you were the one who was stalking me," Jazz pointed out.

In the boy's mind, he was trying to come up with a convincing lie. _Crap… What can I tell her that won't sound outlandish or creepy?_

After a moment of hesitation, Lopmon came out of Jazz's backpack. "It's… okay, Jazz. I don't think this boy meant any harm."

Jazz looked down at Lopmon. "Are you sure?"

"I've met with this boy before," Lopmon answered.

Koji looked at Lopmon, surprised that the Digimon was so willing to talk in front of him, and even admitted to knowing him.

"You… have?" Jazz asked, remembering what Lopmon had told her about the Legendary Warriors having human identities. _Is it possible this boy is one of these Legendary Warrior Spirit holders?_

Lopmon looked at Koji and sighed. "I apologize. If you were concerned for this girl, then just know you don't have to be. I am her partner, thus it is my duty to keep her safe."

Koji frowned. _I only followed to find out who this Digimon was, but if he is her partner, I guess it's okay._ "Feh… whatever."

"Don't try to act all tough and cool," Jazz spoke up. "You were really curious about Lopmon, weren't you?"

Koji froze. _Crap…_ "... So what if I was? It's not a crime to be curious."

"Perhaps not. But now_ I'm_ curious," Jazz stated, picking up Lopmon. "As to how you knew Lopmon and what Digimon were."

Koji literally looked a bit panicked now. His mind raced as he tried to come up with a cover. Then, one idea hit him. It was a bit crazy, but it was possible it could work. Koji regained his composure after a couple of deep breaths. He then looked up at Jazz. "I was once called to the Digital World, but only remained for a short time before being sent back. I 'wasn't compatible', or so I was told, whatever that means." _I hope she buys that lie._

Lopmon raised an eyebrow, it was obvious the little Rookie knew Koji enough to know he was lying, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Oh, I see…" Jazz commented, remembering that Lopmon did tell her how Ophanimon did call in a lot of humans before sending them back home since they weren't chosen to wield a Spirit of a Legendary Warrior.

"That is how I know of Digimon." Koji continued. "Although I thought it was all a dream at first. But apparently, it was not."

"Well… I guess that makes sense, but next time, don't try to sneakily follow someone like that, they'll think you're stalking them," Jazz lightly teased.

"I won't." Koji promised. "I found out what I needed to know anyway." With that, Koji turned and left around the corner and out of sight. Once out of sight though, Koji pulled out his black and blue D-Tector, gripping it tightly. _That was too close..._

However, with Jazz and Lopmon, Lopmon was frowning to himself. _That was definitely the Warrior of Light. And I can understand why he lied, but still..._

Jazz turned around and began heading back home, unaware of Lopmon's thoughts.

* * *

Dorugamon sensed something else nearby shortly after Danny went into the Axion Labs, and he began growling in a direction.

"What's wrong, Dorugamon?" Andy asked in concern. "Another ghost?"

"Not a ghost… it's a Digimon," Dorugamon informed.

Sure enough, there was a shadow hiding nearby, right where Dorugamon was looking.

Dorugamon narrowed his yellow eyes as he peered at the form in the shadows. It was a Digimon that was a yellowish-orange color, with a small white 'D' on its chest, sharp fangs, dark blue ears and tail, and it stood on two legs while it had three 'fingers' per paw, with white claws on each paw and on each of its feet. This Digimon also had a black nose and looked like a dog in appearance.

Andy blinked at this strange looking Digimon before Dorugamon's eyes flashed. A hologram of the Digimon appeared on his D-Arc's screen.

"Doggymon is a Puppet Digimon. It was produced from an American cartoon TV database. Because its body is very soft and strong, and can expand and contract like rubber, it completely absorbs every attack. It's Data type, and Champion level," Andy read.

Dorugamon narrowed his eyes some more. "What's a Doggymon doing here?"

Doggymon was snickering about something.

"Are you here to cause trouble?" Andy asked the Doggymon. "Or are you lost?"

Andy didn't like how the Doggymon was snickering, it looked anything but lost.

"I don't think this Doggymon is here because it wants help." Dorugamon frowned.

"You know that big green ghost dog that's wrecking havoc in that lab right now?" Doggymon asked, his grin getting wider. "I set that dog loose. So if you ever wanted to know who let the dog out, it was Doggymon!"

Andy glared. "_You_ let that ghost dog loose!? Why?"

"I thought it would be fun." Doggymon snickered.

Dorugamon felt his fur bristling at that revelation. "You're not funny, you know that?"

"Then you just don't have a sense of humor, fox boy!" Doggymon laughed.

Dorugamon growled in annoyance.

"Easy, Dorugamon, he's likely trying to rile us up," Andy quickly stepped in.

Dorugamon stopped growling, but he didn't take his glare off Doggymon.

"You've had your fun, you should take that ghost dog back to the Ghost Zone, and head for the tunnels so I can call for a Trailmon to take you back to the Digital World," Andy stated.

"Hmmm… no~" Doggymon smirked. "I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get to this world, and bringing that toy obsessed dog with me. I'm not going back now just because you told me to."

Andy glared. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, and I prefer the easy way. Digimon aren't allowed to cause trouble here."

"Oh? I don't see anyone stopping me~" Doggymon snickered.

Dorugamon charged at Doggymon, and Doggymon flipped into the air with his rubbery body, dodging Dorugamon's claws.

"Have to try better than that, fox boy!" Doggymon laughed.

Before Dorugamon could try launching himself at Doggymon again, a green blur came out of the Axion Labs' walls, and tackled Dorugamon down. Andy blinked, shocked at what just happened, before Doggymon suddenly landed behind him. Andy turned just in time for Doggymon to kick him in the shin, making Andy yelp and fall over.

Dorugamon was pinned by the ghost dog, giving a glare as he growled at the ghostly dog. "Let me go!"

The dog barked as Danny was clinging onto its collar.

"Come on, you stupid mutt!" Danny yelled, trying to pull the dog.

Andy grabbed his Fenton Rod and made to swing at Doggymon, who kept dodging Andy's attacks by stretching out his body and moving around so sporadically that Andy was having trouble trying to keep up with him. "Hold still, you stupid mutt!"

As Andy was struggling with Doggymon and Danny was having trouble with the ghost dog that was pinning down Dorugamon, two more forms were coming in towards them, and fast. The larger form of BurningGreymon came in for a landing, using the force of his wings flaring to get the attention of the two dog-like entities fighting Danny, Andy, and Dorugamon.

The big green dog growled hostility at BurningGreymon, though Doggymon quickly 'nope'd' out of there. Andy blinked, seeing how Doggymon quickly ran away. With the big ghost dog's attention on BurningGreymon, however, Danny quickly got out his Fenton Thermos and sucked the dog into it.

BurningGreymon looked down at Danny and Andy. "You didn't need my help after all, it seems."

Dorugamon grumbled as he stood up. "No, we were just dealing with a couple of annoyances, nothing too threatening…"

"Heh, well at least I know my talents are good for something when we need to track you guys down," Arbormon, who was on BurningGreymon's shoulder, noted.

"You tracked us?" Andy asked, surprised.

"He _is_ the Warrior of Wood." BurningGreymon chuckled. Then he remembered seeing the Digimon that fled. "By the way, who _was_ that Digimon that fled?" BurningGreymon knew that Digimon seemed familiar, but he wanted to be sure.

"That was Doggymon, a very annoying, rubbery, fast, mischievous Digimon who set that ghost dog loose," Andy grumbled, clearly annoyed that the Digimon got away.

"There's a Digimon called Doggymon? And that thing was the one who let Cujo loose?" Danny asked.

"Cujo?" Dorugamon questioned.

"That's the name I decided to give this ghost dog. There was a movie revolving around a ghost dog named Cujo, so I thought 'why not?' Makes it easier than referring to him as 'ghost dog,'" Danny shrugged.

BurningGreymon frowned a bit. "I remember encountering a Doggymon before. It may be the same one if the way he fled was any indication."

There was a sudden alarm going off at the lab that was near them.

"We should go before we get caught up in whatever happened in the Axion Labs," Andy quickly said.

Danny paled. "Cujo really made a mess of things…"

Andy quickly hurried onto Dorugamon's back as they heard sirens coming.

BurningGreymon took flight while Arbormon was still on his back. There was no way he was sticking around when police showed up!

Dorugamon also took flight, not wanting Andy to get caught up in this either. Danny quickly followed them into the sky, none of them wanting to get caught up in that mess.

* * *

Back at Fenton Works, Danny placed the thermos on the machine of the Ghost Portal, releasing Cujo back into the Ghost Zone. He was back in his human form, and Dorugamon was back to being Dorimon, lying comfortably on top of Andy's head. Takuya was standing beside them.

"So what exactly happened? When I came out, neither of you were there," Takuya asked.

Danny sighed. "A ghost dog happened. It made a mess of the Axion Labs building, and that's not counting a rogue Digimon called Doggymon appearing either."

Takuya blinked. "A ghost dog and a Digimon? Wow, you sound like you had your hands full."

"Well, like I said, they were more annoyances than actual threats," Dorimon spoke up. "Though I guess that ghost dog did make quite a bit of a mess at Axion Labs."

Andy frowned. "That's not good… it may not have been life threatening, but we didn't come out of this unscathed. Doggymon is still loose somewhere out there, and Valerie's dad works at the Axion Labs as the main security guy. The fact that his security system failed to stop a boy and his big dog really looks bad for the guy."

"Why? It's not his fault that a couple of ghosts came into the Axion Labs, I'm also pretty sure his contractor said nothing about making defenses against ghosts," Danny pointed out.

"That may be, but the boss doesn't know that you and Cujo were ghosts, and even if he did, people can be cruel. The security system failed, that's all the boss needed to see to count it as a failure," Andy remarked back.

Takuya frowned. "I don't like the implications for Valerie and her father if that is the case."

"We can only hope that the boss would be understanding and not fire Mr. Gray…" Andy sighed.

Takuya sighed and ran a hand through his hair. _I hope so too..._

"You know… if you want, I could…" Danny hesitated for a moment. "Um…"

Andy looked at Danny, before figuring out what he wanted to suggest. "Go ahead, but make sure you keep yourself safe, alright?"

Takuya looked at Andy. "What did Danny want to do?"

"Look out for a friend," Andy shrugged.

Takuya blinked, but he didn't press the issue. "Okay. I guess that makes sense."

Danny smiled. "Thanks."

"You sure it's safe?" Dorimon asked.

"It should be, but still, watch yourself, bro," Andy replied. "Takuya, Dorimon, and I won't be there to bail you out of trouble again if you get yourself caught."

Danny nodded. "I will, bro. Don't worry."

* * *

Valerie didn't like to think she was too materialistic like Spectra told her she was, she only bought things to spoil herself once in a while, like when she did well on a test, or she managed to climb higher on the social scale, she deserved it after all. However, it had hit Valerie hard when her dad was fired after the weird boy and his dog completely messed up the Axion Labs.

Now that Damon was fired, they had no more income. Not only that, but Damon had to pay for the damages the dog and his owner did out of his own pockets. So now, Damon and Valerie barely had any money left. They couldn't afford to pay for their house anymore. They had to move out to live in one of the cheap apartments. Valerie had to sell most of her stuff in a yard sale to pay for the moving truck, and food for later on. She was going to try to keep as much of her valuables as she could, but she knew she couldn't keep much.

Unbeknownst to Valerie, a form was watching her, albeit invisibly. Danny, in his ghost form, was worried about Valerie, hence why he was observing her right now. He felt bad about how Cujo had ruined her dad's job.

_Talk about rock bottom… I wish I could've stopped Cujo sooner. This shouldn't have happened… Andy's going to feel so bad for Valerie too…_ Danny frowned.

Danny didn't talk to Valerie that much, but he did find her to be the most down to earth of the popular girls, and he knew his brother was on good terms with her.

_Maybe if I had been faster, or more of a dog trainer, I could have done better…_ Danny thought sadly._ Or maybe if I had planned things out more… there wasn't much Andy and Dorugamon could've done, they don't have as much experience with dealing with ghosts. The intangibility makes it nearly impossible for them to be able to use their attacks or weapons properly. But I'm a ghost myself, I should've been able to catch that dog._

The ghost boy watched as Valerie had to help her father carry some of their essentials to the moving truck, like their mattress and clothes.

But then suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off. _Oh-no, no, no, no, not now!_

Looking around, Danny tried to find the ghost, but he wasn't seeing anything so far._ Where is it-_

Suddenly the ground began to shake. Valerie yelped as she lost her balance and dropped her box of clothes. Suddenly, the ground cracked, before a familiar large green dog came up from underground.

_Aw c'mon!_ Danny thought in exasperation. _This dog again?!_

Valerie quickly backed away from the dog, seeing that it was big and mean looking, and it was the one who destroyed most of the security system at the Axion Labs. The dog, however, didn't seem all that interested in Valerie, instead, it was sniffing the ground as if it was looking for something. Danny approached the ghost dog, dropping his invisibility.

"Hey! How did you get out of the Ghost Zone?" Danny questioned.

The ghost dog turned to face Danny with a growl, but then, in an effort to try to calm the dog down, Danny began to scratch its chin with a finger, making Cujo pant happily before he shrank down to his tiny puppy form again.

_Whew, glad I remembered hearing Cujo saying he likes someone to scratch under his chin. Good thing Andy wasn't here or he'd be scolding me how Cujo could've bitten my hand off for that…_ Danny thought to himself before landing in front of the puppy Cujo, and his boots touched something squishy._ … Did… did I just step on invisible dog poop…?_

Valerie walked up, looking mad. "Whatever you are, get out of here! You and your stupid dog have done enough damage!"

"Trust me, I want to get this dog and get out of your hair as soon as-" Danny started to say before he felt something sharp grab his leg, and he was suddenly pulled on the ground by a very excited puppy. "Argh! Stop! Stop it now! Bad dog!"

Danny tried to pull his leg free, only to remember he could turn intangible. He did so, and got free of Cujo's teeth before grabbing the puppy ghost. _Whew! Good thing I remembered my intangibility… I didn't need to destroy the stuff in the moving truck..._

Then suddenly something rubbery grabbed onto Danny's foot and pulled him down on the sidewalk. "Oof!"

There was snickering behind him. Danny looked back, seeing the Digimon that had gotten away from Andy. "Oh great… You again…" He turned intangible and got out from Doggymon's grip. "Why don't you just go back to the world you came from?!"

"Because there would be no fun in that~" Doggymon snickered.

"What's going on here?" Damon questioned as he came out of the house, only to see that boy, the dog in his arm, and another strange looking dog snickering.

Thinking fast, Danny turned himself invisible and flew up. Doggymon stopped snickering and frowned, unable to see Danny. Danny then used his free hand to grab onto Doggymon's arm and pulled him up, making Doggymon yelp and struggle. Danny concentrated to turn Doggymon invisible too as Damon rushed outside to Valerie.

Danny succeeded in turning Doggymon invisible, just as Damon reached Valerie's side. He looked around, confused. "Okay… I could have sworn I saw two dogs and a boy." Damon then scratched at his head with one hand. "Maybe I was seeing things."

Valerie frowned. "Um… Yeah, maybe we were seeing things… Or maybe we weren't. I'm going to find out what the heck is going on."

Danny gulped, knowing that Valerie was determined to know what had been going on, what the media had been covering up all this time. But Danny couldn't stick around for long, he had to get Cujo back to the Ghost Zone, and he had to take Doggymon to his brother and Takuya.

Danny looked down at Doggymon. "You had better get back to your world without much of a fight this time, okay?" He then turned and flew off towards Fenton Works.

However, as Danny was flying, Doggymon stretched out his body and grabbed onto the nearest building. Danny hadn't expected that, and this caused him to let go of Doggymon. "H-hey!"

Doggymon was already on the run, snickering along the way. "He'll be back, maybe more than once~"

Danny groaned, but he had more pressing issues with Cujo, who was now yipping happily in his grasp. "Okay, I can worry about that Doggymon later. Let's just get you back to the Ghost Zone, little guy."

* * *

Takuya didn't expect too much action today, other than maybe going on a hunt for Doggymon. But he and Andy had decided to let Dash handle tracking down the flexible dog. Takuya remembered Doggymon pretty well, so he assured Andy Doggymon wouldn't cause too much trouble on his own. So Takuya was thankful for the downtime.

That is, until he saw Danny Phantom suddenly flying into the house, and flew down under the floor, likely heading directly into the lab. Takuya had seen Phantom holding onto a green puppy dog in his arm as well.

Getting up from the couch, Takuya ran for the lab, hoping to see what was going on. _Why is Phantom coming here with a green puppy? Is it a ghost?_

Takuya poked his head out from the wall of the stairs, seeing Phantom opening up the Ghost Portal's doors.

"Okay, Cujo, in you go! I would appreciate it if you stopped causing problems for the people of this world," Phantom grumbled as he tossed the puppy into the Ghost Zone.

_Okay, it looks like he was dropping off a ghost._ Takuya noted as he watched that.

As soon as Phantom had tossed Cujo into the Ghost Zone, the doors closed. Danny noticed his gloves were moist, looking down, he noticed his gloves were covered in green drool. "Blech… that's it, I'm either getting a hamster, or find my own Digimon partner…"

Takuya blinked when he overheard that. _Wait… Why would _Phantom_ ponder getting a Digimon partner? Isn't that a bit unusual?_ Memories of Vlad came back and Takuya winced at that. _Okay… maybe it's not that unusual..._

Phantom flew up through the ceiling, not noticing Takuya there. However, before Takuya could leave, he saw the puppy phasing out of the gate of the Fenton Portal. Takuya blinked before the ghost dog flew up through the ceiling as well.

_Okay…? I don't think we're done with that ghost dog yet…_ Takuya thought with a bit of dismay.

* * *

Danny sighed as he came up into his room and transformed back to his human form.

"Hey, bro, how's Valerie and Mr. Gray?" Andy asked.

"Let's just say Valerie has to sell a lot of her stuff because they have to move." Danny sighed. "Thanks to Cujo's mess, the boss not only fired Mr. Gray, but made him pay for the damages… Valerie and Mr. Gray don't have a lot of money left…"

Andy frowned. "I was worried about that… it's… going to be really tough for Valerie."

"Yeah… I just…" Danny sighed again. "If only I was able to catch Cujo sooner…"

"Don't blame yourself, Danny. I should've remembered Cujo was a ghost, so trying to stop him head on wasn't going to work. We should probably get our parents to make more Fenton Thermoses so each of us could have one," Andy remarked.

Danny smiled. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. We should make sure Takuya has one too. Same for Jazz. It wouldn't hurt."

"Yeah, it would definitely make things easier," Andy agreed before looking a Dorimon, who was lying on bed. "And no, you are not allowed to eat it."

"Eating ghost technology is gross anyways," Dorimon rolled his eyes.

Danny chuckled. "Well, you _are_ a metal muncher~"

"Yeah, but I don't like ectoplasm, which the Fenton inventions have a lot of," Dorimon shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure ectoplasm is poisonous for you, and for me," Andy shivered.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "How would it be poisonous to you, bro? You're not a Digimon."

"Haven't you heard Mom's lecture about ectoplasm?" Andy asked. "They are deadly to humans. I think the only reason we're okay is because we've been exposed to a lot of it since we were young, but it would still be dangerous for us to consume it. Although, considering you're half ghost… it may not be dangerous to you."

Danny blinked. "Huh. I never considered that." He then shivered a bit. "Although I'm not exactly keen to test that theory out."

Andy shook his head. "Regardless, we should try to be there for Valerie when she comes back to school. The popularity chain is going to knock her down big time."

Danny sighed. "Yeah, you're right. High school can be merciless."

* * *

"Takuya," Jazz spoke up, catching her cousin's attention.

"Hmm?" Takuya looked at her, seeing Lopmon in her arms.

"I have a question for you," Jazz stated. "You know Koji, one of the Japanese transfer students, don't you?"

Takuya blinked, unsure of where Jazz was going with this. "Yeah, I do. He's one of my friends. Why?"

"Did you know he was stalking me earlier?" Jazz questioned.

Takuya blinked in surprise. "No. I didn't." His mind was racing at that point. _Why would Koji stalk Jazz? Was it because he saw Lopmon? He's not one to do something like that without a good reason._

"Yeah, apparently he and Lopmon had a history," Jazz said. "Is there something about Lopmon you're not telling me?"

"Nothing I haven't told you myself…" Lopmon remarked quietly.

"Or rather…" Jazz changed the question. "Is there something about you and Koji you're not telling me?"

Takuya felt his face grow pale at hearing that, although to his credit, he kept his face neutral. _Aw man… Is Jazz trying to pry for information?!_ His mind raced for an explanation, but nothing came to him. "No, there isn't."

But Jazz had a glint in her eyes. "I see… well, thanks for that then."

With that, Jazz walked away.

Takuya blinked as Jazz walked off. _What… was that about?_

* * *

_The next day at Casper High_

"Why is it so noisy in the cafeteria today?" Andy grumbled.

"Haven't you heard?" Sam asked, walking beside him. "The Dumpty Humpty band is having a concert in Amity Park tonight."

Danny looked at Sam. "Really? That's cool! Did you get us tickets?"

"Are you kidding?" Tucker spoke up. "Tickets have already been sold out everywhere!"

"Jeez, we've been so wrapped up with ghost attacks and Digimon that we haven't been keeping track of where the Dumpty Humpty band were," Andy noted.

Danny sighed. "Great… Now we'll miss seeing the band."

The group sat down at their usual table.

"Where's Takuya?" Tucker asked.

"He decided to sit with Koji and Koichi, something about catching up and all that," Danny answered.

Sam looked over at where the three boys were sitting and talking. "Well, at least he has some familiar friends to catch up with now."

Andy then noticed Valerie was walking over to the popular table, the table where the top of the 'food chain' students sat, like Paulina, Calvin, and Kwan were. Dash used to sit with them, but he mostly sat with the other jocks to talk to them better, get to know them, and speak possible strategy for their next big game like a good leader should, instead of just mindlessly chatting about the hottest thing with the other popular kids. Andy lightly elbowed Danny, and tilted his head over at Valerie.

Danny looked over and saw Valerie walking over, a frown crossing his face. "Oh boy… This won't end well…"

"Hey Val, we're down for the concert, right?" They heard Kwan asking, not seeming to know about Valerie's current predicament.

"Sorry, guys." Valerie apologized. "I had to sell my tickets online to help pay for the moving truck. Money's been… kind of tight, you know?"

"Really? What do you mean?" Calvin asked.

"Wait… this doesn't mean what I think it means, does it?" Paulina asked.

Valerie frowned, looking at her bag lunch. "I'm… afraid it does."

Calvin then gave a sneer. "And speaking of tight…" He glanced at where Danny, Andy, Tucker, and Sam were sitting, the group quickly looked away so it wouldn't look like they had been watching them. "You know what that means! No money, no sitting here!"

Valerie let out a gasp before she growled. "I get it. Good looking out, guys."

"By the way, Valerie, did you at least sell your tickets to somebody cool?" Paulina asked. "We don't want to have to sit to any losers at the concert."

Valerie just looked away and walked off to another table, feeling upset now that she had been spurned by those she once called her friends.

"Whoa… brutal…" Tucker commented.

"Wow… Valerie just got disowned by her friends…" Danny frowned.

"She needs better friends." Sam rolled her eyes.

"They were never her friends," Andy grumbled.

Danny frowned again. "That is a good point…"

"Well, maybe we can be her new friends." Tucker said gleefully before darting over to Valerie's table.

"What do you want?" Valerie groaned, not in the mood for Tucker right now.

"I thought you'd want to join me- us, for lunch, since you're-" Andy came up beside Tucker, interrupting him.

"What Tucker means is that… maybe you'd like some company?" Andy asked.

"Yeah. What Andy said." Tucker agreed, glad his friend had come through for him. _Thanks, Andy! You saved my butt from embarrassment._

Valerie sighed. "Yeah… I guess so… I… hate to admit it, Andy, but you were right… popularity isn't all that it's cracked up to be."

Andy sat down beside Valerie while Tucker motioned for Danny and Sam to come over. "They hit you hard, huh?"

"Yeah… I mean I worked hard to get as high as I did on the social grapevine, only to be knocked down to the bottom because of one incident that I had no control over," Valerie said.

"That's harsh." Danny said as he sat down beside the threesome. "No one deserves that."

"While I can't say I ever really liked you, even I have to admit that you didn't deserve that," Sam remarked, sitting down beside Danny.

Andy then smiled. "But, if you'd like, while we may not be high on the popularity scale, we could be your friends-"

"Friends is a strong word," Sam interrupted.

Andy cleared his throat. "As I was saying… we _could_ be your friends, if you give us the chance to be. Sam will come around, she's just a sourpuss about everything. And with us, we wouldn't care about your wealth or what you're wearing, you can just be yourself."

Valerie gave a small smile. "Thanks, Andy."

Danny smiled at seeing the way Valerie was smiling at Andy. _Does she like Andy? I bet she does~_

However, before Danny could say anything, a familiar blue mist came out of his mouth, and Andy's backpack was vibrating, which made Andy's smile turn strained._ Ohhhhh… shit…._

Danny gave a glance around, trying to find the source of his ghost sense going off. _Come on… where is it? I _know_ I can sense ghosts, but I can't tell where they are! If only I could..._

Suddenly, a familiar big green dog appeared just outside the window of the cafeteria. Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Danny paled at this. Valerie didn't seem to notice the dog since she was digging out her lunch from her bag.

"Um… V-Valerie?" Tucker stammered out. "You might want to look behind you…"

"Wha-" Valerie looked up and saw the dog phasing through the window, and it chomped down on her bag lunch with its sharp teeth. "AAAAH! It's back!"

The ghost dog shook the bag before growling and barking while jumping from table to table, scaring all the students in the lunchroom.

"Get down!" Andy yelled, pulling Valerie under the table just before the big ghost dog jumped on the table, and jumped again, flipping over the other tables, or splattering food on people, mostly the popular kids since they were sitting closer to the window.

Students ran for their lives, screaming as they streamed out of the building as the ghost dog continued to rampage around the cafeteria.

Takuya, Koji, and Koichi had run off upon seeing the ghost dog come into the cafeteria, no doubt to evolve and take on the ghost. Dash was nowhere to be seen either.

That was proven true when one of the Legendary Warriors came in. It was none other than Agunimon, and he was unsure of what to make of the big glowing green dog.

"Wait!" Someone called out to Agunimon as he was contemplating on what to do.

Agunimon saw Danny Phantom flying over to him. "Don't hurt that dog. He's not malevolent, I think he's looking for something."

Agunimon frowned slightly. "But why is it here then?"

"I'm not sure," Phantom answered with a frown. "I'm going to try to find out."

Lobomon and Loweemon then came in, both of the Legendary Warriors ready to fight if the ghost dog began to attack any humans that remained in the room. However, the Warrior of Light had a frown on his face for some reason as he eyed the ghost dog.

Cujo gave a growl at the three Legendary Warriors. Danny quickly flew in front of Cujo. "Nice dog, take it easy, boy. Why don't you just calm down and-"

Cujo looked very happy at seeing Danny and jumped towards him.

"Wah!" Danny yelped, going intangible just before Cujo pounced him, who also went intangible at the same time, which caused both ghosts to phase through the wall outside of the cafeteria.

Andy took notice of that._ Interesting, so if both ghosts were intangible, they can still hit each other._

Agunimon blinked. "Okay… That was weird…" _We didn't even need to get involved this time..._

"Is something wrong, Lobomon? You look troubled," Loweemon asked, looking at his brother.

"I'm getting the feeling that the ghost dog was not alone." Lobomon replied at last, looking around. "But if that is the case, then what else could be around here?"

Lobomon had one of his hands on the holder for his beam swords, feeling like someone or something was watching them.

"You okay?" Andy asked, pulling Valerie out from under the table.

Tucker and Sam came out from under the table as well.

"Really glad I didn't have gravy today," Tucker commented.

"I'm fine, but what the heck is that dog and that boy? How could they just go through stuff like that?" Valerie asked, looking confused. "And what do they want? Why do they keep appearing everywhere I go?"

"You really don't know what they are?" Sam questioned, looking surprised at Valerie's naivety.

Valerie frowned before she looked at the three Legendary Warriors. "And what are _they_? Some kind of comic book superhero cosplayers or something?"

Tucker blinked before sighing and placing a hand on Valerie's shoulder. "Valerie, you have _a lot_ to learn about what is going on right now…"

"Is that big ghost dog gone?" Another voice asked, before Dorimon popped out of Andy's backpack.

Valerie froze as she stared at the 'talking plushy' or 'talking animal'.

Andy just moved his hand back and pushed Dorimon down in his backpack, not taking his eyes off of the stunned girl, before giving a sheepish grin.

Valerie blinked. "Um… did that _toy_… uh… _thing_ just… talk?"

"Uh… cutting edge technology for a toy, right?" Andy replied.

_SMACK!_ That was the sound of Agunimon's hand hitting his own head in exasperation.

"You're going to give yourself a headache if you keep doing that," Loweemon commented, looking at Agunimon.

"Don't remind me…" The Warrior of Flame grumbled. How_ does Andy keep getting himself into such awkward situations…?_

Andy felt Dorimon moving around in his backpack, likely sensing something other than the ghost dog. "Uh, okay, um… Tucker, Sam, why don't you calm Valerie down? I'm going to go see if those ghosts have left the school grounds yet."

"Wait… ghosts?" Valerie spoke up as Andy started moving away. "Those were GHOSTS!?"

"Obviously, what did you think those ethereal beings are that can literally go through walls?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes.

Tucker looked at Andy. "Why don't you go do that? Sam and I can handle Valerie."

Andy nodded before he quickly rushed out of the cafeteria, only to run right into something yellow and rubbery. Andy let out a surprised yelp as the rubber wrapped around his body, and a familiar snicker hissed in his ear.

Upon hearing Andy's yelp, Lobomon, Agunimon, and Loweemon ran out, only to see Doggymon before them.

Agunimon groaned. "Not _you_ again…"

Doggymon let go of Andy before flipping out of the building. Agunimon, annoyed, ran after the annoying rubbery Digimon. Lobomon and Loweemon ran right behind him.

"When I get my hands on that Digimon, I will make sure he doesn't come back here…" Agunimon growled. "He is such an annoyance!"

Andy could agree with that, but since 3 Legendary Warriors were going after Doggymon, Andy decided he should use this time to check on Danny, he didn't need to join in on the chase, it would be overkill for one, mischievous Champion level Digimon.

When Andy got outside, he saw Danny petting the now puppy sized Cujo to keep him calm. Andy walked over to Danny.

"Hey," Andy said. "What are you going to do with that dog?"

Cujo blinked as he looked at Andy, surprised to see him and Danny, likely not remembering the two when they were chasing after him the first time.

"I don't know _what_ to do with this little guy!" Danny sighed at last. "When I try to put him back in the Ghost Zone, he just keeps coming back! It's obvious he wants something, but what it is, I don't know really. I just keep hearing he wants a toy of some kind."

"You're… hearing he wants a toy?" Andy repeated, sounding confused.

Dorimon popped out of the backpack and looked at Cujo. Cujo looked back at Dorimon.

"I can't explain why, but that's basically it." Danny replied as he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know how it works, just that I can hear certain words from Cujo here."

"Wait, you can hear WORDS coming from this dog?" Andy asked, surprised. "Like actual words? All I've been hearing is barking and growling noises."

"Well, I think it comes with being half-ghost." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Because I _know_ I have been hearing words."

Before Andy could say anything about that, Cujo suddenly grew into his bigger form and growled at Dorimon. Dorimon, surprisingly for a small In-Training Digimon, gave a loud roar at Cujo before biting Cujo's nose. Cujo let out a yelp and a whine before running around in a panic with Dorimon on his nose.

"Wah!? Dorimon! Let go of that dog's nose!" Andy yelled as he started running after them.

"Cujo! Down boy! Down boy!" Danny yelled as well.

Dorimon let go at Andy's shout, falling back onto the ground, rolling at least a few times before he got to his small feet. Cujo seemed to settle down once Dorimon let go of his nose as well.

Cujo shrunk back down to his puppy size, whimpering as he rubbed his nose. Danny picked him up while Andy picked up Dorimon.

"I need to keep you away from dogs…" Andy grumbled.

Dorimon grumbled as well. "I don't like dogs…"

"Really? I didn't know that after you roared at that fireman's dalmation," Andy sarcastically replied.

"I'm going to try to take Cujo back to the Ghost Zone again," Danny sighed. "I think he's caused enough damage for one day."

"Please do so!" Dorimon snarked while glaring at Cujo's small puppy-sized form. Cujo shrank back from Dorimon's glare in fright.

Shortly after Danny flew away with Cujo, Dorimon gave a surprised look before Arbormon came along.

"Dash…?" Andy blinked, surprised at seeing Arbormon. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to watch Dorimon clamp his teeth on that ghost dog's nose," Arbormon chuckled. "But I gotta say, I"m surprised that you seem to be quite cool around that ghost boy."

"Uh… yeah… he's helped me and Danny out a few times…" Andy said, trying not to sound nervous.

"Anyway, I came to see if you needed help, but I think you had it under control." Arbormon continued.

"Yeah, for now… seems like we've been on dog duty lately though," Andy sighed._ So apparently Danny can understand Cujo… can ghosts understand each other? Do ghosts have different languages or dialects, or do they all share a universal language that only they can understand? I need to find out more about this._

"Andy? You okay, dude?" Arbormon asked, noticing Andy's thoughtful look on his face.

"Don't worry, he's just thinking," Dorimon chuckled. "That's normal for him."

Arbormon chuckled. "It seems so, then."

"Oh, shouldn't you go after Doggymon?" Andy asked.

"Nah, he's already gotten away from Agunimon and the others. That is one slippery dog," Arbormon sighed. "I can try to track him down, but catching him is a whole different matter."

"Yeah, if only there was some way to catch a rubber being," Andy sighed.

Dorimon grumbled. "Doggymon is a sneaky one…"

"Tell me about it." Arbormon agreed.

* * *

_Later that day… _

Danny was in ghost form, and he was currently flying towards Elmertron, it was quite an ugly part of Amity Park. There were run down apartments, there was trash all over the place. In other words, it looked like a dump. But it was the only place Valerie and Damon could afford to live in now.

After the ghost boy threw Cujo back into the Ghost Zone, Andy talked to him about keeping an eye out for Doggymon and possibly Valerie to see how she was doing. Danny agreed, while he had no idea where Doggymon was, he decided he could at least check on Valerie for his brother. Danny himself still felt guilty since Valerie ended up like this because of his folly.

He flew down lower towards the apartments, still remaining invisible. Danny flew around, trying to find out which apartment she was in. He hoped she was doing okay.

Then he saw someone opening up a window. Danny flew over there, and smiled when he saw he found the Gray residence. Damon had just opened the window, smiling despite their situation.

"Great news, sweetheart," Damon said to Valerie, who was sitting on an old looking green couch. "I'm getting one last chance. I've managed to convince my boss to let me guard what's left of the research lab while they rebuild."

Valerie smiled upon hearing that. "That's great! How many of your employees can you put on it?" Then she remembered her father's job had been ruined. "Oh…"

"Yeah… I'll have to guard it myself, at night, in that," Damon pointed at a blue guard uniform that was hanging on the closet door.

Danny did smile a little._ Yeah, that is a downgrade, but at least he's getting another chance. Maybe if he does well, his boss will take him back as the head of the security maintenance again, or whatever he was before._

"Nice…" Valerie sighed. "And if things get worse, you can use that to deliver packages." She didn't mean to be snarky, but given how she had experienced a rough week, it was somewhat justified.

A blue mist suddenly came out of Danny's mouth, he frowned, it didn't feel like Cujo this time, but it did feel familiar, and strong. Thinking fast, Danny flew down and flattened himself on the ground, remaining invisible, hoping the other ghost wouldn't notice him. There was another ghost, flying towards the apartment's window. Danny's eyes widened when he saw it was Vlad Plasmius.

_What…? What the heck is Vlad doing here?_ Danny questioned in alarm.

Vlad was peering in the window, where Danny could hear Damon's voice speaking to Valerie. "Which reminds me, this arrived for you while you were at school today." Damon came back with a package for Valerie. "From Wisconsin."

Danny couldn't see the package, but he did hear a beep.

"Whoa, don't want to be late. Bye sweetie, I'll be home before dinner," Damon said before Danny heard his footsteps rushing out.

Danny could barely hear Valerie rustling around with the package, but then he heard her voice speaking. "'Heard about your recent ghost troubles. Hope this helps. Vlad'."

Danny glared at the ghost floating just outside Valerie's window, he could see Vlad smirking._ Just what is he planning? What did he send to Valerie?_

Vlad then suddenly disappeared in a green flash of light. Danny blinked, he waited for another minute before he hesitantly flew back up to the window, still invisible._ Where did he go…? Did he teleport? … Dang, I gotta learn how to do that._

Danny peered in the window and saw Valerie smirking. "Don't know who you are, Vlad, but if this thing does what I think it does, I can't say that I care about that." She lifted out a gun, only to fire off a pinkish ecto-energy blast from it on accident.

"Valerie!?" Damon called from outside the door in concern.

"I'm okay!" Valerie quickly assured before she smirked at the gun in her hand.

Danny paled, he recognized the pink ecto energy._ Vlad… what have you done!? You sent Valerie ghost weapons? Oh no… this is dangerous. Not for me, but for her. Valerie doesn't know how to handle ghosts! Why would Vlad send her ghost weapons? How does he even know Valerie's been having issues with ghosts lately? He must have some reason for doing this… and I'm going to find out what it is. But first…_

Danny flew away from the apartment and started rushing back to Fenton Works._ This isn't something I should think about on my own. I need to tell Andy and Jazz about this too. They might be able to help me figure out what the heck Vlad is planning. Tucker and Sam don't know how dangerous Vlad is, they weren't there during the reunion… I'll tell them about it at school tomorrow._

Having made up his mind, Danny continued on back to Fenton Works. _Hope Jazz and Andy will have an idea on what Vlad might be up to, because I sure don't… Whatever that fruit loop is planning, it can't be good._

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** I am glad you found it funny. :3

**ChloeTheKitsune****: DarkFoxKit:** Thank you, glad you're enjoying it.

**ZAFT:** There will be more yet to come~ :D

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Indeed. Andy being the cute kitty while Takuya sprays him for no apparent reason. XD

**ZAFT:** I am glad you liked that! That was one of my favorite scenes to write~


	25. A Huntress's Folly

**DarkFoxKit:** ***Is currently stuck in bed*** This is boring! Why am I stuck in bed again?

**Andy:** Because you were just released from the emergency room a few days ago.

**ZAFT:** Andy's right. You need rest. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** But there's so much to do. I don't have time to rest!

**Andy:** Do I need to tie you down? Again?

**DarkFoxKit: *Pouts***

**ZAFT:** XD Andy is worried about you~ :3

**Andy:** Of course I am. As much as she likes to torture me, I wouldn't exist without her.

**ZAFT:** Well, that explains why the chapter is a bit late. Also we forgot to update yesterday too. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** You don't need to tell them that!

**Andy:** ZAFT and I will take care of the reviews today, you just rest up, okay? I'll bring you your favorite food if you behave.

**DarkFoxKit:** Fine, I'll behave.

**ZAFT:** That's a good fox~ ***Pats head***

* * *

**Chapter 25: A Huntress's Folly**

Danny, who was currently in human form, was in Jazz's room along with Andy and Dorimon. Lopmon was sitting on Jazz's bed. Dorimon was lying on Jazz's desk. Jazz was sitting on her computer chair. Andy and Danny were sitting on some extra chairs Jazz brought in.

The reason why they were talking in Jazz's room was because it was the safest place to discuss a topic without their parents or Takuya walking in on them.

"So, what's the problem, Danny?" Jazz asked as she looked at her brother. "You seemed somewhat freaked out earlier when you got back from… whatever you were doing."

"I was checking in on Valerie," Danny admitted. "No, I wasn't spying or peeking at her, I just wanted to make sure she was okay after everything that happened."

"I did tell him to check up on her since he could do it the easiest due to… you know, being able to turn invisible at will while also being able to fly," Andy admitted.

"Right," Jazz sighed. "So what happened?"

Danny took a deep breath and let it out. "Well… while I was checking on Valerie and her dad, I suddenly sensed a much more powerful ghost coming my way. It was a ghost that I knew I didn't stand a chance against, so I quickly did the best thing I could do other than flee. I made myself unnoticeable. I got on the ground while staying invisible. Ghosts can see or sense each other even while invisible, but it's harder for them to, and as long as the ghost didn't have a reason to look for me, I knew I would be safe."

"Who was the ghost?" Jazz asked.

Andy frowned, seeming to already have a few guesses as to what kind of ghost would be stronger than Danny.

"Well…" Danny hesitated. "I haven't told you this yet, Jazz, but… do you remember Vlad Masters?"

Jazz frowned. "Yeah… I do. Why? Is this related to him?"

"Well… you weren't there when it happened, but Vlad attacked our family during the reunion," Danny explained. "He also has a Digimon partner, and… he's also… half ghost."

Jazz blinked in surprise. "Wait… _What_ did you just say?" She knew what she had heard, but she wanted to be sure she was not hearing things wrong.

"Vlad is half ghost like Danny," Andy repeated. "And he also has a Digimon partner. Oh, and if you thought that was shocking, wait until you hear this; Vlad can fuse with his Digimon partner."

"What? How is that possible?" Lopmon spoke up, sounding surprised himself. "A human fusing with a Digimon Spirit is one thing, because the Digimon themselves no longer have a physical body. But a human… a halfa, fusing with a Digimon?"

"As unbelievable as that sounds, it's true. Danny and I saw it happen with our own eyes," Andy stated.

"Yeah…" Dorimon agreed. "It was really scary. I didn't think we would get out of it alive."

Jazz was stunned. "Okay… Let me repeat that so I can understand. Vlad has a Digimon partner, in addition to being half ghost like Danny, and he can fuse with his Digimon partner. Is that right?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Danny answered.

"Who is this other halfa's partner?" Lopmon questioned.

"He said his name is Tsukaimon," Andy replied. "But Takuya said he thought he was another Digimon called Patamon."

Jazz frowned. "So certain Digimon can look alike?"

"Yeah. There's a Digimon called Terriermon who looks similar to me, but we are different Digimon," Lopmon explained. "There are many Digimon who share the same physicality but have different colors, and are different Digimon. Tsukaimon definitely resembles Patamon… but I wonder…"

Jazz looked at her partner Digimon. "Is something on your mind?"

"I shouldn't jump to conclusions… but I am worried if Tsukaimon could possibly be… an old friend of mine. Sometimes Digimon can change themselves if something causes them to change. Like… how I… told you about my change in form," Lopmon said quietly.

Jazz frowned slightly. She remembered that well. "Well, if you are worried about that possibility, it doesn't hurt to do some observation. But for now, we won't worry about the issue, because we have more pressing things to worry about."

"Yeah, like what the heck Vlad was doing here," Danny remarked.

"Before that… if Vlad attacked our family, how did everyone survive?" Jazz asked in concern.

"We used blackmail and negotiation," Andy said. "Danny threatened to expose both of them to our parents, and Vlad just couldn't accept the fact Mom would hate him forever for what he is."

Jazz looked at Danny, feeling both a bit of pride, but also worry. "Danny, while I will say that I am proud of you for getting both you and your brother out of that alive, you have possibly made a _very_ dangerous enemy."

"What else was I supposed to do, Jazz?" Danny asked. "At the rate we were going, Vlad was going to kidnap and possibly brainwash Mom, then he might've done the same thing to me next, and either kill everyone else, or brainwash everyone else. Either way, it was the lesser of the two evil."

"If anything, I think Vlad was more impressed with what Danny did rather than angry," Andy sighed. "Meaning he may want Danny more than ever now."

"The guy is creepy, and there's something very twisted about him that I could sense, him and Tsukaimon," Dorimon shivered.

Jazz then looked at Danny again. "Well, anyway, why was Vlad here?"

"I don't really know, that's why I came to talk to you and Andy about it," Danny sighed. "I saw him looking in Valerie's window, smirking about something before he disappeared. I think he teleported."

"Vlad can teleport?" Andy frowned. "I think the question is what can't Vlad do?"

"Don't remind me," Danny groaned. "Anyways, he apparently sent Valerie a package full of ghost weapons. I saw her accidentally firing an ecto gun. There were other things in the box, like a red suit of some kind, and other gadgets that I'm sure are meant for ghost hunting."

Andy furrowed his eyebrows, feeling like the description his brother gave sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"Wait… Vlad gave Valerie _ghost weapons?_" Jazz asked in shock. "Isn't that dangerous? I mean, Mom and Dad I can understand having such things, but that's because they are qualified for it. Valerie has no experience with ghost weapons!"

"That's the same thing I thought," Danny agreed. "But Vlad must have some kind of plan as to why he gave Valerie those weapons. I'm not sure how to find out without spying on Vlad, and… considering he can teleport, and he and Tsukaimon would likely sense me, I don't think that's an option."

Jazz had to agree with Danny. "Yeah, that _would_ be best to not spy on him." She then put a hand to her chin in thought. "But I wonder what Valerie could do with ghost weapons. She has no reason to hunt ghosts, does she?"

"You would think," Andy sighed. "But since ghosts were the reason why her dad lost his job, and they ended up broke because of what happened… yeah, I can see why she has it out for ghosts now."

"Oh… let's hope she doesn't have it out for Digimon too. I mean Digimon weren't the ones destroying the lab, but still, Doggymon did let Cujo out in the first place." Dorimon frowned.

"Well, other than you talking that one time in front of her, Valerie has never met a Digimon before, so I doubt she'll go after them unless she thinks they're a ghost too," Andy remarked.

Jazz looked at Andy. "_Could_ Digimon be mistaken as ghosts?"

"There are a few Digimon that resemble ghosts, mostly the Undead type, like Soulmon and Phantomon, you remember them, don't you?" Andy reminded.

"Yeah, I do." Jazz confirmed. "But I mean the other types, not the Undead ones."

"It's possible. To Valerie, Cujo just looked like a big green dog that can go through stuff and have unnatural strength," Dorimon spoke up. "She didn't even know he was a ghost until you told her."

"I hate to agree with Dorimon about this, but he does have a point. Valerie may not discriminate, any creature that looks unnatural could be a ghost to her with the way her mindset is and her very limited knowledge on the difference between ghosts and Digimon are." Lopmon frowned.

Jazz nodded. "Yeah, I can see the problem there. Even if she _did_ know the difference, it may not be enough to change her mind so easily."

"To make it worse, even if she did know, she would claim Digimon would be just as dangerous as ghosts and go after them anyways," Andy sighed. "If only there was some way I could talk her out of this…"

"And there's still the matter of Vlad sending a 14 year old girl ghost weapons," Danny added.

Jazz frowned in thought. "Maybe Vlad is expecting her to go after ghosts _and_ Digimon. We don't know what those weapons are capable of, you know."

"But still, why her? Why give her ghost weapons at all?" Danny questioned. "If he wanted to test those weapons, he could've easily tested them himself, he has a Ghost Portal in his lab."

"Right now, none of us know why Vlad gave Valerie ghost weapons, all we can do is speculate. I think the best thing we can do, for now, is to keep an eye on Valerie to make sure she doesn't get herself hurt trying to go after a ghost, especially a dangerous one like Skulker or Technus," Andy informed. "I think that she's mostly focused on two ghosts right now though… Cujo, and… Danny Phantom. She most certainly blames Danny Phantom and Cujo for messing up her life, so they will be her first target."

Jazz nodded. "Right. That sounds like a good idea." She then looked at Danny. "I would be careful if Valerie is out to hunt your ghost half."

Danny sighed. "I know, but… that's not what I'm worried about. I'm more worried about Valerie herself. She's never hunted ghost herself, she could get herself seriously hurt. I doubt she'll listen to Danny Phantom if he tried to talk to her though."

"We'll try to see if we can get her to listen to reason before she simmers in her hatred for too long," Andy said. "The sooner we do that, the better off we'll be."

Jazz nodded. "Good call, Andy. The sooner we nip this in the bud, the better."

Lopmon frowned. "I must warn you, hatred, fear, and bias are very dangerous to any sentient being. It will be difficult to reason with someone like that, especially when they blame a certain person for their current predicament."

Jazz looked at Lopmon. "We'll keep that in mind. But we have to at least try to change her mind. If we can't, then all we can do is try to keep her from hurting herself."

"So what's the plan?" Danny asked. "What about Vlad?"

"We'll have to deal with Vlad later, for now our focus should be on Valerie," Andy said. "We'll each take turns keeping an eye on her and see when is the best time to approach her. Dorimon and I can keep an eye on her during school hours. She is on pretty good terms with me, so she wouldn't mind if I decide to hang out with her since she's having a hard time adjusting at school right now."

Jazz gave Andy a nod of approval. "Okay. That seems to be our best bet for now."

"Danny, you can keep a better eye on Valerie after school hours, since you can follow her easier in ghost form," Andy instructed. "But if she has any of her ghost weapons with her, or knows how to use a ghost tracker, then keep your distance. Only get in close if you feel she's in danger."

Danny gave a nod. "Okay, I can do that."

"But don't stick with her all day. Just stay with her until she goes home, where she will hopefully stay until school the next day," Andy said. "I rather you didn't feel like you had to tail her all day. You do have a life of your own too."

Danny chuckled. "Don't worry, bro. I wouldn't do it to that extent."

"Lopmon and I will see if we can do any research on Vlad Masters, see what we can find out," Jazz volunteered. "Everyone has their dark secrets leaked somewhere online, especially the more well-known ones."

Danny gave a grin. "Never pegged you for a paparazzi, Jazz."

"This is different. Nobody threatens my family and gets away with it," Jazz stated with determination in her teal eyes.

Danny chuckled. "Okay, Jazz. We'll let you do your investigative work."

"It would help if you can get Tucker to help me out, he is the more tech savvy one," Jazz requested. "And Sam too, with her family status, they're bound to know a few secrets about Vlad Masters that the public knows nothing about. Every bit of information helps."

Danny nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

"I'll be sticking with Valerie, so I'm counting on you to tell Tucker and Sam about this," Andy said.

"Then we're all in agreement then?" Danny replied, and both of his siblings nodded.

After the siblings finished their discussion, Danny, Andy, and Dorimon walked out of Jazz's room. Andy waited as he watched his brother going down into the kitchen to get something to eat. When Andy was sure they were alone, he sighed.

"This is getting a bit more hectic than I thought it would be…" Andy sighed. "How am I going to tell Takuya about this? Knowing him, he'll want to try to keep Valerie safe himself. But that'll make Danny and Jazz suspicious."

Dorimon frowned. "Yeah, that _is_ a bit of a problem… I mean, could we even keep him out of this?"

"I would rather not. We should all be in this together, yet we're not." Andy frowned as well. "Everyone is trying to keep their secrets from each other, and we're caught in the middle of it all… meaning we have to decide whether or not we have to keep certain things quiet from the other, but that could just become a detriment later on."

Dorimon sighed. "Maybe we should tell Danny about the fact the Legendary Warriors have hidden human identities at least."

"Do you think that might be a good idea?" Andy asked.

"Well, it was just a thought." Dorimon frowned. "I mean, we can't exactly tell Danny Takuya _is_ Agunimon directly, can we?"

"No…" Andy agreed before smiling. "But… that doesn't mean we can't drop possible hints."

Dorimon grinned back. "That was what I was trying to say!"

"Right, but we have to be careful with how we say it. Danny will want to know how we know that these Digimon have human identities, so I need to make it sound like I'm speculating rather than stating it as a fact," Andy remarked.

"Well, you _do_ make that seem easy." Dorimon chuckled. "The speculating thing I mean."

Andy blushed a little. "Heh… well, it's fun to speculate things. Now I just need a good opportunity to bring it up. Perhaps the next time Agunimon or BurningGreymon shows up, or any of the other Legendary Warriors."

Dorimon nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

* * *

"Did you seriously have to follow Jazz around just to make sure that there was a Digimon with her?" Takuya grumbled, talking to Koji on his D-Tector in his room.

_"__I wasn't sure if the 'plushy' she had _was_ a Digimon. What else could I have done, just walked up and asked if that was a Digimon?"_ Koji retorted.

"You could've asked me, I live with her after all," Takuya sighed.

Koji grumbled, although most of it was lost over the airwaves, so it came out as just mumbling.

_"__Ah, sorry, Koji's in a bit of a bad mood right now, Takuya,"_ Koichi's voice spoke up._ "I think that he's a bit hesitant to admit that he didn't think of such a simple solution."_

_"__Koichi!"_ Koji's voice blurted out. _"Don't tell him that!"_

Takuya just laughed at the reaction of the Yin-Yang twins. "I see Koichi got under your skin, Koji~"

_"__Be quiet!"_ Koji snapped.

_"__Um… so anyways, I think Dash said he sees where Doggymon is, but Doggymon doesn't stay in one place for very long. So it'll be a while before we can go chasing after him without causing a ruckus in the city. It would be easier if we could go directly to Doggymon in our Beast forms, but… yeah, that wouldn't work out so well in a city full of people,"_ Koichi sighed.

Takuya groaned. "Good point… The only place we could face down Doggymon would be in the woods outside of Amity Park. But I doubt Doggymon would head out there because we would have the advantage of not being around humans so we could go into our Beast forms."

_"__I do have a suggestion though. Since both of your cousins have Digimon of their own, they might be able to track down Doggymon themselves, and not cause a public wide panic over giant 'mysterious animal monsters' running around the city,"_ Koichi suggested.

Takuya gained a thoughtful look. "Hmmm… That may be a good idea."

* * *

"What do you mean you don't have time?" Takuya frowned as he was talking to Andy and Dorimon in the living room. "This is a Digimon, we're supposed to take them back to the Digital World if they end up here."

"I want to help, I really do, but there's something important I have to do and I need to stay in school for it," Andy answered back. "Maybe Dorimon and I can try looking for Doggymon after school, but not before then."

Takuya frowned again. "And what is it that is more important than looking for Doggymon?"

Andy grumbled to himself._ I am really starting to hate these secrets my family are keeping from each other!_ "I promised Valerie I would stick with her during school while she's trying to… adjust to not being a popular kid anymore. She needs a real friend more than ever right now."

Takuya's face turned from a frown to something more akin to sympathy at hearing that. "Oh… I didn't know that happened." He then sighed. "Okay. If Valerie needs that help, I can accept that."

"Thanks. But maybe Dorimon and Lopmon can go out and look for Doggymon themselves if they want to," Andy suggested.

"I can?" Dorimon asked.

"I'm sure you and Lopmon can handle one Champion Digimon without our help," Andy said. "And you two are small enough to not cause people to run away screaming. Though I do think I should digivolve you before you go Doggymon hunting."

Dorimon gave a grin. "That would be a good idea. And Lopmon and I can hide more easily if someone tries to find us."

Takuya blinked, while he agreed it was a good idea, he knew Andy well enough to know the boy wouldn't just send his partner Digimon off without him without a good reason. Finding Doggymon was important, but not so important that Andy would feel like he should send his partner off to find him.

"Are you sure, Andy? I mean, sure finding Doggymon is important, but surely you don't have to send Dorimon out after him as well." Takuya pointed out.

Andy sheepishly scratched his cheek. "Well… I guess you can say this is also a test run for a few things. I want to see how well Digimon partners can perform without needing their human partners with them. It would be important in case something happens and we get separated from them. I have also heard from Jazz that Lopmon was being hunted by some of his former friends, so I think Dorumon should go with him to protect him in case one of Lopmon's so-called friends finds him."

Takuya blinked. "That… makes sense." _Huh… I never thought about what may happen if Andy and Dorimon got separated. I guess Andy has a good point._

"Though… will you be okay without me? You might get attacked by ghosts or other Digimon," Dorimon said in concern.

"I can take care of myself if I need to, Dorimon, this is also training for me too," Andy answered. "There might be times I can't purely rely on you. You could be unconscious or something, so it's better we train ourselves for that situation now than be put into it later."

Dorimon nodded. "That makes sense." He remembered all the times he had come around either during or after a fight. "It _would_ be a good idea, actually…"

Takuya had a frown on his face, but he didn't protest the idea, since it made sense to him as well. "As long as you're careful, both of you, I can't really object to it."

"Thanks, and I know you'll be nearby, so I feel well protected already," Andy chuckled. "Don't worry too much about Doggymon. If he's not causing any major problems or harming anyone right now, we can afford to wait until after school to go after him ourselves."

Takuya nodded, as did Dorimon.

Andy smiled. "Great, glad to see we're on the same page."

Takuya still couldn't believe it. Even though he had been back for almost three weeks now, he had been through and seen things that no normal human being had ever experienced, and yet Andy always somehow manages to surprise him.

_Andy, if you were with us in the Digital World, that would have been a big help._ Takuya thought. _You _still_ seem to surprise me with your ideas, no matter what I seem to think._

"Hmm? Something on my face?" Andy asked, noticing his cousin was staring at him.

"Oh, uh… No." Takuya replied. "I was just thinking about how you could have been a big help in the Digital World when I was there with my friends."

"You think I would've been?" Andy asked. "From what I've heard, you and your friends did fine without me, despite getting your butts handed to you by Lucemon's knights over and over."

Takuya cringed at that last comment. "Yeah… But I mean, you have some very valid ideas, and that could have been useful to us."

"Wait, you got destroyed by Lucemon's knights?" Dorimon asked.

"They were very strong, okay? And it wasn't like we lost in battle over and over, we lost because those knights kept sucking away the data before we could stop them, and then they fled," Takuya explained.

Dorimon gave a bit of a smug smirk. "You still got your butts kicked though~"

Takuya groaned. "Don't remind me…"

"Well… if you'd like, I could try coming up with hypothetical ideas for what you and your friends could've done about those knights right now," Andy offered. "I actually would like to think of ways of how you could've handled them, especially just in case we might end up facing a similar situation in the future."

Takuya put a hand to his chin in thought. _Yeah, that _would_ be a smart idea. It's possible we may indeed come across that down the road._ He then looked at Andy. "That would be great."

Andy smiled before he gave Takuya a notepad and a pen. "In that case, write down what you remember of how each of your encounters with the knights went here, and I'll see if I can think of a possible solution to those encounters."

Takuya nodded. "Sure."

* * *

_The next day at Casper High, during lunch_

Takuya was sitting with Koji and Koichi, he opened his notepad and was telling them about what they could've done differently against Dynasmon and Crusadermon with Andy's theoretical plans.

"So our first encounter, probably wouldn't have been any different since Andy would likely be taken off guard just as much as the rest of us were, and he told me it was important we got blasted to the moon anyways," Takuya said as he flipped the notepad's pages. "But in our later encounters, like when we were planning to fight them to defend what was left of the Digital World, Andy suggested that it might've been better had we not unified our spirits. It would've been better if Koji and I used our fusion evolution instead, me becoming Aldamon, and Koji becoming Beowulfmon. The reason is because while EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon are much more powerful, there were still only just two of us, we also left the others powerless and vulnerable, which is what caused us to lose most of the time because we also had to protect them whenever Dynasmon and Crusadermon decided to attack them to try to distract us. And it's true, that has happened a lot. If we fusion evolved though, the others would still be able to use their Spirits to defend themselves, or help out with strategy. Our biggest issue was trying to match them power for power."

Koichi nodded, taking in the information. "That makes sense. It also would mean we would be able to overpower the two with numbers."

"But numbers don't mean much when it comes to Digimon like them." Koji pointed out. "But that is a fair point. Just two Mega-level Digimon can't stand up to much for long if planned for in the right way." Koji gained a grimace on his face, remembering how he had almost lost Koichi once because he had been MagnaGarurumon. Koichi had nearly fallen into a massive hole in the ground if not for Koji's quick reaction to grab him and pull him to safety.

"Yeah… Andy did point out that while it's true Dynasmon and Crusadermon are too powerful for all of us combined, it's why we would've been better off if we tried fighting them with strategy rather than power for power. Considering how often the two knights were playing dirty every time we encountered them, our ideal situation would've been to set up traps first, then all of us become the last line of defense for that part of the world's fractal code instead of just trying to fight them ourselves directly," Takuya continued. "And Andy did prove his point a few times, using strategy with Dorumon against higher level Digimon, and coming out on top through brains rather than brawns."

Koji smirked. "I take it that was used against you too?"

"Ah… At least once…" Takuya admitted. "While we were training…"

Koichi snickered before he returned to the topic at hand. "So, if we had used strategy, we would have won more often, or at least had better success than we did."

"That's Andy's theory anyways, he will admit to not knowing the full capabilities of all of us yet, so there's only so much he can suggest, but he is giving us general tips about how we could've improved our chances of stopping the royal knights," Takuya remarked.

"Any advice we can get is better than none." Koji noted with some approval. "I say we keep this information on hand for if we come across one of those knights again."

"Let's hope we don't. The royal knights are supposed to be protectors of the Digital World, but Lucemon brainwashed and corrupted Dynasmon and Crusadermon," Koichi pointed out.

Koji frowned, but had to admit his twin had a point. "True. But we have to keep in mind, Seraphimon was corrupted, so maybe he would've done the same thing to another royal knight. We have to be cautious."

"Yeah…" Takuya frowned. "Speaking of Seraphimon, what did corrupt him? It wasn't Cherubimon, I can attest to that. Lucemon is gone. So what had happened to Seraphimon?"

"None of us knows, Takuya, in fact, you were the one who told us that Seraphimon was corrupted," Koji pointed out.

Takuya groaned. "Yeah, I was…" He then sighed. "But it's just odd. There _has_ to be a way Seraphimon became corrupted, but we don't know how."

"Didn't you say that you can attest that Cherubimon didn't corrupt Seraphimon? How could you possibly know that?" Koichi asked.

Takuya then sighed. "Ah… Well… Do you remember Jazz having a Digimon partner, Koji?"

Koji nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"That's… Cherubimon." Takuya pointed out. "He… devolved into his Rookie form when coming to the real world."

"Wait… that little Digimon is Cherubimon!?" Koji spoke up in alarm. "How do you know he's not just pretending to be innocent to get near you and possibly corrupt you or your family, Takuya?"

"I overheard Jazz talking to Cherubimon, or Lopmon, in his Rookie form." Takuya replied. "It sounded like Cherubimon was investigating why Seraphimon was acting strange, and then the two wound up fighting before Seraphimon came here."

Koichi frowned, out of everyone in their group, he had the worst memories of Cherubimon. Cherubimon not only brainwashed him, but he turned him against Koji. "Are you sure Cherubimon didn't corrupt Seraphimon and was just trying to play innocent? Cherubimon… can be very tricky…"

"I don't know…" Takuya sighed. "But we have little information. All we know is that Seraphimon was corrupted, and Cherubimon was involved in trying to stop him somehow. He _could_ have corrupted Seraphimon, but if that is the case, why would he come to the real world? Something doesn't add up."

Koichi sighed. "Okay… let's say you're right then, and Cherubimon had nothing to do with it. Did Lopmon say anything at all that could hint to what could've possibly corrupted Seraphimon?"

Takuya ran a hand through his hair. "I did hear Lopmon mention something about Seraphimon investigating the crater where Lucemon emerged from, which they have taken to calling Death Crater. It was after that that Seraphimon began to act strange."

"I see…" Koichi noted. "It's possible… unlikely, but possible that there might have been some remnant of Lucemon's corrupted data around Death Crater… or some other Digimon was formed by the remnant, and they infected Seraphimon when he went to go investigate. This is assuming we can trust what Lopmon said though."

"Yeah, as unlikely as it sounds, it makes the most sense." Takuya admitted. "I can understand not trusting Lopmon, but it's the only thing we have to go on right now."

Koji groaned. "But if this is indeed true, then that means even now, after all this time, Lucemon is still haunting us to this very day, and out here in the real world!"

Takuya nodded. "I know. But we can't help it. If Lucemon is still indeed around, we need to be ready to fight back." He then sighed. "I was hoping to forget about Lucemon once and for all, but apparently that isn't happening now…"

"Let's just focus on one problem at a time," Koichi spoke up. "We'll have to find a way to purify Seraphimon, but from what I heard, you said he's partners with someone?"

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… He is…" Takuya trailed off here, unsure of how to explain the situation with Seraphimon's human partner.

* * *

Meanwhile Dorumon, having digivolved into his rookie form to help out Lopmon, was travelling through Amity Park with Lopmon. Lopmon had seen quite a bit of Amity Park already on his first time here.

"Trying to find a Doggymon in this city is like trying to find a needle in a haystack…" Dorumon grumbled.

"Don't remind me…" Lopmon agreed. "It doesn't help Doggymon can hide almost anywhere due to his rubbery body either."

"As pure Digimon, we do have better ways to track other Digimon, but with how big this place is, it's really hard to pick up his scent anywhere," Dorumon sighed. "Is he even in Amity Park anymore?"

"Maybe Doggymon is laying low in one place for a while on the outskirts." Lopmon suggested.

"Then… I guess we should try to think like Doggymon," Dorumon decided. "Now, if I was a Doggymon, where would I go to hide for a while?"

Lopmon furrowed his eyes slightly. "Maybe a dumpster? Or some kind of old building? I'm just throwing ideas out here."

"From what I've seen, Doggymon is a snickering troublemaker who likes to run away a lot," Dorumon remarked, and he tried to stretch out his body like it was made of rubber. "Hmmm… ah, I know of a possible place."

Dorumon started running in one direction and Lopmon quickly ran after him.

"Slow down a little, would you? My legs are really short in this form!" Lopmon called out.

"Sorry!" Dorumon apologized as he slowed down a bit for Lopmon to catch up.

The two of them began approaching the Nasty Burger restaurant.

"You… really think he would be here? Or are you just hungry?" Lopmon deadpanned.

"Well, if I was a mischievous, rubbery dog Digimon, I'd like to come here and hang out in hopes that humans would leave some scraps for me, or I'd try to steal some of their food in the kitchen," Dorumon pointed out.

Lopmon had to admit, that _did_ sound like something a Doggymon would do. "That does make sense when I think about it…"

Dorumon and Lopmon began walking closer to the Nasty Burger, when suddenly both of them stopped. Dorumon's fur bristled and Lopmon's ears went up. They sensed another Digimon nearby.

"Do you sense that?" Lopmon asked as he looked around. "Is it Doggymon?"

"No, it feels stronger," Dorumon hissed.

Then a strange looking human came walking out of the Nasty Burger. The 'human' appeared to be quite chubby, and wore blue pants, they had oversized shoes on their feet, a thick coat covering their body, and really big, and thick gloves covering their hands. They also wore sunglasses, and a big hat over their head.

"Is that a human?" Lopmon frowned. "Normally we can't sense humans… Uh… Can we?"

"I… don't think that's a human, Lopmon," Dorumon stated. "It's definitely a Digimon. Can't you feel the data?"

Dorumon's forehead gem glowed slightly.

Lopmon did feel the data. It also felt familiar… His facial fur went slightly pale. "Oh no…"

The 'human' stopped when they saw the two Digimon. "You!"

Lopmon backed away as Dorumon frowned.

The 'human' started running towards them. Lopmon yelped as he turned and ran, Dorumon, seeing this, turned to Lopmon before running after him, then he picked up the little rabbit and started moving quickly. The Digimon ran after them, holding out his huge gloves for some reason.

"Come back here!" The Digimon demanded.

"What's with that Digimon?" Dorumon asked as he looked at Lopmon. "Why are they chasing you?"

"It's Gargomon! He was one of my soldiers when I was Cherubimon, and he's been hunting me since I got here for some reason!" Lopmon answered.

Dorumon frowned at hearing that. "That isn't good. I think we need to lose Gargomon before we get the attention of the humans. I think a few are getting curious now."

"Head for the outskirts!" Lopmon quickly said.

Dorumon ran and kept running, trying to get out of the city.

"Why isn't he shooting at us? He's usually trigger happy with his hand guns," Lopmon questioned, seeing how Gargomon had been chasing them, but not shooting at them. "Surely those gloves aren't somehow holding his bullets back."

"I don't know, but I have a theory that he doesn't want to expose himself to the humans here." Dorumon pointed out.

"But why…? Why does he care if he exposes himself?" Lopmon wondered.

"Ask him when we get to the outskirts," Dorumon replied.

The Digimon finally made it to the outskirts of the city. Dorumon stopped running and turned to face Gargomon, who yanked off all his clothing, including his gloves, revealing his true self, though he kept his pants on.

"Finally…" Gargomon panted.

Lopmon frowned when he noticed a few wounds on Gargomon's body.

"What's going on? Why are you chasing Lopmon?" Dorumon asked, only to pause when he noticed the wounds himself.

"You may not know this, young Digimon, but that Lopmon is one of the three Celestial Digimon from the Digital World, and he is corrupted. He came here to try to rule or destroy the human world, and I'm here to stop him," Gargomon announced.

"What?" Dorumon frowned. "Lopmon isn't corrupted!"

"He speaks the truth!" Lopmon added. "I haven't been corrupted since I was reborn from my Digi-Egg!"

"Lies! You are just trying to trick me!" Gargomon snapped before holding out his hand guns.

"Stop! Calm down, we can talk this out," Dorumon quickly said. "Why are you so sure that Lopmon is corrupted?"

Lopmon looked at Gargomon, trying to not show any fear.

"Because from my perspective, you're just chasing after a friend of mine," Dorumon added.

"You shouldn't fall for Cherubimon's tricks." Gargomon frowned. "As for how I know, that's classified."

Dorumon just got into a fighting stance in case things went south. "Well, as far as I know, Lopmon has been nothing but helpful to me, my partner, and his partner."

"What? A partner? Your partner, what? What do you mean by 'partner?" Gargomon asked, confused.

Dorumon blinked. "I have a human partner. We work together and help each other. I can even digivolve with the help of my partner."

"Not every Digimon know about human partners, in fact, it's a very rare knowledge. I only knew about it because I'm a Celestial Digimon, and I saw you and your partner," Lopmon explained.

Dorumon frowned, but did nod in understanding.

"A human partner…? You can have a human partner?" Gargomon looked surprised before shaking his head. "No, I can't let myself get swept up by Cherubimon's brainwashing."

"Would I even be capable of brainwashing as how I am now, Gargomon?" Lopmon questioned. "What happened to you, Gargomon? Why do I see bits of wounds on you?"

Dorumon frowned again. _I noticed that too._ "Did someone attack you?"

Gargomon flinched away. "That's none of your business!"

Gargomon held out his hand guns. Dorumon and Lopmon braced themselves for a fight. Gargomon stared at them for a moment. Gargomon shook his head before he began firing laser bullets at the two Digimon.

Dorumon and Lopmon jumped away from the attack. Dorumon shot out his Metal Cannon at Gargomon's face, but the bullets destroyed the Metal Cannon. Dorumon frowned before he jumped again, using his little wings to hover over Gargomon.

Lopmon drifted behind Gargomon using his ears for lift, keeping him in sight. He took a deep breath and let out his Blazing Ice at Gargomon's back. With the two Rookies working together, the one Champion was having difficulty keeping up with them, and his old wounds weren't helping. Gargomon then began to fire around wildly, his laser bullets hitting the trees, bushes, and whatever else was around him.

Dorumon dropped himself from the sky and landed on Gargomon's head, blinding his eyes with his claws. Gargomon began to flail around, using up more of his bullets. Lopmon spun himself around, using Tiny Twister to try to redirect as many bullets as he could away from them, though Lopmon did get hit by a few bullets and hissed in pain as he fell to the ground. Gargomon's hand guns finally stopped firing bullets, he had run out of ammo.

When Dorumon saw that Gargomon ran out of bullets, he jumped off of Gargomon. "Did you get that out of your system?"

Lopmon landed as well, panting slightly. "I hope you aren't willing to fight anymore."

"I'm not done yet! I can still refill my ammo!" Gargomon snapped. "I can't stop until I either destroy Lopmon or take him into custody!"

Dorumon growled at hearing that. "So much for simply talking it out…"

Lopmon didn't like the sound of what he heard either. "I don't know if we _can_ talk him out of this…"

Dorumon shook his head. "Gargomon, you need to stop and think. Even if Lopmon was at one point corrupted, you have no right to judge him as he is now and say he's corrupted. He's done no such thing to confirm what you think. If someone else is telling you he's corrupted, and if they're the ones giving you those wounds we saw, then maybe you should stop and consider who is truly the one lying to you."

Lopmon didn't say anything this time, but he hoped Gargomon would consider Dorumon's words.

Gargomon frowned, but he glared. "I have no reason to believe you either, Digimon."

"I'm Dorumon," Dorumon informed. "And I ask that you at least consider what I said before you attack us again."

Gargomon stood there for a moment before he backed away. "I'll watch and see what happens. If Lopmon gives me any reason to attack him, then I will."

Dorumon sighed. _I guess that's the best we'll get from this situation…_ "Fine. That's acceptable at least."

* * *

_Later, outside of school, during lunch_

Dorumon and Lopmon decided to go back to Casper High to get something to eat. Lopmon wisely told Dorumon they wouldn't be able to fight much if they were running on empty. Dorumon full heartedly agreed, and the two Digimon went back. Lopmon easily slipped into the school to find Jazz, but Dorumon had to wait outside since he was too big, and other people would easily see him and freak out.

When Andy, Danny, and Sam came outside, Andy degenerated Dorumon back into Dorimon before carrying him with them. Andy did bring out some food from the cafeteria to feed Dorimon while he was talking to Danny and Sam.

"What do you mean you lost Valerie?" Sam asked.

"I mean she went to the girl's bathroom and never came back out," Andy grumbled. "That's why I asked you to check if she was still there, and you told me she wasn't!"

Sam held up her hands. "Calm down, Andy! I had no idea she would give any of us the slip either. She can't have gotten too far."

Danny was groaning as he landed beside Sam and Andy on the small hill they were on, he was currently in ghost form. "Guess what? Cujo got out of the Ghost Zone again! This is one bad dog, no matter how many times I toss him into the Ghost Zone, he digs his way out and he comes back to me!"

Sam groaned. "Great… We lost Valerie, and we have a ghost dog that won't stay away from the only other ghost in the area…"

Andy groaned, rubbing the side of his head for a moment. "Okay, let's take this one step at a time. We don't know where Valerie is, but we might be able to do something about Cujo."

"But how? Train him?" Danny grumbled. "He's a ghost dog!"

"Ghost dog or not, he's still a dog, right?" Sam asked. "I mean from what you told me, he acts very much like any other dog."

"He might already be trained," Andy spoke up. "Remember that collar we saw on him? He likely belonged to somebody in life, and that A symbol on his tag looked familiar, didn't it?"

Danny frowned here. "Now that I think about it, yeah, it does look familiar." Danny's eyes then widened a bit. "Like the A for Axion Labs…"

Danny remembered hearing Damon's boss talking about how they got rid of guard dogs before due to their new security system.

"So maybe it's possible whatever Cujo's looking for might be at Axion Labs," Andy theorized. "But before we can find out what it is, we'll have to call for him to come to us. Once we find the thing Cujo's looking for, he'll probably finally leave us alone."

"Yeah, probably." Danny agreed. He then looked at Sam. "Do you have anything that could help us with getting Cujo to obey us, like a book for dog obedience?"

"I doubt I have anything that'll have that dog obey us, but…" Sam dug out a book from her bookbag. "I was looking into dog obedience in case it might help us with your dog problems. I wasn't sure how well it would work on ghost or Digimon dogs though."

Danny smiled. "Well, anything would be a big help, even if it is a long shot."

Sam tossed Danny the book, but instead of catching it, the book went through Danny's torso, which startled Andy.

"What the heck!?" Andy flinched.

Danny looked at Andy. "What, bro? I'm half ghost, what did you expect?"

Andy touched Danny's torso for a moment, which startled Danny himself. "You're freaking solid! How did that book go through you?"

"I… don't know myself…" Danny said with a sweat-drop running down the side of his head. Danny then picked up the book and began to look through it. "Now let's see what this book says."

"While you're doing that, I'm going to go over there and watch from afar," Sam spoke up.

"Why?" Dorimon asked, who was lying comfortably on Andy's head.

Sam gestured to Danny. "For one, I can't be seen hanging out with a ghost kid. And another, I would rather not get caught up in a dog fight without proper equipment."

"Oh, but it's absolutely alright for people to see _me_ hanging out with a ghost kid?" Andy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, one, you're a Fenton." Sam pointed out. "And two, I am not."

Dorimon giggled at Sam's remark.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Andy pouted.

"Hello? You come from a family of ghost hunters, maybe you could pull a 'How To Train Your Dragon' and say you're trying to befriend a ghost instead of fighting it," Sam shrugged.

Danny snickered a little as Andy just stared.

"So what? Am I supposed to pet Danny now?" Andy sarcastically remarked.

Dorimon just lost it and fell off of Andy's head, laughing like a hyena now and rolling around on the ground.

"Yeah, you know what? I'm leaving you guys alone now," Sam rolled her eyes, though she was trying hard not to snicker as she walked off of the hill.

Andy looked down at Dorimon while Danny, trying hard not to blush from Andy's petting comment, was studying the book. Andy bent down and picked up the laughing Digimon.

"Okay, that's enough out of you," Andy grumbled.

Dorimon calmed down, but he still grinned at Andy, although his slight shaking said he still wanted to laugh but was trying to be respectful to Andy and not laugh.

"You have to admit, that was pretty funny bro, though did you _have_ to make that pet comment?" Danny asked, looking up from the book.

"Enough about that already," Andy huffed. "What does the book say?"

Danny flipped back to the beginning chapter. "Well, to start, it says a dog's hearing is much more acute than a human's, not that it's that much of an unknown."

"I think my ears are more acute than a human's," Dorimon remarked. "So I guess if I was far away, you could whistle and I would hear you."

Danny gave a chuckle. "Are you sure it's not because you look like a puppy?"

"I'm not a puppy!" Dorimon huffed.

"You know, you still haven't told us what you and Lopmon found while you were out in the city," Andy spoke up.

"Well… I wanted to wait until Lopmon and Jazz are with us before we say anything," Dorimon explained. "It seems to mostly involve Lopmon anyways."

Danny nodded. "Okay, we can talk after school about it."

"For now, perhaps you could try whistling and see if that gets Cujo running," Andy suggested.

Dorimon quickly curled up and used his little stubs to try to cover his ears.

Danny then whistled loudly, and as he had hoped, barking from in the distance was heard as Cujo came running towards them, in his small puppy form of course.

"Now listen carefully, Dorimon, do not, and I repeat, do _not_ scare off Cujo, we need him with us if we're going to find out what Cujo is looking for," Andy warned his partner.

Dorimon frowned, but nodded. "I will not scare him off… much."

Andy rolled his eyes and flicked the little Digimon's forehead. Then he frowned as he suddenly had the feeling like someone was watching them.

"Do you… think we're being watched? By someone other than Sam, I mean?" Andy asked Danny quietly as he cautiously looked around.

Danny looked back. "I'm not getting that feeling. Why? Are you?"

"Maybe I'm just paranoid." Andy frowned. "By the way, you should probably find a way to get Cujo to stop before he pounces on you."

Danny nodded. "Right." He looked at the book. "Hand signals and vocal commands are a powerful combination." Danny then looked up and held out a hand in the 'stop' command. "STOP!"

As if on cue, Cujo came to a stop, panting as he looked up at Danny.

Danny blinked. "So you might be right, Cujo is likely already trained."

"Yeah, we should take a closer look at the collar. It might be Axion Labs, but I want to make sure before we go barging into a government facility," Andy said.

Cujo was smiling as he wagged his tail, and looked like he was about to jump at one of the brothers, but he stopped when he saw Dorimon looking at him from Andy's head, as if saying 'I'd like to see you try, pup.'

Cujo backed down from his attempt to jump on one of the twins, but he continued to look at Danny happily, wagging his small tail. Since Danny didn't have a protective Digimon on him, however, he decided to jump on Danny. Danny let out a small yelp as Cujo pushed him down the hill.

"Danny? Are you okay?" Andy called when Danny was at the base of the hill.

Danny looked up with a chuckle. "Yeah. I'm fine. Cujo's just excitable it seems."

Then, as if something was waiting for Danny to have moved away from Andy, a red and silver missile went flying past Andy and Dorimon, and was going straight for Danny and Cujo.

"What the!?" Andy yelped in shock at the missile that suddenly went past him.

Danny looked up, only to see the missile and his eyes went wide before he grabbed Cujo and jumped away, landing on the ground away from the missile's explosion.

As soon as the missile had exploded, it left a rather large crater on the ground. Alarmed, Andy looked back to see who shot that missile.

"Look! Above you!" Dorimon warned.

Andy looked up, and was surprised to see a… disturbingly familiar figure. A person wearing a red suit with a full mask over their head, concealing their identity, riding on a metallic hoverboard, flew down. Whoever was in the suit, however, did have a small problem keeping their balance on the hoverboard.

"What the? Who are you?" Andy demanded._ This… red suit person… didn't I daydream about them the other day? I didn't think they were real!_

The red suited person looked down at Andy and Dorimon, but then seemingly ignored the duo to focus on Danny instead. Danny, who had put Cujo down after the missile explosion, floated closer to the crater, but stopped when he saw the red suited person.

"Hey, what the heck was that for!?" Danny demanded.

"For ruining my life, ghost! You and your ghost mutt!" The red suited person growled back.

Andy blinked, recognizing that voice._ No way… is that Valerie?_

Danny likely recognized the voice too, and frowned._ Oh-no… I knew she would try to use those weapons Vlad sent her, but I didn't think it would be so soon. I thought she'd at least try to get some practice in, preferably after Cujo stopped coming here!_

The red suited person, Valerie, let loose another missile at Danny, who flew away to dodge the explosion. Andy frowned as he tried to run after them, but there was no way in all of the Infinite Realms that he would be able to keep up with them on foot, and he couldn't just turn Dorimon into a giant fox dragon in public.

Dorimon looked down at Andy. "What do we do?"

"Who was that?" Sam spoke up, running over to Andy and Dorimon.

"I think it's Valerie." Andy frowned. "I knew I should've kept a closer eye on her!"

Sam blinked. "Hold on, that was _Valerie?!_ How did she get ghost hunting weapons?!"

"Danny said that Vlad likely sent her those weapons, he saw Vlad looking through Valerie's window when he went to see if Valerie was doing alright. But we don't know why Vlad would send Valerie ghost weapons," Andy explained.

Sam frowned. "Wow. Vlad is definitely nuts if he sends a teenager ghost hunting weapons."

"He is nuts, in more ways than one," Andy groaned.

"What are we supposed to do?" Dorimon spoke up. "Just stand here and watch?"

Andy noticed Cujo was still there, looking confused and worried at Danny.

"I've got an idea," Andy quickly slid down the hill and went over to Cujo. "Hey Cujo, you see that ghost boy?"

Cujo blinked before smiling at Andy.

"Fetch him," Andy commanded.

Cujo looked at Danny, only to see someone attacking him. Cujo began to growl as he then turned into his large dog form and ran over towards Danny and his attacker, barking all the while.

Cujo grabbed onto Danny's leg, dragging him away from Valerie, who gave chase on her hoverboard. Though Valerie came close to falling off of her hoverboard.

"Bring him back here, boy!" Andy called to Cujo, whose ears perked up, and started running in their direction.

Andy then grabbed Sam's arm and began running towards some bushes. "Hurry, hide! We have to make sure Cujo and Danny get out of sight!"

Sam gave a yelp when Andy grabbed her arm, but nodded when she heard his comment. "Okay."

Cujo raced towards Andy, Sam, and Dorimon with Danny in tow. Danny was yelping along the way, he was _not _enjoying being dragged around everywhere by a giant ghost dog, with a hunter who might be his classmate shooting at him the entire way.

_When this is over, I am _so_ getting back at you, bro!_ Danny thought as he bumped his head on the ground a few times due to being pulled along like a chew toy.

When Andy and Sam jumped into the biggest bush they could find, Cujo jumped in after them, finally letting go of the ghost boy, who looked a little worse for wear after being dragged through the ground, and several smaller bushes.

"We need to get Cujo out of here, or shrink him down and hide him! We have about twelve seconds before Valerie gets here!" Andy hissed.

Cujo shrank down into his puppy form, happy he had done a good deed for the boy, only for Danny to grab Cujo and turn invisible with Cujo in his arms.

"No, don't turn invisible!" Andy suddenly spoke up in alarm. "Change back!"

"There's no time!" Sam yelped before she tackled Danny.

Dorimon tackled Cujo around the same time in a panic, pushing them both a little further away.

Valerie came flying in, holding out her bazooka, only to see Sam was on top of Danny Fenton, kissing him, and a very surprised and confused Andy watching them.

"Ugh… Loser love! I did not need to see that!" Valerie exclaimed before flying off, leaving behind some heavy winds as she did so, completely missing Cujo and Dorimon, who were in another bush.

With Valerie gone, Andy stared at his brother and Sam, as if trying to decide whether or not this was a dream, because he really couldn't tell at that moment.

"What?" Sam asked as she looked back at Andy. "It was the only thing I could think of!" However, she was blushing slightly at what she had just done.

Danny looked like he was smiling dreamily however.

Sam noticed Danny's look. "Um… Danny? Danny!"

Danny looked over at Sam. "What?"

"You didn't think that was a _real_ kiss, did you?" Sam asked, nervous now.

Danny tried to hide his blushing. "What? No!" He looked unsure himself. "Why? Did you, Sam?"

Sam bit her bottom lip, looking very sheepish.

Andy still hadn't quite snapped out of his shocked trance.

Sam looked back at Andy. "Um… Andy? Are you okay?"

Andy blinked, and then started to laugh a little hysterically. "I knew it! I'm dreaming!"

"What? Dreaming about what?" Danny asked his brother, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey!" Dorimon shouted, getting everyone's attention, he was dragging puppy Cujo with his teeth. "What are we going to do with this dog?"

Andy groaned as he wiped his face, still trying to come to terms with what just happened. "Valerie became a ghost huntress, Danny and Sam kissed, and I'm hiding in a bush with a talking creature carrying a ghost dog in its mouth."

"Don't mind him, Dorimon, I think he's in shock right now," Sam assured the little Digimon.

Danny looked at Andy. "Bro, that wasn't a real kiss. Just calm down."

"Oh sure it wasn't a real kiss, because when two people smack their lips together willingly, then it totally isn't a real kiss," Andy sarcastically replied.

"I had to think fast to get Danny to change back!" Sam defended.

"And I wasn't really enjoying that!" Danny added.

"Oh yeah, your dreamy smile earlier totally screamed you not enjoying that," Andy pointed out.

Danny went redder than a tomato at that comment. "ANDY!"

"Hey! I know you three are having a bit of a lover's quarrel, but can we please focus on this dog?! Its ectoplasm is nasty," Dorimon grumbled.

Danny looked down at Dorimon. "Sorry, Dorimon. We _should_ get Cujo out of here." Danny reached down and picked up Cujo.

"We don't have a lot of time before lunch break is over," Sam spoke up. "We'll have to hide Cujo until school is out for the day, then we can figure out what Cujo is looking for."

"Toy!" Cujo barked, and only Danny heard the word.

"Did you just say 'toy'?" Danny asked as he eyed Cujo.

"That's right, you did say you could understand Cujo's barks," Andy remembered.

"Yeah, but I can't really have a conversation with him," Danny reminded. "All I know is that he's apparently looking for a toy, which doesn't really narrow it down."

Sam sighed. "Well, we can get to the bottom of this after school."

"Yeah, but where are we going to hide Cujo?" Danny asked as he held up Cujo.

Andy looked at Danny's purple backpack. "Put Cujo in there. As long as Cujo doesn't try to get out or turn big, he should be fine hiding in there until school lets out. Dorimon always seemed pretty snug in my backpack."

Danny nodded. "Sure, bro." He opened up the backpack and set Cujo inside it. Cujo barked happily before snuggling up in the backpack, looking quite content.

"Now we just gotta hope Valerie's ghost gadgets doesn't detect him," Andy muttered.

"I think as long as Cujo remains small and far away from Valerie, whatever ghost tracking device Valerie may have won't alert her to him," Danny said. "After all, I had to be really close to Cujo when he's a puppy for me to sense him."

Sam nodded. "I think that makes sense." She then gave a smile at the now sleepy-looking Cujo. "And I think we won't have a problem with Cujo for now. He looks like he wants to sleep in your backpack, Danny."

"What? Do ghosts sleep?" Dorimon asked, confused.

"I… have no idea…" Danny admitted. "I mean I sleep, but I'm half human too, so I wasn't really sure if full ghosts could sleep."

"Maybe they go into stasis, which is a type of sleep for ghosts, helps them recharge themselves," Andy theorized. "We can look into it later, we better get back to school before the late bell rings."

Danny and Sam nodded as Danny picked up his backpack. "Okay, let's go then." Danny said.

Andy picked up Dorimon and put him back into his own backpack and followed Danny and Sam back towards Casper High.

* * *

Danny, Sam, and Andy just told Tucker about the incident, and why Danny currently had a ghost puppy in his backpack.

"Wait, you two actually kissed?" Tucker asked in surprise.

"Oh yes, they definitely kissed," Andy confirmed.

"No!" Danny and Sam countered at the same time. "It was a Fake-Out Make-Out!"

Tucker snickered at their reaction.

"A fake out make out where you two were literally smacking lips with each other," Andy replied. "Maybe we should make it official~"

"Oh yeah, I always knew this day would come!" Tucker smirked.

Danny blushed. "ANDY!"

"It's not funny!" Sam added. "It was the only plan I had!"

"Really? Why was your only plan to save Danny was to tackle him down and kiss him?" Andy questioned.

"I couldn't think of anything else!" Sam exclaimed, feeling embarrassed now. "We had only seconds to come up with something!"

"And the first thing that came to your mind was to kiss him," Andy concluded. "You know, that alone already speaks volumes of what you think when it comes to my brother."

Danny and Sam were blushing so hard that their faces resembled tomatoes.

However, before Tucker could add on to that, Danny and Sam were saved from further humiliation when Tucker ran into Valerie, who dropped a few books when Tucker ran into her.

"Uh… Hi." Tucker said as he turned around to face Valerie. "Um… Let me help you with those." He knelt down and began to help her pick up her books.

Danny, seeing Valerie, decided to walk away since he didn't want to risk her picking up on Cujo. Sam followed him since she wasn't in the mood to deal with Valerie herself.

Andy, seeing Valerie was a friend, even if she wasn't a close one, decided to help pick up the books too, he doubted her ghost hunting equipment would pick up on Digimon.

"Ghost Hunter's Almanac?" Tucker read one of the titles of the books he picked up.

"Ghost Killing for Dimwits?" Andy read the other he picked up. "I didn't even know they had a book like that for ghosts… Also, killing? Seems a bit odd to use for ghosts."

"Um… I can explain…" Valerie stammered out.

"When did you get so interested in ghosts?" Tucker asked.

Valerie frowned before she took her books back. "Oh, let me think… when they ruined my life."

"Valerie, I'm worried about you," Andy said. "I know you're going through some hard times, but trying to… um… find satisfaction in how to 'kill' ghosts isn't going to help make your situation any better."

"Why shouldn't it?" Valerie shot back. "I lost a lot because of those two ghosts! My dad lost his job, we're living pretty much with the rats, and I've been kicked out of my circle!"

"Like I said, those people weren't your friends in the first place. You can have real friends who actually care about you, and will try to support you through these hard times," Andy stated. "It really sucks that your dad lost his job, but life happens, even if ghosts were responsible, that doesn't mean he couldn't have gotten fired some other way if his boss was being that unreasonable about it! Besides, you might start getting the idea in your head to actually try to go after those ghosts yourself if you keep reading books like that, and keep thinking the ghosts ruined your life. That's dangerous, Valerie, it's a dangerous mindset to have, and it's not healthy."

"Dude, you sounded way too much like your sister there," Tucker said to Andy, and Andy elbowed him in the side, indicating that now was not the time for such comments.

"Even so, I still want to get back at those ghosts." Valerie said. "And your parents, being ghost hunters, might have the right idea on how to handle ghosts."

"My parents really aren't the best sources for this." Andy frowned. "I understand that you're angry, and you feel it's justice for destroying those ghosts, but think about it for a moment. The dog ghost was able to destroy the security system your dad made for Axion Labs, meaning they are powerful and dangerous, meaning even experienced ghost hunters would not take them lightly. And even if you did somehow manage to destroy the ghosts, what's that going to do for you? It's not going to get your dad's job back."

"Maybe not…" Valerie frowned. "But it will definitely feel good to get some justice."

Andy frowned himself, he wasn't sure if he could reason with Valerie about this since she seemed pretty dead set on getting vengeance on his brother for something that wasn't even his fault.

Tucker looked between his friend and Valerie nervously. He had to diffuse the tension somehow, but nothing was on his mind at the moment. _What can I use to diffuse this tension?_

Looking down, he saw the last book. "Myths and Ghosts? What's that one about?"

Valerie looked down at the book. "Oh… That one… It's about myths involving ghosts and other supposed ghostly beings. It looked interesting. I read it and realized I never knew there were other types of ghosts out there."

"Just the other day she didn't even know a ghost when she saw one…" Dorimon whispered.

"Studying ghosts is fine, I guess," Andy remarked hesitantly. "But don't do anything stupid, like actually trying to hunt them yourself. I don't want you to get hurt out there."

"I appreciate the worry, Andy, but I can take care of myself," Valerie argued back.

"If you can take care of yourself, then actually _do_ that instead of obsessively trying to find ways to 'kill' ghosts," Andy said back.

Tucker looked between the two again before he grinned a bit. "If I didn't know any better, Andy, I would say you were concerned for Valerie~"

"Of course I'm concerned for Valerie," Andy grumbled. "I'd be a horrible person if I wasn't!"

"Well don't be concerned about me! I don't need you acting like a mother hen!" Valerie snapped.

"You obviously need a mother hen since you're thinking about putting your own life in danger because of some stupid grudge!" Andy snapped back.

"Will you two stop it and kiss already!?" Tucker spoke up.

That actually got the two to stop and stare at the African-American boy.

"W-what did you just say?" Valerie asked, feeling her face heating up for some reason.

"Look at the way you two are arguing, you sounded like a couple," Tucker replied.

Valerie wasn't sure how to respond to that at first. "A-Andy and I are _not_ a couple!"

"Could've fooled me~" Tucker grinned, glad to see his tactic worked, they stopped yelling at each other in favor of defending themselves.

Or at least, that was what Tucker was hoping for. Andy, not appreciating getting the 'kiss' tease brought back to him, picked up Valerie's books, who blinked at him. Then Andy dropped the books on top of Tucker.

"Here, why don't you carry this for Valerie? You have quite a bit of a conversation to catch up on," Andy said before he started to walk away. "Have fun you two."

Dorimon, in Andy's backpack, was trying hard to keep his laughter contained. _Andy has a crush~_

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** You will have to see. Things will improve, but it won't be so easy.

**Luna Lillyth****: Andy:** Yes, the dogs are quite annoying. Thanks for that pun, I'm sure someone enjoys it quite well.

**ZAFT:** But the pun fits, so no need to apologize. :3


	26. Two Boys and Two Dogs

**ZAFT:** ***Glomps*** You're back!

**DarkFoxKit: **Oof! Oooooh… not so rough, my whole body is sore from laying on that hospital bed for 4 days straight.

**ZAFT:** Sorry… ^^'

**Andy:** We're glad you're back, we've missed you.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, but my… trial isn't quite over yet. I'll just be glad to put all of it behind me as soon as possible.

**ZAFT:** I have a hunch as to what is going on, but… I will just let the professionals handle it. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** I just hope it goes by quick and easy…

**Andy:** Don't worry, we're here to support you every step of the way.

**ZAFT:** As cheesy as Andy's comment sounds, it's true. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Thanks. Now let's get the readers to the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Two Boys and Two Dogs**

Until school let out for the day, Danny knew he would have to keep Cujo content in his backpack. He couldn't try to find out what it was the ghost dog was looking for until then. But Valerie was keeping him on his toes. He would turn a corner, and Valerie would be there. Danny would quickly go in the other direction since he didn't want her picking up on Cujo's ecto signature.

Then Danny ran into Takuya. "Oof!"

Takuya dropped some of his books in the process.

"Ow!" Takuya stumbled back, rubbing at his nose. "That's gonna smart… Jeez Danny, where's the fire? You looked like you were ready to bolt or something."

"S-sorry, Takuya, was just having a bit of a stressful day," Danny apologized as he started helping pick Takuya's books up.

"What's got you stressed anyway?" Takuya asked. "Something ghost related?"

"Sort of." Danny frowned. "I'm mostly worried about Valerie, she's been… a bit obsessive with ghost hunting stuff lately."

Takuya raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's… odd. Why would she suddenly be interested in ghost hunting?"

Danny frowned as he rubbed the back of his head. "Um… you remember that Phantom kid, right?"

Takuya frowned. "I do…" _I'm not liking the direction this is headed, whatever it is. Does it involve Phantom, who is inside Danny?_

"Well, he tried to stop this big ghost dog from going into the Axion Labs, where Valerie's dad was working as the head of the security system. Sadly, Phantom didn't do so well in trying to control that dog, and the dog ended up destroying half of the labs. So Valerie's dad got fired and had to pay for the damages, so he and Valerie are now broke, living in an old, run-down apartment. Valerie blames ghosts for this," Danny surmised. "It also didn't help that Vlad sent her ghost weapons."

Takuya gaped at that last comment. "Hold on… Vlad sent a _teenager_ ghost weapons?!" He then regained himself after his brain caught up with the rest of the information. "Okay, Valerie's dad lost his job because of ghosts destroying the lab where he worked, albeit not intentionally, and now Valerie is blaming all ghosts for what happened. Yeah, that's messed up."

"Yes, it is…" Danny frowned before he looked at Takuya. "I'm surprised you didn't know any of this… I thought Andy would've told you about it."

Takuya frowned. "Yeah… That's the odd thing. It's like he's avoiding me lately."

"Andy?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "Would he have a reason to avoid you?"

"I don't know…" Takuya sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I just know he hasn't been hanging around me lately."

"Maybe he feels he shouldn't because you're catching up with your friends from Japan?" Danny asked.

Takuya frowned, he did recall that Andy stopped sitting with him at lunch as much since Koji and Koichi came to Casper High. Andy never gave any indication that he was uncomfortable though.

"Maybe…" Takuya hesitantly replied. "But Andy never mentioned he was feeling uncomfortable with me doing that…"

"I doubt he's uncomfortable with it, he just probably wants to give you some space," Danny shrugged. "You could try talking to him about it if you're worried though. Not talking could lead to… misunderstandings after all…"

Danny frowned a little, remembering how he had treated Andy before he finally let his brother in on his secret. A part of him wondered what would have happened if he hadn't told Andy he was part ghost, and how long they would have continued to be apart because of it. Danny then wondered about Takuya, and considered telling the older boy about his secret.

Takuya looked at Danny and noticed he looked like he was thinking about something. "Danny? Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Danny blinked before shaking his head. "Just that there are a few things I need to handle before I… consider something."

Takuya wondered if Danny was thinking about telling him about his connection to Phantom. If Danny did decide to do that, what would Takuya do?

"O-okay…" Takuya said, unsure of what Danny was going to actually do. "I'll let you do that then…"

Danny walked past Takuya, and when he did, Takuya felt a small bit of heat, he could sense something supernatural coming from Danny's backpack.

Takuya looked back at Danny's retreating form, eyes focused on the backpack. _What was that? It felt like a ghost but… here in school? And why was it coming from Danny's backpack?_

* * *

To say Andy wasn't happy would be an understatement, he was frustrated beyond belief. He wanted to punch the next tree he saw, or have Dorimon melt it with acid bubbles. While chemistry class was going on, Andy had trouble concentrating.

"I can't believe her… she's going to try to destroy my brother over some stupid grudge, and something he couldn't control," Andy muttered under his breath.

"I mean you can't blame her, she did lose everything because of what happened at Axion Labs," Tucker whispered.

"She's throwing her own life in danger over a grudge, Tucker. If it wasn't for the fact that it was Danny she's gunning for, she would likely have gotten_ killed _on her first day," Andy growled.

"Dude, calm down!" Tucker exclaimed. "It's not her fault she can hold a grudge. That's just how Valerie is."

"It is her fault that she's so damn stubborn," Andy hissed. "How could I just stand by and watch while Valerie tries to destroy Danny? And what if she goes up against a strong and merciless ghost like Skulker? He would skin her alive!"

To his credit, Tucker paled at that imagery in his head. "Uh… good point." He actually looked a bit sick to his stomach too.

Andy sighed, rubbing the temples of his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm just… I've been feeling a bit stressed out these past few days. Valerie becoming a ghost huntress really didn't help."

Tucker put a hand on Andy's shoulder. "Andy, I know it can be hard, but you have to remember, you can only do so much to stop Valerie. If Valerie is a ghost huntress, then the best you can do is at least try to help Danny avoid her. Valerie might have the equipment, but does she really know how to use it well? You grew up around that stuff. Danny has you as an edge over her."

"I guess," Andy sighed. "I just wish there was some way to talk her out of it."

Andy poured a vial into another, and this caused a puff of purple smoke to cover the two boys.

"Ugh… Okay, that is not cool…" Tucker groaned as he tried to wipe off his safety goggles.

"Nice work, Andy, you trying for a new look?" Valerie sarcastically said from the table next to his.

"Hey, I look good in purple," Andy huffed. "Better than red at least…"

Valerie looked tense when she heard Andy say that. "You don't know that!"

"Know what? If it was red, I'd look all bloody," Andy clarified.

Valerie turned away, trying to avoid eye contact with Andy. She definitely looked a bit nervous now.

_Ugh, I need to get that ghost dog its toy so it can go home! I can't take anymore of this stress!_ Andy shouted in his mind before the lights in the room started to flicker.

"Uh… I think Doggymon is messing with the electricity…" Dorimon whispered.

_That's it, somebody's turning into a Digi-Egg today!_ Andy inwardly growled.

Dorimon looked at Andy. "Should we go and stop Doggymon?"

Andy tried to move, but then the lights went completely out, causing the room to become pitch black. There were a lot of noises as people were tripping over the desks, there were glass shattering noises, some people yelled that someone stepped on their foot. Andy tried to move, but he ran into something. He saw something glowing green before it was gone.

_It must be nice to have ghost powers and the ability to see in the dark._ Andy grumbled to himself as someone stepped on his foot. "Ow!"

Dorimon looked at Andy. "Are you okay?"

"I'm on the ground in complete darkness, with someone stepping on my foot," Andy hissed. "Okay is not exactly on my-"

Then Andy stopped for a moment. "... Dorimon… can you see in the dark?"

Dorimon blinked. "I'm a Digimon. My senses are sharper than a human's, so, yes, to an extent I can see in the dark."

"Great, can you help me get out of this dark room then?" Andy requested.

"I will do my best." Dorimon replied.

Andy picked up Dorimon and put him on his head. "Tell me which way to go."

With everyone yelling and the teacher trying to calm the kids down, it was easy for Dorimon to tell Andy which direction to go without needing to be quiet. Nobody could see the 'talking stuffed animal'. By the time Andy got to the door, he opened it, only to see it was dark in the hallway too. He would have to rely on Dorimon again.

"Keep going down the hall here," Dorimon said to Andy as he ran down the hallway, hoping Dorimon would stop him if he was about to run into something.

There was nothing in the way at first, which was good for Dorimon and Andy.

"We're clear so far. This hallway seems empty right now." Dorimon noted.

Then they heard what sounded like snickering, and someone shouting in frustration.

"What's-"

_"__Pyro Tornado!"_

All of a sudden, a cyclone of fire lit up the hallway, which was pretty scary to a random person trapped in this darkness. Andy yelped as he ran to the wall to avoid the fiery tornado.

"You can't catch me! You will never catch me!" A voice snickered in the darkness when the fire tornado dissipated.

As the flames dissipated, the familiar form of Agunimon could be seen in the fading light, and he did not look very amused at the situation. Of course, given how it was dark in the hallway, with the dimming flames, the Legendary Warrior looked almost… sinister in a way, even though he was a protector of the Digital World.

_Gosh that's creepy!_ Andy shivered.

Andy was about to have Dorimon digivolve, but then they heard more cries coming from the other side of the hallway. "Now what?"

"That was Lopmon!" Dorimon said in alarm. "Something must be wrong."

"Lopmon is with Jazz…" Andy frowned in worry.

Since Agunimon was going after Doggymon, Andy decided to go check on Jazz and Lopmon, worried that something may have happened to his sister. He had no idea where Danny was.

"Head down that hallway to the left." Dorimon instructed. "It will lead us to where the cries came from."

_Where is everyone? I haven't seen Dash, Koji, or Koichi in this darkness. Maybe they couldn't find a place to hide so they could evolve? I guess their evolution WOULD be pretty bright in this darkness. Takuya might've been in the bathroom when this blackout happened._ Andy wondered.

Dorimon and Andy turned the corner of the dark hallway, and they both stopped in shock and fear. They could see red eyes glowing in the darkness, seeming to be staring at them menacingly.

"Get away!" Jazz's voice shouted in the darkness.

"Jazz!?" Andy called out.

"Andy? Get out of here!" Jazz yelled frantically.

Dorimon tensed up as his fur bristled. "That's a Digimon…"

Andy felt a sudden shiver of fear going through his body.

"Where's Lopmon!?" Andy called out.

"Don't think that your little Digimon would be a match for me," A sinister voice said in the darkness.

Dorimon jumped down from Andy's head, his body glowed as he digivolved into his Rookie form. During the evolution, Andy caught a glimpse of the Digimon, it looked like a black demon with torn up wings. There was no other way to describe it, the Digimon looked like a devil.

As soon as Dorimon became Dorumon, the red gem on his forehead glowed, giving some light for Andy. Andy's D-Arc beeped before showing a hologram of the devil Digimon.

"Devimon, a Champion level Digimon, a virus type. Devimon is an Evil Digimon. Its body is clad in jet-black cloth. Although it was originally a shining Angemon-species Digimon, it was lured to the Dark Side by DemiDevimon and fell to the Dark Area, becoming a fallen angel," Andy read._ Why are there literal fallen angels in the Digital World?!_

"Too… strong…" Andy looked up, hearing Lopmon's voice. "Can't… beat him…"

Since Dorumon's gem was glowing, Andy could see Jazz sitting against the lockers, holding onto an injured Lopmon in her arms.

"A DemiDevimon… showed up… and digivolved…" Lopmon informed weakly.

"I was ordered to capture Lopmon, however…" Devimon gave an evil grin as he began to reach out with one of his long arms. "I find it more fun to play with my victims~"

_We have to get this thing out of here before he hurts someone!_ Andy frantically thought.

Looking at Andy, Dorumon could see the look on his partner's face. "Andy, if you're thinking what I assume you are thinking, we need to get Devimon out of here now."

Dorumon faced back at Devimon._ "Metal Cannon!"_

Devimon swiped Dorumon's metal balls away with his hand. "Pathetic."

Andy and Dorumon moved before Devimon could grab them with his hand. "Come on, Dorumon, you need to digivolve again!"

"Right!" Dorumon agreed.

However, as Andy's D-Arc started to glow, Devimon turned around and suddenly stretched out his hands. Andy's eyes widened before the hand grabbed his throat and threw him onto a wall. Dorumon's eyes widened as he couldn't digivolve like this.

"You want to know how I digivolve?" Devimon grinned as he looked at Andy. "Did you know Digimon could feed off of a human's emotions? I could sense so much anger, hatred, and negativity from that girl, the one you called Valerie. It was not only delicious, but it powered me up! And now I wish to feel more!"

Andy's eyes widened when he saw Devimon's hand that was wrapped around his neck started to glow black.

"Andy!" Jazz called out in worry.

Dorumon jumped and landed on Devimon's head, using his claws to scratch Devimon's eyes, forcing him to let go of Andy.

Before Dorumon could jump off of Devimon though, a clawed hand grabbed the Rookie-level Digimon and slammed him into the wall, earning a cry of pain from Dorumon.

_"__Death Hand."_ Devimon's hands glowed black.

At this, Andy managed to get back onto his feet, grabbed onto his Fenton Rod in his pocket, extend it and slam it into Devimon's side, getting him off of Dorumon before his hands shot out some kind of black energy that went through the school's roof, and causing one of the lights to fall and hit the ground.

Dorumon glared at Devimon, trying to not show any fear on his face as he stood back up.

"Andy, be careful!" Jazz called out, having seen one of the lights fall from the ceiling.

"You should get out of here and get to safety, Jazz. Lopmon is in no condition to fight," Andy warned.

Jazz frowned. She knew Andy was right, but she didn't want to leave her brother behind either. "Yes, but…"

"Go see if you can find some help, get Danny, or T- Agunimon, or any of the other Digimon that we know are on our side, and hurry!" Andy frantically said, not wanting to stand in one place for long.

Jazz nodded. "Okay. I will see if I can find someone! You better be careful!" She then stood up and ran off to find help, as well as get Lopmon to safety.

Devimon lashed out both of his hands._ "Touch of Evil!"_

Knowing what that could do, after having seen Devidramon used it on Agunimon before, Andy and Dorumon wasted no time dodging. Andy rolled across the floor while Dorumon ran to the otherside. When Devimon pulled back his arms, Andy came in close and tried to hit Devimon with the Fenton Rod, however, Devimon sent out some kind of dark energy. Whatever the energy was, it made Andy see something he didn't expect to see, and he froze up in fear. He wasn't seeing Devimon anymore, but his brother in his ghost form, smirking evilly at him, and his once green eyes were a crimson red.

This hesitation cost Andy, and Devimon lashed out his claws._ "Deadly Nail!"_

Dorumon, sensing something was wrong with Andy, ran towards his partner as fast as he could. He pushed Andy, but the nails did manage to scratch Andy's arm, causing it to bleed, and it did slash Dorumon's back as well. Both of them fell to the floor in pain.

Dorumon grunted as he got to his feet, glaring at Devimon as he moved to protect Andy.

_Damn it! I can't believe I fell for that!_ Andy hissed as he dug into his pocket, his arm bleeding from the scratch._ I don't know where everyone else is, but it's time to stop playing around._

Andy then held up the device and his card. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. _"Phantomon's Shadow Scythe activate!"_

A dark scythe appeared in Dorumon's claws. Though Dorumon's back was hurt, he was still able to fight. Devimon reached out with his hands again, Dorumon used the Shadow Scythe to hit the arms, causing a bit of a cut on Devimon's hands. Dorumon ran up to Devimon with the scythe, using it to defend against Devimon's arms.

Andy then took out another card as Dorumon got close. He slid the card through his D-Arc like he did with the Shadow Scythe._ "Digi-Modify! Frigimon's Icy Breath activate!"_

Dorumon then took a deep breath and let out the Icy Breath attack, catching Devimon off-guard as he slowly froze up, the attack ending when Devimon was a solid ice statue.

Unfortunately, that didn't last long as Devimon's wings suddenly heated up, melting the ice._ "Laser Wing!"_

Devimon then lashed out his arm past Dorumon, who was taken by surprise and didn't react quickly enough before Devimon grabbed Andy. "You two are an annoyance. You shall go together."

Dorumon felt helpless to help Andy. Still, he had to try to save his partner, so he jumped onto Devimon's head again and began to scratch and bite at his face. But this time Devimon was ready, he grabbed Dorumon with his other hand. Then he threw them up, making them hit the ceiling before Devimon's hands glowed.

_"__Death Hand!"_

Devimon fired the dark energy at both of them. Andy's eyes widened as the energy hit both of them. There wasn't actual pain on his body other than the cut on his arm, but he felt himself slipping away from reality. He felt his soul being torn apart from the attack.

_"__Bunney Pummel!"_

The attack suddenly stopped, leaving Andy to gasp for air before he and Dorumon fell. Someone caught them. Dorumon was surprised to see it was Gargomon. Devimon had hit the wall when Gargomon punched him with his hand guns.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Gargomon snapped at the Devimon. "We're not supposed to attack the humans!"

Devimon looked back at Gargomon in anger. "You dare to interfere?! I believe the Master will be mad if this gets out to him!"

"The Master will get mad at you for trying to kill a human! We were only supposed to take Lopmon into custody!" Gargomon shouted.

"Forget the Master! I will become stronger than the Master and eat his data for thinking he could control me!" Devimon announced.

"You've lost it," Gargomon hissed.

Dorumon looked over at Gargomon. "Thanks for the save back there. We would have lost if not for you."

"Yeah…" Andy groaned, remembering Dorumon had mentioned this Gargomon earlier when he and Lopmon went out to find Doggymon.

"I'm glad that your soul wasn't ripped out of you, human," Gargomon said in relief when he noticed Andy spoke.

Devimon flew up, intending to attack all three of them. "You will all die!"

Suddenly the lights came back on, which caused all four of them to shut their eyes due to the sudden brightness. This allowed Gargomon to fire out his laser pellets, even though he was firing somewhat blindly. Devimon let out a cry at being shot rapidly by Gargomon's rapid fire.

Dorumon saw that and then ran back at Devimon and jumped up, biting down on one of the evil Digimon's wings with his sharp teeth. Seeing this, Andy held onto his Fenton Rod with his good arm and threw it as hard as he could. The rod went through Devimon's chest, causing Devimon to cry out in pain and agony as a ring of fractal code appeared around his body.

As soon as the ring of data appeared, Dorumon jumped off and landed in the ground next to Andy. "Nice shot."

"Yeah…" Andy then took out his D-Arc. "Time to purify this darkness."

Andy swiped the fractal code with his D-Arc's slider. "Fractal Code… digitized!"

The code went into the D-Arc, creating a card in the slider as Devimon had reverted back into an egg.

Just then, a sudden gasp was heard as Dorumon whirled around, seeing that same girl from before, the one whom was called Valerie. "Uh…" He nudged Andy. "Andy…?"

Andy put the card and the D-Arc into his pocket, before holding onto his hurt arm and turned around. Valerie was staring at him with wide eyes, well him, Dorumon, and Gargomon.

"What…?" Was all Valerie could say in her shock.

Suddenly, Danny Phantom flew into the roof and flew into Valerie's body, overshadowing her. Andy couldn't help the relief when he saw the green glowing eyes Valerie now had. 'Valerie' looked at Andy's arm and gasped.

"Andy? What happened to your arm?" 'Valerie' asked in shock.

"Digimon attack… nobody else was around to help us," Dorumon answered.

"Yeah, nobody else was. Where the hell were you!?" Andy snapped, having lost most of his patience for the day.

"Long story…" 'Valerie' admitted. "When the lights went out, Cujo suddenly became on high alert, he jumped out of my backpack and turned big. I think he was sensing danger. I couldn't see anything in my human form, so I transformed to follow Cujo, but… Valerie's suit probably had night vision, because she began to chase us through the school and outside. Cujo and I were just able to lose her. But I felt something… disturbing. I felt you fading all of a sudden. I got worried so I grabbed Cujo and hurried back into the school, just in time to see Valerie walk in on you while you were scanning that Digimon's fractal code."

"What are you going to do about Valerie seeing that?" Dorumon asked.

"I can make her forget, remember?" 'Valerie' reminded. "Like that time I did it for everyone else after the Bakemon and Phantomon attacked."

Dorumon nodded. "Then go for it. I don't want her to attack."

Andy sighed as he looked at his bleeding arm. "I should go see the nurse before this gets infected. I leave Valerie to you…"

"Wait… if you can make Valerie forget things, why not have her forget about ghosts?" Dorumon suggested.

"That won't work. I can only make her forget things she saw recently, and besides, if I did make her forget about the incident, she'll be wondering why she and her dad are living in a run-down apartment," 'Valerie' explained.

Dorumon sighed. "So much for that idea…"

"We'll...figure something out for Valerie," Andy sighed. "For now, we'll work on Cujo, then Doggymon… and my arm."

Dorumon suddenly looked back, only to see Gargomon was gone. "Hey, that Gargomon is gone!"

Andy sighed. "Must've slipped away while we were talking."

"Oh… don't worry about him, bro, if he's not causing trouble, then you just focus on getting to the nurse," 'Valerie' said before sighing. "I can't leave you for a second."

Andy couldn't help but chuckle. "No, I guess you can't."

Andy looked at the Devimon egg before he had his D-Arc take it inside so he could take it to a Trailmon later._ I'll have to talk to Lopmon about that Gargomon and that Devimon. They were talking about how their Master wanted them to capture Lopmon._

* * *

Due to the chaos that Devimon caused in the school, Casper High let the students go home early. The staff needed to call some people to repair the lockers, walls, and lights that Devimon destroyed or ruined.

Jazz was walking home, holding onto Lopmon close to her chest.

As Jazz made her way home, she saw Takuya coming over, looking disgruntled about something if the way he was muttering under his breath was an indication.

"Hey, Takuya." Jazz said as she looked at her cousin. "Are you in a bad mood?"

Takuya almost jumped when he heard Jazz's voice before he regained himself. "Oh! I didn't see you there, Jazz." He then sighed. "You could say something got me in a bad mood, yes."

Jazz blinked as she looked at her cousin. She could see he had a few bruises on his arms, but she figured it was due to the lights going out and bumping into things in the dark; that was probably what got her cousin miffed, at least she thought it was. She decided to ask just to be sure. "What is it that got you in a bad mood?"

Takuya sighed. "Just... Let's just say I wasn't exactly able to do something I needed to do."

Jazz frowned here. "What was it you needed to do?"

"That's… something I would rather not talk about right now…" Takuya muttered.

Looking again at her cousin's bruises, Jazz had to wonder if Takuya had been involved in some kind of fight.

Before Jazz could ask, she heard someone calling her. "Jazz! Are you alright?"

Andy came up to Jazz, giving her and Lopmon a look of concern.

"I'm fine… when the lights came back on, I went back to see if you were okay, but… I didn't see anyone," Jazz answered. "I was worried, but… a friend of mine assured me you were fine. I'm sorry, I tried to find someone to help, but I could barely see where I was going in that pitch blackness! I was worried you might've gotten hurt or worse!"

"Jazz! Jazz, calm down, it's fine, everything's okay," Andy quickly reassured his emotional sister.

Confused, Takuya looked at Jazz and Andy. "Did something happen?"

Jazz looked at her cousin here. "Um…" She was unsure if she should tell Takuya what happened or not.

"I'll talk to Takuya about it," Andy volunteered. "You should get home and… treat any injuries you may have."

Andy then whispered to Jazz. "Danny will be watching over you while you go home. I told him what happened before school let out. I'm going to try to find Doggymon before he causes more trouble."

Jazz gave a nod to Andy. "Okay, just be careful. That Digimon could be anywhere." As soon as she said that, Jazz then turned and walked off towards the house, leaving Andy with Takuya.

Andy wished he could see Danny while he was invisible, but he could only trust that his brother was currently following her, he just hoped that Valerie didn't find him with her ghost seeking suit. He also hoped Danny was able to erase Valerie's memories of seeing him and Dorumon.

With Jazz walking out of earshot, Andy turned to face his older cousin.

"So, what happened?" Takuya asked as he looked at Andy. "What made Jazz freak out about you?"

"There was a Digimon attack at school, and no it wasn't Doggymon," Andy sighed.

Takuya blinked. "What Digimon was it? I thought the only ones in school were Dorimon, Lopmon, and Doggymon."

"A dark Digimon called Devimon. He attacked Jazz and hurt Lopmon. Dorumon and I managed to fight off Devimon. But there… was a chance I might have…" Andy stopped there before shaking his head. "We got lucky that a Gargomon was in the school too and helped us take down the Devimon. Though I don't know where the Gargomon is now."

Takuya was shocked. There were _more_ Digimon in the real world now?! "Andy, while I'm grateful you defeated Devimon, why didn't you mention there are more Digimon in the real world?!"

"There's a very good reason why I didn't mention there were more Digimon in the real world," Andy said.

Takuya crossed his arms. "And what's that?"

"I literally just found out when I was almost crushed by Devimon," Andy replied, crossing his own arms.

Takuya sighed. "Okay. I… I'm sorry. I just had a rough time against Doggymon. He escaped… again…"

Takuya then noticed some bandages on Andy's arm, Andy was trying to keep it hidden by keeping his arm behind him.

"I figured as much. But the Doggymon may be the least of our problems." Andy frowned. "Gargomon and Devimon mentioned something about a Master who wanted them to capture Lopmon."

"Capture Lopmon?" Takuya asked. "And how did you get those bandages on your arm?"

"I had a cut…" Andy said softly. "It's not a big deal. And yeah, I can't say I know why they want Lopmon, but apparently they do."

Takuya frowned, but decided to not question Andy about the cut. "Well, whatever the reason, we may have to keep an eye on Lopmon, just in case those Digimon come after him again."

Andy nodded.

"Hey, Andy…" Takuya spoke up.

"Hmm?" Andy blinked.

"You… want to look for Doggymon together?" Takuya asked.

"Oh… uh… sure? Wouldn't you rather go with Koji, Koichi, or Dash though? They could keep up with you easier," Andy asked.

Takuya frowned. "Well… Yeah, but I thought it would be good for us to do something like that together."

Dorimon popped out of Andy's backpack. "I think it'll be more fun to do it together, like old times, eh?"

"Old times?" Andy chuckled. "Really?"

"I mean… you've been mostly doing stuff with Danny lately, you haven't really been going with Takuya a lot," Dorimon pointed out.

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Is that true?"

Dorimon nodded. "Yeah, it is."

Takuya gave a grin. "So, what do you say?"

Andy gave a small smile before he nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry if it seems like I've been avoiding you, Takuya, it wasn't my intention to do so. If it seems that way, please let me know, the last thing I want to do is treat you like how Danny, Tucker, and Sam treated me."

Takuya nodded. "Okay then! Dog hunting we go~!"

* * *

Danny was relieved to see Jazz got back home fine, he had been worried when Andy told him that she was attacked by Devimon earlier. He wanted to know who or what was sending these dangerous Digimon after Jazz's partner.

"I'm going to have to do some investigation," Danny sighed before he pulled Cujo out of his backpack. "After I figure out what to do with you. Well, at least school is out, so…"

Danny let Cujo go. Cujo floated beside Danny, smiling and wagging his tail.

"Okay Cujo, show me where your toy is," Danny said.

Cujo blinked.

"... I mean, fetch your toy!" Danny pointed.

Cujo barked happily and ran off in the sky to where his toy was.

Danny flew after Cujo. Cujo ran and ran until he reached the building of Axion Labs and stopped in front of the main building. Cujo barked happily, showing what he wanted was inside.

_Well crud, I was actually hoping it wouldn't be in the Axion Labs, but… that was wishful thinking. Of course it would be here, why else would Cujo ransack the place before?_ Danny sighed. "Okay, let's just go intangible and-"

Danny stopped when he heard voices and footsteps walking towards them. At first, Danny was going to grab Cujo and go invisible, but he then sensed something. It was faint, so it was hard to tell if he wasn't looking for it, it was too faint for Danny's ghost sense to be visible, but he definitely sensed some ghost powers. He recognized that particular ghost power. Alarmed now, Danny grabbed Cujo and flew up, hoping to get out of radar while turning invisible.

"Stay quiet, boy," Danny whispered to Cujo.

Cujo must've understood or he sensed Danny's anxiety, because he stayed quiet.

Three people started walking down the hallway Danny and Cujo were just at. Damon, the Axion Labs' owner, and… Vlad Masters himself.

Danny was tense now. _What the heck is Vlad doing here?!_ He didn't like what he was seeing one bit.

"I appreciate the second chance." Damon said as he walked beside his boss and Vlad.

"As long as nothing else happens, we'll see about reinstating your contract." The boss replied. "And it was on insistence from Mr. Masters here that we give you that second chance."

Vlad gave a grin. "Well, what kind of person would I be if I didn't help someone in need out?"

Danny raised an eyebrow at hearing this. _Wow… Vlad helping out Valerie's dad? Who would have guessed?_

"I can't thank you enough, Mr. Masters." Damon said gratefully.

"Oh, don't mention it." Vlad replied. "And please, just call me Vlad. I have to say, I am interested in what you have working here."

"Perhaps you would like the tour, Mr. Masters?" Damon's boss asked.

"That would be splendid." Vlad replied. "I would like that very much."

The three men soon turned the corner, leaving Danny and Cujo behind. Danny frowned.

_Well, this just got a lot harder. I could've just easily phased into the lab while having Cujo lead me to where his toy is, but with Vlad here, he's bound to sense us if we get too close…_ Danny frowned.

Danny looked down at Cujo and sighed to himself. _I guess I have to find another way to get that toy…_

Danny flew out of the Axion Labs and sighed. "Okay, Cujo, we'll find a way to get your toy, but we need to be careful. That guy in the lab is a very powerful and dangerous ghost, we don't want him to find us in there. So we may need some help."

Cujo gave a small yip, sounding like he was in agreement with Danny. Danny chuckled at hearing that. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you agree with me."

"Danger ghost! Don't want pain! Get help!" Cujo barked.

"Heh… I guess that means you do actually agree with me," Danny sheepishly grinned, still finding it weird that he could, somewhat, understand Cujo. "Let's see… Tucker might be good to keep the security quiet, that way we don't trigger anything and risk getting Mr. Grey in more trouble… but there's still the matter of dealing with Vlad."

Danny sighed before he landed on the ground, then he pulled out his cell phone. He called up Tucker. "Tuck? Hey, yeah, uh… can you come meet me near the Axion Labs? And make sure you bring your PDA."

Danny frowned before he grumbled. "No, you don't need to bring Sam. … No! She is not my girlfriend!"

Danny sighed. "Just get down here, please. I _really_ need your help." Then Danny sighed in relief. "Thanks, Tuck."

With that, Danny hung up as he looked at Cujo again. "Well, I got some help from Tucker. Now we just need to find a way past Vlad."

"Danger ghost! Bad!" Cujo barked.

"Yeah, I know." Danny sighed. "I just wish I knew what to do to get past Vlad…"

* * *

"You sure I can't just digivolve and fly through the city?" Dorumon asked as he and Andy were walking around the park.

"Yes, I'm sure," Andy sighed. "We got lucky last time, but if you digivolve into your Champion form here, people are going to see you. I'd rather they didn't call the government because they saw a large dragon fox creature flying around."

Dorumon frowned. "That is true… That doesn't sound like it would be a good thing."

"Besides, Doggymon can't fly anyways. Agunimon has the top covered since he can jump from building to building like a freaking ninja, we're covering the ground," Andy remarked. "Now where is Dash? He'd be perfect for tracking down Doggymon."

"Don't you remember? Dash got assigned to a group project," Dorumon reminded.

"Oh yeah… he's gonna be staying at school late today for that," Andy sighed.

Dorumon looked around, trying to see if he could spot Doggymon or even his shadow. "Hmmm… Now where would I hide if I was a Doggymon?"

As if on cue, someone gave a sudden shout not too far away. "HEY! Some weird kid wearing a dog costume just stole my Nasty Burger!"

Andy and Dorumon looked at the direction the scream came from before they hurried over. They saw Doggymon snickering as he was gobbling up the Nasty Burger he apparently stole.

_Of course, Digimon had to eat too, so it was a matter of time before he had to eat._ Andy realized.

Doggymon noticed the two and quickly started to move.

"Hurry, after him, Dorumon!" Andy said as he and his partner ran after Doggymon.

Andy grabbed onto his D-Arc as he and Dorumon ran after Doggymon and used it to page Takuya.

The symbol of Flame appeared on the screen. _"What is it, Andy? Did you find Doggymon?"_

"Yeah! Dorumon and I are in pursuit right now!" Andy answered.

_"__Where are you and Dorumon located?" _Agunimon replied from over the D-Arc.

"We're near the park right now, and we're heading northwest!" Andy replied back.

_"__Okay, I will be there."_ Agunimon answered. _"I should be able to see you from the rooftops when I get close to your location."_

"Dorumon, try not to let Doggymon get away!" Andy called out.

"But how? None of my attacks are going to slow that rubber thing down!" Dorumon frowned.

"If only I could have time to modify your Metal Cannon…" Andy frowned. "Wait, I might have something that could help us!"

Snickering, Doggymon turned around and faced the duo of Andy and Dorumon. He took a deep breath and let out a loud howl that sounded shrill to their ears and sent waves of pain through Dorumon's hearing. Dorumon winced as he cried out in pain and put his claws to his ears, which were now throbbing.

"I've had just about enough of this thing," Andy grumbled as Doggymon snickered at them once the attack was over.

Andy pulled out a glowing purple grenade. He activated the grenade when he and Dorumon got closer and threw it. The grenade exploded, leaving a purple sticky substance, unfortunately Doggymon managed to dodge the grenade.

"Well that's just great… public services aren't going to be happy to have to clean that one up." Andy frowned.

Dorumon shook his head, feeling his hearing coming back to normal somewhat. "Ouch…" He rubbed an ear before turning to face Doggymon again. "That was painful…"

Doggymon bounced up on top of a streetlight laughing at them, and annoying the two. "You'll never catch me~ You're too slow!"

_"__How about from me?!"_ A familiar voice shouted as a red-armored Digimon's foot hit Doggymon's face. Agunimon had heard the loud howl and had rushed over as quickly as he could. "Didn't expect me, did ya?"

The Warrior of Flame landed on the ground, the force of his kick having knocked Doggymon off of his streetlight perch.

Doggymon, being the slippery rubbery Digimon that he was, stretched his body around Agunimon despite the Warrior of Flame's grip.

"Wha- hold still you little troublemaker!" Agunimon shouted.

Andy and Dorumon came up, and Andy had another glowing grenade. "I… apologize for this, Agunimon!"

Before Agunimon could ask, Andy tossed the grenade at both him and Doggymon. Agunimon yelped as the grenade exploded, covering him in harmless but sticky and gooey glowing substance.

Doggymon yipped as the grenade went off, covering him as well. The rubbery Digimon tried to get away, but found he was stuck, despite his ability to stretch. "W-What is this?! Let me out!"

"Takuya! Finish it! You're in blank range, turn that troublemaker into an egg and let's be done with him!" Andy shouted.

"I'll gladly do it myself if you prefer," Dorumon added, clearly annoyed with the Doggymon.

"Wait! No! No! No! Don't turn me back to a Digi-Egg! If you do, you won't find out the secrets the fallen one has!" Doggymon suddenly spoke up.

Agunimon growled as he heard that. "What secrets?!" He demanded as he grabbed Doggymon.

"How do we know you're not bluffing to try to get out of this?" Dorumon snapped. "You've caused a lot of trouble for us these past few days. You're in no position to negotiate!"

"Hold it, let's hear him out first, and then decide what to do with him," Andy spoke up.

"The fallen one opened the gate between our worlds, and came here. He's taking certain Digimon to try to find someone," Doggymon informed.

"Who is this fallen one?" Agunimon growled out. "Tell us."

"I don't know their name! I just know they are the cause of many unusual problems!" Doggymon replied back.

"This… fallen one, did they send you here to find this someone?" Dorumon asked.

"Yes," Doggymon said. "But it's a pain, I just wanted to cause a little bit of chaos in this sleepy town."

"Your _chaos_ ended up getting a man fired, and putting him and his daughter in a rat infested apartment because they lost nearly all their money." Andy, calmly yet angrily, said.

Agunimon hadn't heard Andy that angry before, and he felt bad for his cousin. However, he returned his focus to the matter at hand, which was Doggymon. "So, you were sent here to find someone. Do you know who you were sent to find?"

"I was sent here to find Cherubimon," Doggymon answered. "But I haven't seen him anywhere. I figured I would just wait until he comes out of hiding, he's pretty hard to miss. Not that I would be able to fight him. I don't really understand the fallen one's logic."

Agunimon blinked, a bit surprised that Doggymon had no idea that Cherubimon was not in his Mega form. Still, he shoved that aside for the moment. "So why does the fallen one want to find one of the Celestial Angel Digimon?"

"I don't really know, they just insist that Cherubimon is corrupted again and needs to be either brought down or captured," Doggymon replied before he grinned. "But if you ask me, the real corrupted one is the fallen one, or what they preferred to be called; the Master."

"Gargomon said something about this Master too," Dorumon noted. "And so did that Devimon we defeated."

Agunimon frowned. "It seems this Master is planning something, and needs Cherubimon out of the way, or at least out of the picture for a while."

"Who knows. Angering the Master will result in getting hurt, a lot," Doggymon remarked.

"Were you ordered to cause trouble for people?" Andy asked.

"No… we were ordered to not be seen by people," Doggymon answered.

"Then why did you release a ghost dog from the Ghost Zone to cause people trouble? Something that went against the Master's orders?" Andy snapped.

"Why should I have to listen to the Master? It wasn't my choice to come here, and I wanted to see some chaos. That dumb ghost dog was the easiest ghost to bring out," Doggymon replied back.

Agunimon gritted his teeth at hearing that. "That ghost dog caused a lot of trouble, and it cost a person his job! How is that funny?!"

"Why do I care about some random human's job?" Doggymon questioned.

"Dorumon… take him out," Andy hissed. "He has nothing more useful to say."

Dorumon gave a smirk. "With pleasure…" He eyed Doggymon with that smirk.

Doggymon's eyes widened. "N-no wait! Please! There is one more thing I can tell you!"

Agunimon held up a hand. "Wait. Let's hear what he has to say before we do get rid of him."

Doggymon visibly relaxed at hearing that.

"So, the fallen one is unknown, but I do know that someone who works with him is currently at Axion Labs right now. I think they have some kind of plan for that place," Doggymon stated.

"What?" Agunimon was visibly confused. "Who works with the fallen one?"

"Heck if I know. I just know that he's a human," Doggymon replied.

At that, Andy suddenly paled. "Agunimon, I trust you'll be able to take care of Doggymon?"

Agunimon saw Andy's face pale and he too felt nervousness rushing through his body. "Yeah… I can. Just get down to the lab…"

"Wait! I can be useful! I can smell where that human is, you don't even know where or who to look for!" Doggymon quickly spoke up.

"As if we'd trust you. Give us one good reason why we'd bring you with us, I'm sure we can find this guy ourselve," Dorumon spoke up.

Agunimon nodded. "I trust these guys can find this human on their own." He then gave a glare to Doggymon. "But you I have no reason to trust…"

Doggymon suddenly pulled out his secret weapon; the puppy dog eyes. Despite his unusual appearance, somehow Doggymon was able to transform his entire face to look like such a sad, weak, abused puppy who was looking at someone to help their poor souls, and expecting to be kicked again.

Agunimon saw the puppy dog eyes, but he wasn't too moved by it. He kept his gaze firmly on Doggymon. However, he did feel a bit of regret coming through him and his hard gaze softened just a bit.

Dorumon blinked as he looked at Doggymon's puppy dog eyes, but didn't react much.

Andy on the other hand… despite all the trouble Doggymon caused to Valerie, he had a soft spot for animals, dogs especially. "... Agunimon, keep a sticky substance on one of your hands and keep a hold on him."

Agunimon looked at Andy in surprise, but he did as Andy asked. "Any reason why?" He made sure he was holding Doggymon by the scruff of his neck.

"Like he said, he could be useful in finding this guy," Andy answered, not looking directly at Agunimon. "We can't afford to waste a lot of time trying to track him down."

"Yeah right, you just couldn't resist those puppy dog eyes," Dorumon rolled his eyes.

"Hush Dorumon, you don't know that," Andy huffed.

Agunimon couldn't help but grin at that. "Sure he doesn't~"

Doggymon looked at the readers and gave a wink and a thumbs up.

* * *

The evening sun had set over the horizon. The night had covered Amity Park with a blanket of shadows. The city turned on its lights to make it easier to see. However, out in the Axion Labs, it was pretty dark in the area.

"Are you sure about this, man? You might get caught, even with the security system turned off," Tucker asked his friend, who was kneeling down beside him in some bushes.

Danny gave a nod. "Yeah, I am, Tuck." He then pointed at Cujo, who was sitting next to them, panting happily. "This little guy won't leave until he gets his toy."

"Maybe you could just keep him as a pet," Tucker suggested.

"That's even more hazardous to my health," Danny sighed. "Not only would I have to make sure my parents don't find him and try to tear him apart, I also have to keep him from going on a rampage looking for his toy, and I rather not have another Valerie situation, thank you very much."

Tucker held up his hands. "Okay, it was just a suggestion. I won't stop you from trying to get his toy."

"Sorry Tuck, I've just been stressed out," Danny said. "Let's just get this over with."

Danny looked at Cujo. "Okay boy, let's go over this again. Turn invisible."

Cujo smiled as he turned his body invisible.

"Stay silent," Danny ordered.

Cujo didn't let out a bark once, instead panting happily as he wagged his tail.

"Good boy," Danny smiled.

"Whoa… did you train him?" Tucker asked, surprised to see the ghost dog was doing what Danny ordered.

"A little bit, mostly just have him understand these basic commands since I don't want him getting us caught," Danny replied. "I just hope it's enough."

Danny then transformed into a ghost himself and floated up. "Keep the security system off until I come back out, Tuck."

Tucker nodded. "Okay, dude. I can do that no problem."

Danny smiled before he turned invisible himself.

"Okay, Cujo, fetch your toy," Danny ordered.

Since Danny could sense ghosts, even while invisible, he could tell when Cujo flew off, and Danny flew off towards Axion Labs after him.

Danny and Cujo flew towards the lab, making sure to stay invisible before coming for a landing near the wall Cujo had run to the last time they were at Axion Labs.

"Okay, boy… Let's get inside and find your toy." Danny said before he turned intangible. "Okay, turn intangible."

Cujo turned intangible at Danny's command before flying through the wall. Danny followed Cujo into the lab, flying through the wall himself.

_I hope we can get to the toy before someone else comes along, like Valerie, or worse, Vlad._ Danny thought with anxiety, wishing they could go faster, but if they moved too fast, they're more likely to be caught. Going faster would expend more ghost energy, which Vlad would easily sense._ And since that fruitloop's ghost powers are so strong that I can still sense them even while he's in human form, I know he's still here._

Danny looked around nervously, but Cujo seemed happy to be looking for his toy. He seemed to be making a beeline for a certain area too.

As they were about to phase into another wall, however, an ecto blast shot Danny into another wall. Danny lost his invisibility and intangibility.

"Oof!" Danny groaned.

Cujo turned and saw the red-wearing human was there. He growled and returned to his visible form, growing into his larger size in response to Danny being attacked.

"I have you now, ghost!" Valerie said as she aimed her blasters at Danny. "Thought you could return to the scene of the crime to try and finish what you started?"

"Wait, please stop!" Danny spoke up. "I didn't come here to cause trouble, I only came to-"

"Likely story, ghost kid!" Valerie snapped, interrupting Danny.

"Hold on!" Danny exclaimed, trying to give himself some breathing room. "It's not what you think! I only came for something else!"

Valerie, having decided she heard enough, fired the bazooka at Danny. At the same time, Cujo jumped at Valerie, pouncing her off her hoverboard. Danny yelped as he went intangible by instinct, going through the wall behind him when he was hit by the ecto blast.

"Whoa!"

Danny lost his intangibility just before he landed on someone.

"...You may be a ghost… but you're not super light…" A familiar voice groaned from under Danny. "Please get off…"

Danny looked down, only to see his brother below him. "Andy?! Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" He floated off of Andy, giving his twin some breathing room. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… you're really not that heavy as a ghost, b- uh… Phantom," Andy said, stretching his body out.

Danny blinked as he realized he was outside, and not only that, Dorumon and Agunimon were here as well. Danny was surprised Andy had somehow convinced the local hero Digimon, yes that is what Danny decided to label Agunimon as, to follow him all the way out here. Agunimon appeared to be holding onto that troublemaking Doggymon as well.

"How did you get the Legendary Warrior to agree to come all the way out here?" Danny asked as he looked at his twin. "I assumed that it would be more difficult."

"Not as difficult as you'd think. Dorumon and I were chasing after Doggymon when Agunimon showed up to help us out," Andy answered. "But that's not important right now. Phantom… is… Vlad in the Axion Labs?"

Danny sighed. "He is. I could sense his ghostly energy easily."

Agunimon looked like he was a bit pale at hearing that for some reason, making Danny raise an eyebrow at the Digimon's reaction to that news.

Suddenly they heard roaring and barking noises in the Axion Labs.

"What is going on in there?" Dorumon asked.

"Oh no… Valerie and Cujo!" Danny paled.

Danny turned himself intangible to fly back towards them, however, Andy acted quickly and grabbed onto his brother's hand before he went intangible, which turned Andy intangible as well, and Danny, in his haste, didn't seem to notice this, and flew back into the Axion Labs, taking his brother with him, and leaving Agunimon, Dorumon, and Doggymon outside, unable to follow.

Danny flew back in, returning to tangible form, coming to a hover inside the lab. He felt a weight drop off of his hand and looked down. "Huh?"

"Uh… so that's what it feels like to be intangible… neat," Andy's voice said.

Danny's eyes widened as he looked down at Andy, surprised to see his brother was holding onto his hands.

"Andy!? What are you doing!?" Danny hissed. "This is too dangerous for you!"

"I just reacted, okay?" Andy groaned.

Danny sighed. "I can't blame you, I guess, but that was still dangerous to do!"

Both brothers snapped out of their argument when they heard Valerie's voice screaming.

"Valerie!" Both boys shouted.

Danny looked at Andy. "Okay, there's no time to argue. Just follow me and stay out of sight if you can find a place to hide." Without waiting for Andy to respond, Danny then flew off in the direction Valerie's screams came from.

Danny saw Cujo was on top of Valerie in his large form, his mouth open, ready to bite her head off.

"N-no! No, stop, Cujo!" Danny frantically shouted, getting the large ghost dog's attention. "It's okay boy, just sit, no biting."

Cujo listened to Danny, sitting down, but keeping an eye on Valerie so she didn't try anything towards Danny. He wasn't about to let the red-wearing human hurt the ghost boy helping him.

Relieved to see Cujo wasn't going to eat Valerie's head, Danny gave a sigh of relief.

"Let me go!" Valerie demanded now that she wasn't in immediate danger. "Let me go so I can destroy you both!"

"Oh yeah, that's a total motivator to let you go," Danny sarcastically quipped. "You know, Cujo attacking you is all your fault, right? We were simply here to pick up something Cujo left behind, and we would leave. But you decided to attack me, and sent Cujo off into a rage."

Valerie growled. "I doubt that highly, ghost! You just returned to finish the job! All ghosts are evil!"

"Hey!" Another voice shouted.

Danny's eyes widened, surprised that Andy came running towards them instead of finding a place to hide. "What are you doing?"

"Andy!? What are you doing here!? Careful! These ghosts are vicious!" Valerie shouted, despite her having no reason to believe Andy knew who she was under that mask.

"I grabbed onto Phantom when he flew back in here," Andy answered simply. "Also, vicious? I think the ghost dog was vicious because you scared him and hurt a friend of his."

Valerie seemed surprised at Andy's response. "Can't you see these ghosts are attacking because they don't care about humans? They returned to finish their previous work!"

"Well…" Andy poked Danny's shoulder, making Danny raise an eyebrow at him. "He doesn't seem to be attacking me."

Valerie was surprised to see that was indeed the case. "W-wha…?" It was like her brain stopped working for a bit.

"Phantom, you go ahead and try to get Cujo to tell you where his toy is, I'll see if I can talk to Valerie," Andy instructed.

Danny nodded. "Sure, Andy." He then looked to Cujo. "Okay, boy. Fetch your toy!"

Cujo gave a bark before he turned intangible and flew through the wall. Phantom looked at Andy and Valerie for a moment before he went intangible to follow the dog, mostly to make sure he didn't make more of a mess.

Andy looked at Valerie, who was still shocked that Andy was just talking to a ghost of all things like it was his best friend. Andy, the son of two ghost hunters, being friends with a _ghost. _Valerie knew something had to be wrong here.

"What was _that_ about?" Valerie demanded. "Why are you all chummy with a _ghost_?!"

"He might be a ghost, but he's intelligent like we are. He speaks the same language as we do, he has emotions like we do. What makes him different from us? That he can fly and go through walls?" Andy asked.

"You're the son of ghost hunters! _You_ of all people should know that your parents have said ghosts are evil. That ghost could be manipulating you to get you to trust it so it can trick you and make me distracted!" Valerie shot back, her emotions clouding her mind now. "Like you are right now!"

Valerie looked ready to go after Danny and Cujo, but Andy quickly reached out and grabbed her arm. "Valerie! Don't make hasty decisions because you're angry. Listen to me… please. I know that you want revenge for how the ghosts got your dad fired and made you two live in poverty, but taking them out isn't going to bring you your money back."

Valerie frowned. "Like I would listen to you since you've obviously been brainwashed!"

Andy frowned. "At least think about what I said, Valerie. Really look at the ghost kid the next time you try to hunt him. Just like how there are no pure evil or pure good humans, the same could be the same for ghosts. Ghosts were once living people too, you know. I don't see how death makes them evil."

Valerie paused to think for a moment. Andy had a point, but those ghosts had ruined her life. _Why would I care? Those things are just echoes of something that was once living!_ Still, to at least satisfy Andy, she gave a nod. "I will try, but don't expect me to stop hunting that thing down."

"I suppose that's the best I can ask from you then," Andy sighed._ Just please don't actually kill my brother._

Valerie turned for a moment. "You better get out of here, Andy, before my dad catches you and you get in trouble."

That was all Valerie said before she summoned her hoverboard from her shoes, which made Andy stare in surprise and wonder that her entire hoverboard were tucked in her shoes, before she flew across the hallway to try to go after Danny and Cujo.

Andy heard his D-Arc ringing, which reminded him that he still had it with him, and that both Takuya and Dorimon must be worried sick about him by now. Andy took out his D-Arc and answered it.

_"__WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?"_ Agunimon's voice had never sounded so angry before.

Andy gave a sheepish chuckle. "Uh… I wasn't?"

Agunimon sighed over the line. _"I should have expected as much…"_

_"__Are you okay?"_ Dorimon's voice asked over the D-Arc.

"I'm fine, don't worry. I'm more worried about Danny and Cujo right now. And if Vlad knows we're here or not." Andy frowned. "Can you sense Tsukaimon anywhere near here?"

_"__I can, but it's faint."_ Agunimon replied. _"It's like his digital signature is muted or something."_

"He must be in hiding then…" Andy muttered. "Alright, I'll see if I can find a way out of here and meet up with you-"

The lights suddenly flickered in the hallway, making Andy look up in concern. Axion Labs wasn't known for its poor lighting or electricity. Something was likely causing an interference._ What is this, a horror movie now?_

Off in the distance, a form appeared, standing there for a moment, covered in shadows as the lights flickered again. The form slowly began to approach Andy, making its way over to him. As it got closer, the lights flickering made it seem like this form was more of a specter, as the face was unable to be seen clearly in the flickering lights. A hand slowly reached up and out towards Andy as the figure got ever closer to his personal space.

Andy had faced with ghosts before, but there was something different about this one. It wasn't floating, nor did it have that ethereal look to it, or that ghostly aura, but the figure did feel powerful. The lights kept flickering, adding to the creep factor.

_This_ is_ a horror movie, and I'm about to die._ Andy paled as he backed away from the approaching figure. "T-Takuya… I think I'm in a horror movie!"

With that said, Andy started running away. He wasn't sure if this figure was some alien shadow monster, or Vlad, or Tsukaimon in his digivolved form, or even another Devimon. Either way, Andy was screwed if he ran into any of them, especially without Dorimon.

_"__Andy?! Where are you in the labs?!"_ Agunimon's voice wafted over Andy's D-Arc, the concern clear in his tone as he spoke. _"Are you alright!?"_

"I-I'm in a hallway somewhere! I-" Andy was cut off when something big suddenly jumped at him. "WAH!"

Whatever pounced him made him drop his D-Arc. Then a firm hand was planted on his mouth to keep him from screaming.

"Shhh! Do you want to alert the others we're here!?" A voice hissed.

Andy blinked open his eyes, surprised and confused.

The voice was deeper than Koichi's, but not by much, and the form was revealed to be none other than Lowemon, the Warrior of Darkness. "What are you doing here?"

Lowemon removed his hand from Andy's mouth to allow the boy to speak.

"What am I doing here? What are _you _doing here? How did you even get in here? And why were you being so creepy?" Andy hissed.

"This place needs better guards if a kid can take a uniform and sneak it." Lowemon replied, a smirk to his voice. However, that faded when he spoke again. "And as for why I am here, I sensed a strong Digimon presence here. As for why I was 'being creepy' as you put it, I don't want to be discovered by the Digimon here."

"Oh yeah, cause flickering the lights would totally keep you hidden from whatever Digimon is here," Andy grumbled sarcastically.

"That was not me." Lowemon pointed out.

The lights were still flickering. Then there was what sounded like explosion noises coming from behind the walls. Andy frowned, wondering if that meant Valerie found Cujo and Danny and decided to attack them anyways.

"We need to move," Andy said before remembering he dropped his D-Arc.

The boy turned for a moment before seeing his D-Arc on the floor and picked it up.

"Does the reason we have to move have to do with those explosions?" Lowemon asked as he stood up.

* * *

_This is so not my night…_ Danny groaned as he was moving quickly.

Ecto blasts were being shot at him, Danny managed to dodge.

He and Cujo managed to reach an old kennel. He could tell the guard dogs used to be kept here before Damon became the head of the security system. There were cracks and cobwebs. Danny frowned, wondering why they didn't refurbish the room instead of just letting it rot away. Cujo was barking happily at one of the old mattresses.

Danny landed in front of the mattresses and dug his hand under it, feeling around for something. He heard a squeak. Danny smiled as he pulled out what appeared to be a pink teddy bear that squeaked when it was squeezed. "Is this what you've been looking for, boy?"

Cujo looked at the toy and barked happily. "Toy! Found toy!"

"Great, now please just go home, and stay there!" Danny said before he tossed the toy.

Cujo quickly went after the squeaky toy and grabbed it with his mouth. He looked back at Danny, wagging his tail gratefully, before he suddenly disappeared. He didn't go invisible, Cujo literally vanished into thin air. Danny suspected the dog likely moved on to the afterlife rather than just going back to the Ghost Zone now that he had his toy with him.

Danny smiled as he saw that, happy he had helped a ghost to move on. _Heh… All he wanted was his toy._

However, Danny's happy moment was rudely interrupted when an ecto blast hit him in the chest. Danny yelped as he was flung back onto the ground from the sudden blast. He frowned when he saw Valerie floating above him on her hoverboard, pointing her bazooka at him.

"Come on, really? I just helped the ghost dog move on, he won't be a bother to you anymore! So enough with the shooting already!" Danny yelled.

"For all I know, you could have that ghost dog trained to come back at your command, ghost boy!" Valerie snapped back.

"No! That wasn't even my dog!" Danny quickly explained. "He was likely one of the guard dogs that was trained to protect this lab, until they were euthanized once the Axion Labs got better security. That one likely came back as a ghost because he wanted his favorite toy before he moved on!"

Valerie paused, not sure of what to make of that statement. Her mind was telling her that the ghost boy was trying to trick her, but her heart was telling her that was not the case. In truth, she was torn now.

_Destroy him! He deserves it! He could be lying! Because of him and his stupid dog, you and your dad are now living in poverty! You're literally living with the rats!_ Valerie screamed at herself._ He's just a ghost, he's not actually alive._

Valerie began to aim her bazooka at Danny. "Oh yeah? Not all humans are naive! Don't think you can trick me, ghost boy!"

Valerie shot her bazooka again at Danny. The ghost boy quickly dodged. Valerie kept firing as she chased after Danny, who was trying to find the best way out of the lab, and Valerie's gun ended up hitting one of the alarms. This triggered the alarm system to go off in the Axion Labs. Valerie gasped, realizing the mistake she just made.

"Oh no…" Valerie moaned. "That will bring my dad here for sure!"

Danny was more worried about the alarm alerting Vlad rather than Mr. Gray._ I have to find Andy and get out of here, now!_

Without saying another word, Danny turned intangible and quickly flew through the walls, trying to find his brother.

* * *

Andy and Lowemon heard the alarm going off, they knew they had to leave before something terrible happened. Andy was worried for Danny though, if Vlad found him, he would try to take Danny back to Wisconsin with him and then try to brainwash him.

"That's not good…" Lowemon muttered.

Suddenly, a large humanoid goat creature appeared before them. The goat creature had a pair of large, curled horns on its head, red looking eyes, a pair of black leathery wings. Its hands and legs were covered in thick, purple fur. The creature's feet were hooves. Lowemon shivered, feeling the power coming from this Digimon.

"I don't like this…" Lowemon said as he took a few steps back. "This guy feels very powerful…"

Andy backed away as well, without Dorimon, he felt completely powerless and vulnerable. There was also something familiar about this Digimon, even though Andy was sure he had never seen it before.

"What an annoying mess," The Digimon remarked. "And here I thought the alarm was actually important. A couple of kids running around the lab looking lost. Where is that useless gun bunny? This should be something he takes care of."

Lowemon growled as he got out his staff and spun it a few times. "He's not the only one here!"

"I know he's not, did you not hear me say a couple of kids, not kid?" The Digimon stated.

At hearing that, Lowemon was floored. This Digimon _knew_ who he really was?! "You…"

"But if you want a fight, I'll gladly give it to you~" The Digimon smirked suddenly.

Lowemon tensed for a fight. "Andy, get back. This could get messy!"

* * *

Agunimon and Dorumon were stressing themselves out, trying to find a way into the labs. They lost Andy's signal a while back when he sounded like he was in trouble. Doggymon suddenly tensed and looked terrified.

"_He's_ here! _He's_ here!" Doggymon whimpered.

"Who's here?" Agunimon asked. Then, he felt it. A flash of heat came and he sensed it, a powerful Digimon. "What?!"

Suddenly, the labs' doors opened, and Lowemon came flying out of it. Andy was running out of the lab, trying to get away from something. Dorumon quickly ran over to Andy while Agunimon quickly caught Lowemon before he could go flying any further.

"Wow… talk about making an entrance." Agunimon joked as he helped Lowemon to his feet.

"Agunimon…? You're here too?" Lowemon asked, surprised. "Nevermind that now… there's a powerful Digimon coming our way!"

"Andy! Are you okay?" Dorumon asked his partner in concern.

Andy panted a little. "I didn't get hurt… but I'm pretty sure I won't be sleeping tonight."

Looking ahead, Agunimon saw the Digimon coming out and tensed. "Wow… you weren't kidding when you said he was powerful…"

Dorumon looked at the Digimon that was coming out. His eyes flashed for a moment as a hologram and a name came onto Andy's D-Arc.

"Mephistomon is an Evil Digimon. It has the appearance of a giant ram, and is a dark being born from the lingering thought-data of an Apocalymon that attempted to destroy all life. It's a Virus type Digimon, and an Ultimate level," Andy read.

Agunimon looked a bit freaked out now, as his face seemed to get a bit pale. Still, he put on a brave face to not show any fear. "So it's stronger, huh? We'll just have to fight smarter then."

"You are all children who aren't worth my time," Mephistomon stated. "The only reason I 'fought' was to get those two out of the labs. They didn't belong there. I will now return to my partner once the alarms are shut off. Do not wander where you do not belong, or I may not be so merciful next time."

"What? Hey! What does that mean!?" Agunimon shouted as Mephistomon floated back into the labs before the doors shut tight.

Lowemon frowned. "I don't think it's worth worrying about now. He's gone."

Agunimon sighed with a growl, running a hand through his wild blonde hair. "I know… But I still don't get what he meant."

"He said… he was going to return to his partner…" Andy spoke up as he held onto Dorumon for comfort. "Who else in that lab would have a Digimon partner?"

Agunimon frowned as he remembered. "Vlad…"

Doggymon was shivering as he came out from hiding behind some bushes, then let out a sigh of relief when he realized Mephistomon either hadn't spotted him or didn't care about him. Dorumon looked over at Doggymon.

"Wait… you know something about that Mephistomon, don't you?" Dorumon asked.

Agunimon looked at Doggymon. " Is there something you weren't telling us before?"

Doggymon was still shaking in fear. "Mephistomon… was the one who sent us to retrieve Cherubimon."

Agunimon growled at hearing that. "I see… So that's who your Master is…"

Lowemon looked a little confused at seeing Doggymon, but he looked at Agunimon. "You might need to explain some things to me."

_Now the question is why… why is Vlad's partner after Lopmon?_ Andy questioned to himself as Agunimon started to explain the situation to Lowemon._ And… is Danny okay?_

* * *

Danny gasped when a familiar ghost suddenly appeared in front of him, stopping him from flying any further. "Plasmius… what do _you_ want?"

"Oh, just to see what caused the alarms to go off." Plasmius said as he eyed Danny. "But I wasn't expecting to see _you_ here, Daniel."

"I didn't expect to see you here either, Plasmius. Last I checked, you were all the way in Wisconsin," Danny hissed, trying to cover up his fear with annoyance.

"What? Can't I get out and look around?" Plasmius taunted. "I just wanted to see this lovely little lab. But why are you here, boy? Surely you're not here to cause problems for Axion Labs, are you? No, you're too much into your heroic ideals for that, or maybe I misjudged you?"

Danny growled. "No! I didn't come here to cause trouble! I came here to help a ghost dog move on after he caused such a mess here that it got a friend of mine's father fired!"

"Oh, you should know better than to reveal things like that, Daniel." Plasmius said. "For all they know, it was intentional."

"Well, don't mind me, I was just leaving," Danny huffed.

"Oh? Were you now?" Plasmius asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"Well, yeah, I have no reason to be here anymore," Danny stated. "What are you going to do, keep me here?"

Plasmius chuckled. "Oh, no. I'm not that sadistic, Daniel."

"Great, now could you move out of my way so I can just go home?" Danny grumbled.

Plasmius, to Danny's surprise, did just that. "Of course, Daniel. Off you go now~"

The ghost boy looked at Plasmius with distrust, expecting him to pull something at the last second. "So… that's it? You're just letting me go?"

"Daniel, as much as you interest me, I'm not always here to come after you or your family," Vlad remarked. "I have my own life too. I only came to check what was causing the alarm system after all."

Danny looked at the older ghost for a moment. "Fine, whatever, but I'm keeping an eye on you, Plasmius."

"Ah, as will I, Daniel." Plasmius said before he turned intangible and flew through the wall, leaving Danny free to leave as he wished.

Danny frowned before he turned intangible and flew through the wall himself. Danny thought about looking for Andy, but he wanted to see if his brother left the lab already. When Danny got outside, he was relieved to see Andy was indeed outside, along with Dorumon. Danny did also see Agunimon, and another Digimon that he had never seen before.

This Digimon wore dark armor that appeared to be modeled after a lion-like motiff, and he had red eyes as well. He was also taller than Agunimon by at least 4 inches, maybe more, as well.

"Hey, Phantom! You're okay!" Andy called out, using Danny's alias since the other two Digimon were here.

Danny nodded as he landed in front of Andy. "Yeah, though I ran into Plasmius, he just sort of let me go."

Hearing that got Agunimon's attention, making him look over. "Huh?" His companion Digimon was also confused.

"You remember Plasmius, don't you?" Danny asked, looking at Agunimon. "I think you were there when he attacked us. He was that… vampire looking ghost?"

Agunimon _did_ remember. "Yeah… But, he just let you go?"

"He said he was busy with other things right now," Danny explained before he looked at the other Digimon. "Um… hi there, I'm Phantom."

The new Digimon gave a nod back. "Lowemon, Warrior of Darkness." His voice was somewhat deep, but not too deep to be intimidating.

"We should probably go, it'll only be a matter of time before the cops surround the place with how long the alarm had been going off," Andy spoke up. "I'm pretty sure you guys wouldn't want the cops to see two armored people and a ghost kid hanging around here."

Agunimon and Lowemon gave a nod each.

"Okay." Agunimon said before he realized something. "Wait… What about Doggymon?"

Dorumon frowned as he quickly looked around. "He's gone."

Upon hearing that, Agunimon smacked his own face with his open hand at realizing he had lost the sneaky Digimon again.

"We'll worry about Doggymon later, let's just get out of here first," Andy quickly said, hearing sirens starting to approach the place.

Danny frowned before he flew over to the bushes where he was sure he left Tucker earlier, but Tucker wasn't there. _Where did Tucker go?_

However, as the sirens got closer, Danny realized he would have to look for Tucker later. Everyone quickly left the area.

As the cop cars began to arrive at the Axion Labs, Doggymon looked on from the shadows he was hiding in. He could see Valerie without her red huntress suit, and her father, who was wearing the night guard uniform, coming out of the labs. The human, Vlad, was with them as well, calmly answering the questions.

"It is done, Master…" Doggymon said as he began to run on all fours into the night, nobody seeing fractal code surrounding the Digimon's body.

Doggymon was replaced with a larger, darker dog Digimon. He had black armor on with three steel blades per paw that came out of the top of each paw. The Digimon also had a dog-like head on each shoulder, had a black helmet on its head and red eyes along with a set of sharp teeth. It's lower jaw was red flesh and lacked armor, as well as parts of its underbelly and the backs of its legs also lacking said armor. The claws at the end of each paw were silver, just like its blades, and the tail was also covered in the same black armor.

Howling into the night, the now Digivolved Cerberumon disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** That fake-out make-out was awesome in series canon, so why not~ :3

**DarkFoxKit:** It was more fun doing Andy's reaction to it, and the merciless teasing that soon followed after that.

**ChloeTheKitsune****:** **DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, it was quite the funny chapter, with the teasing and the shock reactions.

**ZAFT:** I hope you find the next ones just as fun and awesome! :D

**Luna Lillyth****: ZAFT:** I am glad you like Dorimon! :D

**DarkFoxKit:** Heh, probably because of his antics and his dynamic with Andy.


	27. Rock Their World

**DarkFoxKit:** Here's another chapter.

**Andy:** You feeling okay?

**DarkFoxKit:** As fine as I could be right now. I'm just hoping for some peace of mind soon.

**ZAFT:** Me too. This sucks, and that one 'specialist' didn't help much. XP

**Andy:** And to think you were charged 500 dollars just to see this guy. The nerve of it all!

**Takuya:** Want me to burn them?

**ZAFT:** NO! Back to the chapter you go! ***Shoves Takuya into chapter***

**Andy:** I better go watch him. I wish you the best of luck, Kit.

**DarkFoxKit:** Thanks. Let's just get into the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Rock Their World**

"What do you mean Doggymon digivolved?" Takuya frowned as he was talking to Koji and Koichi on the outskirts of Amity Park that night.

"I saw him," Koji stated. "He was running out of Amity Park though. I think he's planning something."

Koichi nodded. "And Ophanimon did mention that the Digital World barrier was getting weaker, making more Digimon appear here in the Real World, not just in Amity Park."

Takuya frowned again. "So that means we have to split up?"

Koichi nodded sadly. "For now, yes. It's needed in order to get a handle on these Digimon appearing."

Koji gave a grunt. "It sucks, but the threat of the Digimon comes first. We've already talked to JP, Zoe, and Tommy about it. They're going to try to find a way to deal with Digimon in Japan until they can travel around easier."

Takuya nodded. "Okay." He then sighed. "This bites…"

"Don't worry about it, we may not be in Amity Park anymore, but we'll still be in the states, if you need us, let us know and we'll be here as fast as we can," Koichi encouraged. "Besides, you have a lot of help here already, even if they still need a bit more training."

Takuya gave a chuckle. "Yeah, you're right." He then smiled. "Just be careful you two."

"We can say the same to you," Koji said. "Good luck with the ghosts and the Digimon. We'll be sure to keep you updated on things."

Takuya nodded. "Thanks."

* * *

That conversation was about two days ago, Takuya couldn't help but let out a sigh as he laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. He wished Koji and Koichi could've stayed, but they were needed elsewhere right now.

Sitting up, Takuya took out his D-Tector and frowned to himself. _Is someone trying to split us Legendary Warriors up?_ He had to admit, that was a possible reason for that Doggymon evolving and running out of the town, but he didn't want to rule out anything else either.

Meanwhile, Andy and Dorimon were in the living room, seeing Danny coming back from the lab. He was shivering a little, like he was cold.

"You okay, Danny?" Andy asked in concern.

"Y-yeah… just… c-can a ghost get frostbite?" Danny questioned.

"What?" Andy blinked before frowning. "What happened?"

Danny sighed. "I wanted to try to map out the Ghost Zone a little… then I got attacked by a ghost called Klemper who… has a very odd obsession with wanting to be a friend."

"Oh… is that really bad?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, you went into the Ghost Zone?"

"Yeah, to map it out." Danny replied. "But I was careful to avoid Walker's area!" He added to reassure Andy.

"Still, why did you go without telling me?" Andy pouted. "I would've loved to see more of the Ghost Zone!"

"Eeh? Really? Even though you almost got yourself killed in there?" Danny frowned.

"Hey, that's not going to deter me. Besides, _you_ half died in the portal, yet you're still going in there," Andy pointed out.

Danny grumbled. "Don't remind me…" He crossed his arms in a pout almost.

"I just think it'd be fascinating to learn more about the ghost's world, you know? The first time it was scary, yeah, but I was mostly focused on trying to find you, as well as Tucker and Sam. But if we go in there just to map it out, I'd love to study it more," Andy remarked. "I mean it's not every day you get to see what a completely different world is like."

"There's the Digital World, it's a lot less… crazy than the ghost world," Dorimon spoke up from the couch.

Danny chuckled. "Two unknown worlds to explore. I bet your mind is going to be overloaded with excitement and knowledge~"

"Well I am the son of two brilliant scientists, I had to inherit something from them," Andy chuckled. "By the way, why did that friendly ghost make you cold?"

"He has ice powers, and tried to freeze me. Not to mention he was really creepy, trying to crush me in a hug, and not in a good way," Danny shivered.

"Did you bring anyone with you to the Ghost Zone?" Andy asked.

"Yeah. Tucker was with me, as was Sam." Danny replied.

"Oh good, you brought them, but not me," Andy rolled his eyes. "So did Tucker ever tell you why he disappeared that night when we were at the Axion Labs?"

"Tucker apparently went home after he got bored waiting for us." Danny replied. "He said he had a new song he wanted to listen to."

"That doesn't sound like Tucker… wanting to leave in the middle of a mission like that I mean." Andy frowned.

"Yeah, but I didn't question it when he told me." Danny replied with a bit of a frown as well. "It's odd, now that I think about it."

"I guess we'll talk to him about it later," Andy remarked. "But… the next time you decide to go to the Ghost Zone, you better take me with you."

"Should be fun traversing through the Ghost Zone now that I can actually become big and fly," Dorimon chuckled.

Danny chuckled as well. "As long as you don't tick off any ghosts, you should be fine."

Dorimon giggled at that.

* * *

"Jazz?" Lopmon looked at his human partner, who was lying on her stomach on her bed, and appeared to be listening to some kind of music, but she had those earmuffs on her ears.

Lopmon hopped up onto Jazz's bed, seeing the earmuffs had a wire, and it was connected to a radio. Lopmon plucked the earmuffs off of Jazz, who looked up from her book in surprise.

"What? I was listening to that!" Jazz exclaimed. "Why did you remove my headphones?"

Lopmon frowned, he wasn't quite up to date with human technology, but that wasn't his main concern right now. "You've been listening to this music for the past 2 days now. It's unusual for someone to be listening to the same thing over and over again without getting sick of it. I'm also getting worried for you. I've noticed that you…"

Lopmon looked at the book Jazz was reading, it wasn't actually a book, but a cover for a magazine Jazz was actually reading. "You've been… neglecting your studies… which is really unlike you."

"So? This song is amazing!" Jazz replied. "I mean, the singer is so good, I can't focus on anything else!"

"And that right there is the problem! This isn't normal!" Lopmon spoke up. "Let me hear that song."

Jazz smiled. "Really? That's great!" She shoved the earmuffs, or headphones rather, onto Lopmon's ears and he listened to the song for a while, but there was nothing out of the ordinary that he could pick up on.

Lopmon removed the earmuffs and looked at Jazz. "I don't understand what is so impressive about that song."

Jazz scoffed. "I figured you wouldn't." She took the earmuffs and put them back on. Lopmon didn't like what was going on.

Since Jazz was obviously too into it, Lopmon decided to go talk to someone who wasn't mindlessly listening to the same song over and over again.

* * *

"Aren't you a little more worried about the fact your cousin won't stop listening to the same music over and over?" Lopmon questioned the Warrior of Flame.

Takuya sighed. "It's just a teenage girl thing. They like to get into all sorts of new pop stars when one comes up. It's normal."

Lopmon frowned. "I guess… do a lot of humans get into these kinds of… singers easily?"

"Sure. It happens a lot." Takuya replied as he sat back down on his bed. "It's normal for humans to get into certain songs or groups easily, especially if they find it suits their taste in music."

"Jazz didn't seem to be the type to be into rock or roll… or is it star and rock?" Lopmon frowned.

"You were right the first time. It's rock and roll." Takuya pointed out. "And I'm sure Jazz is just fine. She may have found this new singer is just her type of artist."

Lopmon frowned a little before he started to leave the room. "Even if you think it's normal, I'm going to keep an eye on Jazz."

Takuya watched as the little brown and pink bunny Digimon left his room. He couldn't believe that Lopmon was the same Cherubimon he had battled against all those years ago. Lopmon was almost acting like a protective hen with Jazz.

_Heh… It's funny that Cherubimon, or rather Lopmon, is like a mother hen with Jazz. It feels like he's a different Digimon now._ Takuya mused as he sighed to himself._ I mean of course he's different, he's not all corrupted like he was back then. But I feel bad for suspecting him of being behind all those Digimon coming to this world._

* * *

"So you're worried about Jazz?" Dorimon asked when Lopmon decided to talk to him about his worries.

"Takuya says it's normal, but I don't know. It just doesn't seem like Jazz to skip her studies to listen to a song over and over," Lopmon remarked.

Dorimon blinked. "Well, maybe just keep an eye on her. It can't be that bad, but if you're worried, it may help to do that."

"I guess… Where's your partner?" Lopmon asked.

"He's in the lab with Danny, talking about a bunch of ghostly stuff. I decided to stay here until they bring me some snacks," Dorimon answered.

"I was going to talk to them about their sister. They seem to know her more than Takuya does," Lopmon muttered.

"Yeah, Takuya lived in Japan since he was… I think 8 years old? Danny and Andy lived with Jazz all their lives," Dorimon explained.

"I'll try to talk to them tomorrow then. I don't want to keep them up on a school night," Lopmon sighed. "If anything happens, I'll let you guys know as soon as possible."

Dorimon nodded. "Okay. That sounds good."

* * *

_The next morning at Casper High_

"Tucker… where did you get that T-shirt? And that barrett?" Danny asked his techno friend.

Tucker was wearing a black T-Shirt with a blue flame design in the front. He was also wearing a purple barrett with a similar blue flame at the front.

"I bought it." Tucker replied. "Ember is the best!"

"Ember? You mean that music you were listening to in the Specter Speeder while we were mapping out the Ghost Zone?" Sam frowned, wearing some kind of earphones in her ears.

"Yeah." Tucker replied. "She is so amazingly good!"

"What? Who's Ember?" Andy asked.

Tucker gasped. "You don't know who Ember is!?"

"Uh… no?" Andy blinked.

Tucker quickly pulled out his PDA. "Then you must listen to her song right now!"

Danny blinked. "Tucker, I'm sure Andy doesn't want to hear the song right now."

But Tucker ignored him and pushed the play button. The song began playing in a loud blaring way, Danny was sure half the school could hear it.

_"__~Ooooh, Ember, you will remember! Ooooh, Ember, you will remember my name~!"_ The song was so loud, it seemed impossible to believe it came from the small PDA.

Andy blinked as he listened to the song. Then something in his pocket beeped for a second. Andy reached into his pocket and looked at his D-Arc. The screen on the D-Arc was glowing green for some reason. Dorimon wasn't reacting in his backpack, however, and Danny's ghost sense wasn't going off, so it likely wasn't because a ghost was nearby.

"What do you think, Andy? She's the greatest, isn't she?" Tucker smiled.

"I don't get it though," Danny spoke up, trying to talk over the loud playing music. "This Ember shows up out of nowhere and suddenly she's the hottest thing since the Nintendo Switch. It's kind of…"

"Infuriating how mindless prepacked corporate bubblegum is keeping true musical artists from being heard?" Sam asked.

"I was going to say 'weird', but that works too," Danny chuckled.

"Andy, back me up here," Tucker said. "Maybe you could say something to get these two understand just how important Ember is in life."

Andy blinked. The song was pretty good, but he wouldn't go as far to say she was so good that she was important to everyone's lives like Tucker seemed to be making her out to be.

"She's… okay, I guess? But why is she such a big deal? Does she have any other songs?" Andy asked.

Tucker blinked. "Of course she does! But this song is one of the best, and it's considered her signature song!"

"Huh… seems you're really into her," Andy chuckled.

"Of course! Besides, she's also an expression of my unique individuality~" Tucker smiled as they turned the corner in the hallway.

The four of them stopped when they saw the rest of the school was covered in Ember posters. All the students, including Valerie and Jazz, were wearing Ember T-Shirts and pants. Andy had to admit that Valerie looked pretty good in those black shirts and pants with the blue flames. Though Takuya and Dash were the only ones wearing normal clothes, besides Andy, Danny, and Sam.

Danny blinked. "Okay… That's weird…"

Sam was not impressed. "Oh, yeah, you're one of a kind, every single one of you…"

Then Paulina approached them. Andy frowned at the girl. Paulina looked at him for a moment, and at Sam. Andy was still holding his D-Arc in his hand.

"Nice earrings, and nice digital pet," Paulina remarked, referring to the Fenton earphones in Sam's ears, and the D-Arc in Andy's hand. "Did you get those at the 89 cents store, or did you just pick those up at the lost and found?"

"For your information, Paulina, the earrings are a gift. Danny gave them to me." Sam said as she walked up beside Danny.

Danny gave a sheepish grin, he didn't want Paulina thinking he and Sam were dating.

"Really? He gave you earrings?" Paulina blinked. "Wow, I always knew you two losers would end up together. And you…" Paulina looked at Andy. "You really need to stop playing with such childish toys."

"We're not losers!" Sam snapped.

"And we're not together," Danny quickly corrected.

Andy gritted his teeth. "I'll show you a digital _pet_…"

But before Andy could do anything, Tucker cut in with his song. "Ember! Go Ember! Remember! Go Ember!"

"WILL YOU KEEP IT DOWN!?" Danny, Sam, and even Andy all shouted at Tucker at the same time.

Tucker gave a sheepish grin. "Uh… sorry."

Meanwhile, Takuya and Dash felt out of place around the other students. Dash was looking at Kwan, who was wearing a purple and white leather jacket instead of the usual red and red leather jacket, as well as a black shirt with a big blue flame on it with the letter 'e' inside it.

"I'm actually surprised you didn't get one of these yourself, Dash," Kwan admitted. "Did you not hear Ember's radical song?"

"I heard it, I just… didn't see what the big deal was," Dash admitted.

"Maybe we should kick you out of the club," Calvin muttered, who was also wearing the same purple jacket and blue flaming shirt.

Dash frowned. "Look, I just don't get the big deal. The song is good ,yes, but it's nothing to worship this Ember over."

The other jocks gasped at this, as if Dash just said something forbidden.

"Okay, I'm just gonna go over to my locker and get ready for class…" Dash quickly said before he sidestepped away.

While Takuya did tell Lopmon this was normal, he was starting to think maybe this was going a little overboard.

The Warrior of Flame wasn't liking this. _Okay… Maybe I was wrong about the whole Ember thing being a phase for Jazz. It certainly can't be a phase if the _whole school_ is this obsessed with her._

Takuya walked over to where Andy, Sam, Tucker, and Danny were. "Is it just me, or is the whole school crazy for this Ember?"

"You just don't understand Ember like the rest of us do," Tucker grumbled before he walked away from the group.

Takuya frowned, seeing Tucker had fallen for the Ember craze as well.

"I did say it was pretty weird," Danny admitted.

"But what can we do? It's not like we could just stop this Ember from rising to stardom if people like her music that much," Sam grumbled. "Even if they are just mindless corporation music."

Andy was studying his D-Arc, trying to figure out why it was glowing green, but when Tucker walked away, it stopped.

Takuya saw Andy had out his D-Arc. "Something wrong, Andy? You've been staring at that for a while."

"Yeah, bro, is something wrong?" Danny asked.

"I'm not sure. It was glowing green for a while, then it just stopped. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it though," Andy said as he looked his D-Arc over for any possible damages, but it looked to be in perfect condition.

"Huh… That's odd." Takuya said as he looked at it as well. Then he paused in his thoughts. _Wait… Why am _I_ not falling into this Ember craze? I mean, the music is catchy yes, but it's certainly nothing to be crazy over..._

"Just keep an eye on it. If Dorimon is acting weird, or if it starts to glow again, maybe try having a mechanic check it out or something," Sam suggested.

"It's a device created by something not of this world. I highly doubt an ordinary mechanic would be able to fix it," Andy stated.

Takuya sighed. "Andy's right. That D-Arc is from the Digital World. Human technology will not mesh with it well, nor will a human be able to understand the mechanics behind it."

"So… what do you do if your D-Arc or whatever gets a glitch or something?" Sam asked.

Andy and Takuya looked at each other, that was a good question.

* * *

With class starting, everyone took their seats in Mr. Lancer's classroom. Unfortunately, it was _that_ time of year again, and Mr. Lancer turned up his strict mode due to it.

"As you know, the Northwestern Nine Standardized Testing starts in two days, and because my bonus is proportional to your grades, we've installed the Cram-Tastic Mark V, the latest in state of the art subliminal study aid technology." Mr. Lancer said as everyone sat at their desks, with odd helmets on their heads that were wired right to the machine he was standing next to.

_I'm like… 75% sure this is illegal…_ Andy frowned, looking at the three monitor screens that were flashing 'stand by' in front of him, and the helmet felt uncomfortable on his head._ It almost feels like this is going to brainwash us._

Not that far off, Takuya was looking nervous as heck. _Okay… I don't think this is normal…_ He wanted to rip off the helmet and get to studying the old-fashioned way instead.

Even most of the nerds who were usually the smartest when it came to school were looking around nervously. It was likely they believed the machine was going to melt their brains.

"Let the learning begin!" Mr. Lancer grinned as he pushed a red button on the machine beside him.

All of a sudden, a face of what appeared to be a teenage girl wearing white makeup on her skin, black eyeliner under her green eyes, her black leather suit that was exposing a lot of skin, holding a glowing looking purple guitar, as well as what appears to be green-blue flaming hair, began singing loudly into a microphone came on the computer screens.

_"__~Ember, so warm and tender! You will remember my name~!"_

Everyone stood up and started cheering for the image of the singer, well, everyone save for Andy, Danny, Sam, Takuya, and Dash. They just removed their helmets because the loud blaring music was giving them a headache. Andy's D-Arc beeped again, and he took out, seeing the screen was glowing green once more.

Mr. Lancer turned off the machine, and opened the disc opener. He pulled out a CD and gritted his teeth in anger. It wasn't the educational CD, it was a live Ember concert CD. Just as Mr. Lancer pulled it out and demanded to know who put the CD in there, there was a loud drumming noise.

Mr. Lancer's eyes narrowed in on Tucker. "FOLLY! TURN OFF THAT BLASTED PDA!"

Then Mr. Lancer threw the CD like a ninja throwing a shuriken, and it perfectly hit Tucker's hand that made him drop his PDA.

_What the heck? Is Mr. Lancer secretly a ninja or something?_ Andy blinked._ … At this point, it wouldn't surprise me._

Andy looked between his half ghost brother, and his Warrior of Flame cousin.

"It's not me, it's coming from outside!" Tucker exclaimed before he took off his helmet, then stood up and ran to the open windows, everyone else doing the same thing.

A large stage truck pulled up on the driveway, there were a couple of giant stereos that were blasting out the music they were hearing.

Then, in a flash of purple smoke, the same teenage girl that had appeared on the computer screens appeared in person. She was smiling as her band members appeared behind her in puffs of purple smoke as well. They were a drummer, and two other guitarists.

Then, the teenage girl began to play her purple and blue guitar. _"~Yeah! Ooooohhhh~!"_

At hearing her voice, the other students in the classroom suddenly eyed the door to the exit. Andy paled when he realized he was standing a little too close to the door._ Oh…. crud!_

Andy yelped as he quickly tried to move out of the way just before the stampede went running out the door like wildebeests.

People from Casper High began to flow out into the street, cheering for the teenage rocker.

Up in the classroom, Takuya ran to Andy's side. "Andy! Are you okay?"

Dorimon had rolled out of his backpack just when Andy got flattened in the stampede. Danny was also by his twin's side in concern.

Andy groaned as he was lying facedown on the floor. "I… hate… this… craze…"

Takuya and Danny looked at each other before they both picked up Andy and started moving outside. Sam picked up Dorimon since he had to keep pretending he was a toy.

"I didn't think the other students would be _this_ crazy…" Takuya muttered as he held Andy's right arm over his shoulders, Danny holding Andy's left over his shoulders.

"Me neither… the more I think about it, the weirder it is," Danny agreed.

Andy grumbled as he looked up at them. "I didn't get a good look… but I could've sworn Ember's hair was literally on fire."

Hearing that, Takuya paused. "Huh?"

"Let's go out and see this Ember ourselves," Sam spoke up, getting suspicious as she held onto Dorimon.

The group walked outside. Andy got back on his feet. "I can stand, thanks guys."

Takuya and Danny looked at Andy in concern, but did let go of the boy before they drew their attention to Ember herself. So many teenagers were outside, giving loud cheering.

The teenage rocker, who had to be Ember, smiled at the cheering. "Hello, Casper High! Tell me who you love!"

As the teenagers chanted her name, Ember relished in the cheers of the crowd before her. The flame of her ponytail suddenly flared up, yet people kept chanting her name as if that was completely normal.

"That's right, say my name!" Ember smiled. "Are you ready for a little youth revolution!?"

The crowd rushed forward, just as Tucker came rushing out and tried to jump onto their hands so they could carry him, but he fell. Despite this, the crowd picked him up and started carrying him closer to Ember.

"We love you, Ember!" Tucker cheered.

"That's because I fill an empty void in your lives!" Ember said, as if answering Tucker.

Takuya then felt a sudden flash of heat in his body as he gasped. "Uh oh…"

At the same time, a familiar blue mist came out of Danny's mouth. Dorimon shivered in Sam's arms, growling a little at Ember and her band.

"Yup, her hair is definitely on fire," Andy sighed.

Takuya frowned. "Either Ember is something not human, or that is just a stage trick, but I doubt it's the latter."

"Of course she's not human, she's a ghost," Dorimon hissed.

Lopmon suddenly came running towards them, squeezing himself through the crowd of people. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to the walking rabbit.

"This is bad, I didn't know that this Ember was a ghost!" Lopmon frowned. "These humans are in danger!"

Takuya looked at Andy. "Andy…" His voice said it all. _Should I evolve?_

Mr. Lancer then ran into the middle of the crowd, and held up a megaphone. "Attention freakishly dressed teen idol! I order you to cease and desist!"

"Get inside and do what you need to do," Andy said to Takuya. "Danny, you better… do what you need to do before Mr. Lancer gets himself hurt. Dorimon, come with me."

Dorimon hopped out of Sam's arms and followed Andy around the crowd. Takuya hurried into the building, not hearing what Danny and Sam said after Andy and Dorimon ran off. He nearly ran right into Dash.

"Whoa, Takuya, where's the fire?" Dash asked.

Takuya looked at Dash. "Ember. She's the 'fire' so to speak. I got a flash of heat from my Spirits. They normally do that when a ghost is around."

Dash blinked. "Wait… She's a ghost?!"

"Yes! Now I have to evolve before she does something! You better evolve too, Dash, I might need your help," Takuya quickly said.

"R-right!" Dash pulled out his D-Tector.

Dash held up his D-Tector as the tan digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he held up his hand with the fractal coding around it. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Dash felt his body increase in strength and power as he felt his skin become more like wood and he felt his senses increase in sharpness and sensitivity. His eyes turned a golden color as he finally landed, crying out his name as he did so. _"Arbormon!"_

Takuya held up his own D-Tector as the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

As soon as the two Warriors finished evolving, they hurried back outside.

However, while the Warriors were evolving, they didn't quite see what happened before. Ember was smirking evilly at Mr. Lancer, who turned a notch on her guitar. "Desist _this_, grandpa!"

Ember strummed her guitar, releasing a spiral of purple ghost energy into the crowd. Andy and Dorimon were caught up in it as they had been running toward the crowd. Dorimon and Andy let out gasps as they fell to the ground. The D-Arc's screen was flashing green and red, Dorimon looked weakened.

"Ugh… I don't feel so good…" Dorimon groaned.

Andy heard voices in his head, they sounded like whispers of something. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but he couldn't get them to shut up. He curled in on himself as he gripped on his head, scared that he might be going crazy.

Danny noticed something was wrong with Andy, but he could see that the crowd was under Ember's control. Their eyes were glowing red, and they all turned to Mr. Lancer with such venom that Danny didn't doubt they would literally tear the teacher apart as soon as they got a hold of him.

"Oh my gosh…" Danny exclaimed. "This is really bad!" He then tapped into his ghostly core and turned into his Phantom form. "I gotta save Mr. Lancer! Then check on Andy… Sam, you stay here with Lopmon."

Sam didn't have time to say anything, because Danny flew off. Danny hurried over to Mr. Lancer who was getting quickly surrounded. Danny touched Mr. Lancer's back and turned him intangible. He waited as the crowd of mind controlled students ran right through them. Mr. Lancer had his eyes shut, so he didn't know that the people were passing through him. Danny had to wait a little bit since there were so many people, but when they all finally ran past them, Danny released Mr. Lancer and flew over to Andy. He was more concerned for his brother than Ember right now.

"Andy, you okay, bro?" Danny asked as he hovered down beside his twin.

Andy groaned, still gripping his head. Dorimon looked like he could barely move. Danny noticed that Andy's D-Arc was lying beside him, and the screen was flashing between green and red.

Agunimon and Arbormon noticed that the crowd of students looked like angry mobs with red eyes. They were homing in on the school staff, surrounding the teachers with such hate in their eyes that it scared them they would really hurt these people.

"Oh boy…" Agunimon muttered. "This is going to get tricky…"

"How so?" Arbormon asked.

"Using our attacks is out of the question because we could really hurt someone." Agunimon clarified. "We'll have to get somewhat physical if we're to keep the students away from the teachers."

Arbormon frowned at that. "I guess that makes sense."

Both of them split up to try to take care of the crowd of rabid fans. Due to their immense strength, they were able to push back or grab some of the bolder students away from the school staff.

Agunimon grunted as he pushed a few students back, trying to keep himself from actually hurting anyone. "This is nuts! It's like they're being mind-controlled or something!"

"No, really? I'm pretty sure the red eyes give it away, genius." Arbormon noted as he pulled a few students back as well.

The red-armored Digimon just rolled his blue eyes at the sarcastic remark before returning his mind to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Danny knew something was wrong with his brother, and whatever it was, it wasn't external. The older twin was torn between fighting with Ember or helping Andy fight off whatever was going on with him. Deciding to follow his heart, Danny turned himself intangible and flew into Andy's body.

When Danny found Andy's soul, he saw it being attacked by fire, or at least some kind of ghostly fire. The flames seemed to be whispering something to him.

Danny flew over, and, considering he was inside Andy's body, hesitated on using his ghost ray. So, because he didn't want to hurt his twin's soul, decided to try and shoo the flames out of his brother's body. "Okay! Go on! Shoo!"

The flames hissed, they didn't seem to want to cooperate. Danny noticed something else, however. There was some kind of code, like data, code he would see on Dorumon whenever he would digivolve or regenerate. The code was wrapping itself around the flames, almost as if trying to squeeze them and fight back. Danny then got an idea, he allowed his ghost ray to appear on his gloved hands, making them glow. He didn't fire his ghost rays, but he did move his hands close to the flames. The flames hissed at his hands, getting further and further away.

Danny continued to float towards the flames, moving them away from Andy's soul and towards the code, which was now getting more aggressive with the ghostly flames and wrapping itself around them even more. Danny wasn't sure how, but he felt like he recognized the code.

The code kept wrapping around the ghostly flames until the flames were completely engulfed in the code. Then, the code seemed to squeeze tightly, as if trying to snuff out the ghostly flames. The flames hissed and tried to escape, but the code's presence only seemed to extinguish the flames the moment they touched it. Once the flames were completely extinguished, the code unwrapped itself, and circled around Danny for a moment.

Danny stood, or rather floated, completely still, hoping the code wouldn't try to squeeze him to death. The code, however, seemed to not deem him as a threat, and moved away from him before it began to circle around Andy's soul. Danny blinked as he watched the code then slowed down, and just continued to circle around Andy's soul in a calm manner. It almost reminded Danny of the ring of Saturn in a way.

_Is this code acting like some kind of barrier to Andy's soul?_ Danny wondered._ That might be it, it must be trying to protect him from whatever spell Ember was using, but it wasn't strong enough this time, that's why it suddenly became a struggle here._

Seeing that his brother's soul was safe for now, Danny left his brother's body. As soon as he did, he looked down at Andy. Andy looked up at Danny for a moment.

"Thanks… whatever you did, it seemed to have stopped the voices," Andy said gratefully.

Danny held out a hand to help Andy up. "No problem, bro."

Andy took his brother's gloved hand. "Oh jeez, you're really cold!"

Danny rolled his eyes as he helped Andy onto his feet. "Well I am a ghost."

Dorimon yawned, looking much better now before getting back on all fours. "We should probably do something about that pop princess."

Danny looked back. "Yeah, we probably should… Huh?" He blinked. "W-where did she go?"

Andy looked too, and was surprised to see not only Ember, but the entire band, as well as the stage truck, were all gone. All the students in the area looked to be in a daze, their eyes were no longer red either. Agunimon and Arbormon could finally breathe easy, seeing how the other students weren't trying to kill the school staff anymore.

"Okay…? That's odd…" Agunimon noted, seeing how the students seemed to be fine now, if not dazed. "They're back to normal now…"

"I think I know why. That Ember rock star is gone," Arbormon pointed out. "Guess she took her evil mind controlling powers with her."

Sam, who was holding Lopmon now, approached Tucker and Jazz, who were also in a daze as well.

"Are you two okay?" Sam asked in concern.

"No encore? What's that about?" Tucker pouted.

"No. There was no encore!" Jazz exclaimed in an indignant manner.

"Encore? You don't need an encore from her!" Lopmon snapped.

Sam quickly put a hand on Lopmon's head, mindful of the three spikes on top, before returning her attention back to Jazz and Tucker. "Listen, we need to talk. In private. With Danny, Andy, and Takuya."

"Okay…?" Jazz questioned.

Tucker frowned. "Okay. I guess we can."

* * *

While the school staff was cleaning up the aftermath of Ember's little stunt, Danny and Sam brought their little group to the back of the school to talk in private. Danny, Andy, Dorimon, Sam, Lopmon, Jazz, Tucker, and Takuya were fathered around. Dash, since he was a jock, and only Takuya, Andy, and Dorimon knew about his Warrior status, he had to get back in the school building.

"So you're saying Ember is a ghost… who has the power to use music to mind control people?" Jazz frowned.

Danny nodded. "Yeah. Apparently she is. I saw her manipulate the student body to attack the staff here when she strummed that guitar of hers. The eyes of every student turned red, including you and Tucker."

"Wow, she's definitely hot." Tucker smiled.

"She's a mind controlling ghost, the only thing hot about her is the fact she can control fire apparently," Andy grumbled.

Takuya frowned. "I don't know about you guys, but this screams 'danger' to me."

"But you say the same thing about Paulina," Tucker pointed out.

"You know, he has a point," Danny agreed.

"First off, Paulina isn't a ghost with supernatural powers… that we know of right now anyways," Andy muttered. "Second, that comment really isn't helping right now, Danny. Third, the fact that Tucker isn't taking this seriously shows how much of a hold Ember has on him already. You should be a little more concerned right now."

Danny frowned. "Yeah, I guess you do have a point, bro."

"What I don't understand is… if Ember really is mind controlling us with her music…" Jazz spoke up, seeming to understand the situation better than Tucker did, despite having fallen for Ember's spell. "Then why aren't all of you affected?"

Hearing that, Takuya froze. _Oh… crap… How are we going to explain that?_

"I could guess that Danny's… unique relationship with Phantom makes him either immune or resistant to Ember's song," Lopmon spoke up. "A ghost's power doesn't work as well on other ghosts as they do on mortal beings like humans and animals. But that's not to say that other ghosts _can't _be affected by ghost powers either, so you better be careful not to get overexposed, Danny."

Danny gave a nod. "Yeah, that is understandable. But it doesn't explain why Andy and Takuya aren't affected either."

"Takuya… might have something protecting him…" Tucker spoke up a little quietly, likely remembering his experience when he tried to overshadow Takuya before.

Danny remembered what Tucker had told him at that point as well. "Oh… right. But what about Andy and Sam?"

Danny then remembered seeing Dorimon's code that was surrounding Andy's soul when he went into Andy's body earlier when he saw his brother in distress.

"I'm not sure why, I should be falling for Ember's music just as Jazz and Tucker are…" Andy said, just as clueless.

"I think it might be because we're more mature than everyone else is, and our taste in music being different," Sam shrugged.

Andy looked at Sam. "That wouldn't matter when it comes to mind control… though I see you're still wearing those Fenton Earphones… you sure those don't have something to do with it?"

Takuya saw the earphones and snickered. "Did Danny give those to you as a gift?"

Danny and Sam both blushed at that.

"Well, yeah, I wanted to make sure Sam and Tucker were safe from ghostly noises, though I can see Tucker didn't bother keeping his," Danny grumbled.

"They're a fashion don't." Tucker rolled his eyes.

Hearing that, Takuya frowned. "Well, if Sam isn't under mind control, those earphones could have an effect of possibly blocking the noise."

"I don't like that Ember's music, it makes my body feel all stingy," Dorimon grumbled.

"How dare you not like her music? She's awesome!" Tucker frowned.

"I like her music too," Jazz stated. "But… if she is able to mind control us, then maybe I don't really like her music, I just think I do…"

Danny frowned. "If that's the case, then why is she trying to mind control people?"

"Maybe she just wants to be famous and popular, that would totally be something I'd do with sick guitar skills and mind controlling powers." Tucker smiled before he noticed angry eyes were on him. "Err… n-not that I would! Just trying to think like an evil, awesome, guitar playing, hot teenage ghost girl."

Takuya's glare was even worse. "That's not funny, Tucker!" He then sighed. "Can't we find a way to snap Tucker out of this state?"

"What about Jazz?" Lopmon asked. "She's not able to think straight with that ghost's spell on her."

"We'll find a way to break Ember's spell on them," Andy promised. "But we really need to grab more Fenton Earphones in case Ember comes back. I don't know why I wasn't completely affected by Ember's music, but if she does that strong guitar strum like she did before, I might end up falling for her spell as well. Whatever's protecting me wouldn't be strong enough to protect me forever if Ember gets stronger."

Takuya nodded. "More Fenton Earphones would work out."

"There's only one problem, there's only two pairs of the Fenton Earphones. The one I gave to Sam, and the other I gave to Tucker," Danny warned. "That means only one other person can wear them for protection."

Takuya looked down. "Then who will get them?"

"I've got it!" Lopmon spoke up. "If you can give those Fenton Earphones to Jazz, I should be able to purify her mind of Ember's spell through the D-Arc."

"You can _do _that?" Sam asked, surprised.

Takuya blinked as well. "That's the first I have heard of that." _That sounds like what I tend to do when I use my D-Tector._

"Yes. Jazz and I are linked to each other since we became partners. I wasn't able to protect her from Ember's music because she had already overexposed herself to it before I was aware of it," Lopmon explained.

"Oh, that would explain why Andy hasn't been affected yet," Dorimon spoke up. "I've been protecting him subconsciously."

Andy blinked before he remembered those times his D-Arc's screen would glow green whenever Ember's music started playing. "That's right, I think you have, Dorimon."

Takuya gave a smirk at Dorimon. "That's a sneaky trick, but a good one too."

Dorimon blushed. "W-well, you know… gotta protect my partner."

"That would explain Dorimon's code ring I saw around Andy's soul…" Danny muttered.

"I can already feel parts of my data trying to purify Jazz's mind from Ember's spell right now, but because she's been overexposed, and the fact Ember played more of her accursed music, _and _the fact it's being played constantly at school, I've been having trouble getting rid of that spell." Lopmon frowned.

"It's… true, Ember's music is playing just about everywhere," Jazz admitted.

"Then Jazz gets the Earphones." Takuya replied. "That way we can stop Ember's music from controlling her."

"I'll hurry back to the house and get them then," Danny offered. "I can get there and back the quickest."

Before Takuya could ask, Danny answered. "I have my ways."

Nobody else seemed to be arguing or questioning Danny, so Takuya decided to let it die.

As Danny turned and ran off to get the Fenton Earphones, Takuya looked at Sam. "So… what do we do about Ember? I mean, she can control people's minds."

"I don't know yet. I've always said how rock stars and idols like her usually mind control people with their music, preventing true musical artists from being heard, but I didn't think it was literal in this case," Sam answered back.

"The best way to deal with a ghost is to suck them up in a Fenton Thermos and release them into the Ghost Zone, or at least that's how Danny Phantom had been doing it," Jazz remarked. "But I'm not sure about Ember, it might be difficult for Danny… uh, Phantom to get that close to her without getting hit by her music attacks, and if what Lopmon said is true, then there's a chance that Danny Phantom could get mind controlled as well."

"That's the last thing we need, our best ghost hunter being mind controlled by a ghost," Andy shivered.

Takuya then had a thought, but he was unsure of how to explain it without sounding like he knew too much. _Ugh… great… I can't say what I want to say without sounding like I know too much. In this case, I would offer about the 'Legendary Warriors', but I don't know _how_ I can do that without making it look like I know about them._

"I'd say just let Ember sing, she might just want attention is all," Tucker said, not liking the idea of having to suck his favorite idol into a Fenton Thermos.

"And risk others falling under Ember's control? Forget it!" Takuya snapped back, not that he liked snapping at Tucker. It was not the techno-geek's fault he was under mind control, but it was still an annoyance nonetheless.

Tucker frowned. "Jeez, no need to bite my head off, pyro boy. You know what? You can stay out here, discussing all you want about Ember. I'm going back to the school where true Ember fans can appreciate her."

Hearing Tucker call him 'pyro boy' made Takuya tense up on instinct. He had completely forgotten that Tucker had tried to overshadow him before. Tucker got up from the group and walked away.

"Wait, Tucker!" Sam frowned. "You guys go ahead and keep planning, I'll go make sure Tucker doesn't do something stupid."

"We'll have to find a way to break Ember's spell off of him too." Andy frowned.

"When we figure that out, we'll do just that," Sam sighed before she went after Tucker, leaving Andy, Dorimon, Jazz, and Lopmon with Takuya.

Takuya sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Wow… I could have handled that better, huh?"

"Yes, yes you should have," Jazz sighed. "I know that you're annoyed with him, but to Tucker, and to me to an extent, Ember is someone we look up to. We don't like people bad mouthing her, and we get all defensive about it. I'm trying not to let that blind me to the fact Ember is a ghost, a dangerous one at that, with mind controlling music."

"It also helps you have someone who's trying to get rid of Ember's spell on you as well, Tucker doesn't have someone like that." Andy frowned.

Takuya sighed again. "Well, we can't just sit back and do nothing. I hope Danny gets back with those earphones soon too. The more help we have, the better."

Andy closed his eyes for a moment, his head feeling a little fuzzy. Then an image popped into his mind, he saw another rabbit-like Digimon who seemed to resemble Lopmon, only this Digimon was white and green as opposed to brown and pink. The Lopmon-look-alike was on Tucker's head, smiling at Tucker while Tucker was smiling back at him.

Andy blinked open his eyes, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

Takuya looked at Andy, noticing his confused look and frowned to himself. "Andy? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Andy answered before he looked at Lopmon. "Lopmon… are there any Digimon that looks kind of like you but with one horn, and is primarily white with green on him? Does Tucker have anyone like that with him?"

"What? That sounds like… Terriermon?" Lopmon blinked. "But why would Tucker have Terriermon with him?"

"I didn't smell any Digimon on Tucker, at least not any new ones," Dorimon stated.

"Why do you ask, Andy?" Lopmon questioned. "How do you even know about Terriermon?"

Takuya frowned at that. _I'm wondering that too._

Andy shook his head. "I don't know… I just… I thought I saw… well, maybe I imagined it? I saw Tucker with this Terriermon on his head in my head just a minute ago."

"Really?" Dorimon blinked. "But how? Why?'

"I don't know," Andy sighed. "Come to think of it… something similar happened when I saw Tsukaimon and Vlad before we even met them. And again when I saw Valerie as the Red Huntress before she was even the Red Huntress…"

Takuya blinked. "Huh? You… saw things before they even happened?" _Okay… this is getting somewhat freaky for me…_

"That's impossible though, seeing into the future is mostly a hoax people make up to scam others out of their money," Jazz said before she looked at her little brother. "But Andy has no reason to lie about this. And considering ghosts and Digimon exist… who am I to say such a power can't exist, right?"

"Wait… see the future?" Andy frowned. "No, I can't see the future, that's impossible. I'm not a psychic or anything."

"The fact you saw Valerie as the Red Huntress _before_ she became the Red Huntress should say otherwise." Takuya pointed out. "Not to mention that dream you had about that ghost that took over Vlad, and Tsukaimon before we even met them."

"I think you mentioned something about the Red Huntress to me too, when we were outside of Axion Labs and Danny was dealing with Cujo," Dorimon remembered.

Andy frowned, he hadn't thought too much about those images since he just figured they were weird daydreams, but the fact that they had come true before he even knew about them…

"Let's see," Lopmon spoke up. "If Terriermon ends up meeting with Tucker, and maybe even become his partner since that is what it seems like will happen according to what Andy told us, then we will have to accept the possibility that Andy here might be a seer."

"Seer?" Takuya asked.

"A seer is someone who can see into the future," Lopmon explained. "If Andy can see into the future, that would make him a seer."

"Oooh! That would be so cool! Having a seer as a partner!" Dorimon smiled as his eyes sparkled.

Andy frowned. "I still don't believe it. I'm sure there are real seers out there, but there's no way in the Ghost Zone I'm a seer."

"Three events coming true three times seems too much to be a mere coincidence." Jazz pointed out.

"There's no way this random daydream I saw of a Terriermon becoming Tucker's partner is going to come true," Andy retorted.

"Indeed, last time we saw Terriermon, he was a Gargomon trying to hunt me down," Lopmon agreed. "The fact he might become Tucker's partner is very unlikely. So if it does come true, then we'll know for sure you are able to see into the future, whether you want to admit it or not."

The boy frowned again, feeling rather uncomfortable at the idea he might be a seer. "14 years, and I'm apparently some kind of seer? I mean I've never had these supposed 'future visions' until recently."

"Most seers don't usually get visions until something awakens that power within them," Lopmon explained. "Something recently must've happened that caused yours to wake up."

"Don't talk like you're already sure I am a seer," Andy grumbled.

Jazz nodded. "I would wait until this event comes to pass or not to determine if Andy is a seer."

"But… what's wrong with being a seer?" Dorimon asked, noticing his partner's unease.

"It's just… it's not really something people can usually do," Andy said quietly. "I would've expected some kind of trained psychic or medium would be a seer, not some normal kid like me."

"A seer is usually born, not made," Lopmon pointed out. "Though I guess there have been cases of humans able to open their minds up to time itself to receive visions of the future, it's extremely rare and unlikely though."

"I guess it'll be something we worry about later then," Dorimon spoke up. "Because we have to deal with the Ember issue right now."

Andy was thankful for the subject change. "When Danny gets back with those Earphones, we'll see what we can do about Ember."

Takuya nodded. "Good idea. I don't want a mind-controlling ghost running around if we can help it."

"Agreed," Andy, Lopmon, and Dorimon all said at the same time while Jazz nonchalantly nodded.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** Here you go.

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Andy is an important character. Most of the story is sort of in his point of view, though sometimes it does need to be shifted with another character.

**ZAFT:** That is true. :3 Twists can be fun~ :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Dorimon is indeed adorable. But here's to hoping he can be more than just that.

**GirlFish****: ZAFT:** Okay, regarding a new partner for Vlad, that is going into spoilers, so just keep reading. :3 As for Andy's reaction, that was the idea. XD

**DarkFoxKit:** Are you talking about the holy water? Cause no, Takuya doesn't have it anymore. The reason why it didn't affect Andy is because the 'spirit' in Andy isn't a ghost, it's just Andy's own soul. You know, like what people usually have. Andy only ended up acting like a cat was because Danny was comforting his soul, it had nothing to do with the holy water itself.

Vlad becoming Mayor of Amity Park doesn't happen until season 3, and we're still in season 1, soooo…. Yeah, that's gonna be a while. We're not going to be thinking about that plot point until we get to it.


	28. Remember Ember's Name

**DarkFoxKit:** Have you seen Andy or Takuya ZAFT?

**ZAFT: **I think I saw Andy and Takuya playing with Dorimon.

**DarkFoxKit:** Wait… Dorimon is here now as well? This isn't a hang-out place for our characters! This is supposed to be a place for us to do the pre-author stuff before the story begins.

**ZAFT:** Ugh… Okay, Dorimon goes back you two. ***Puts Dorimon back in chapter***

**Andy: **Hey! We were just about to feed Dorimon all that scrap metal we don't need! He looked so happy too…

**DarkFoxKit:** Don't go bringing friends here without our permission. We don't want to clutter up the ANs.

**ZAFT:** We have to keep this area clean for pre-chapter stuff. :P

**Takuya:** Well, it was fun while it lasted.

**DarkFoxKit:** Come on, let's get the readers into the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 28: Remember Ember's Name**

Although Danny came back quickly and gave Jazz the Fenton Earphones, none of them had heard from Ember again outside of her song being played by someone at school at random times. Later that night, Danny, Agunimon, and Arbormon patrolled around the city to try to find that teen rock star ghost, but there was strangely no sight of her. Since it was late, Danny told Andy, Sam, and Tucker to stay home and get some sleep while he finished up the patrol.

Danny frowned as he landed near the closed Nasty Burger. "You'd think a rock star like Ember would be pretty easy to find, yet I haven't seen her at all since yesterday afternoon…"

Danny heard some heavy sounding footsteps, and an annoyed grunt on the other side of the Nasty Burger building. Curious, Danny poked his head from the corner of the Nasty Burger, surprised to see that Agunimon Digimon resting there, leaning against the wall. He had that Arbormon Digimon with him as well.

"What up with those two?" Danny muttered to himself.

Danny turned himself invisible and slowly floated closer to them so they wouldn't hear his footsteps.

"-n't find that Ember ghost anywhere in town," Arbormon stated. "Have you talked to Koji or Koichi in the next town if they've heard of her?"

Agunimon shook his head. "No. They reported nothing." He then stretched.

_How do they know about Koji and Koichi?_ Danny wondered.

"So much for that." Arbormon muttered. "You think she would be more noticed given how much of a star she is."

"Yeah, and nobody else thinks this is weird," Agunimon grumbled.

"Considering that she's using mind control to gain her fans, that's probably not hard to figure out why," Arbormon pointed out.

"Can't you sense Ember like you did with Andy before?" Agunimon asked.

"No, I've tried that already. It's like she vanished from the face of the planet," Arbormon answered. "It's already 11 something, we should call it a night and turn in. I don't know about you, but I would rather not be too tired for school tomorrow."

Agunimon nodded. "Yeah, I guess we should." As soon as he said that, the Warrior of Flame felt a yawn escape him, which revealed his sharp fangs. "I'm already feeling sleep coming up on me."

_So they can sleep… I suppose that makes sense, Dorimon and Lopmon sleep too._ Danny noted.

Agunimon and Arbormon stood back up and began to move quickly away from the area. Danny thought about following them, but he remembered that Digimon had ways to sense when a ghost was nearby. He was lucky they didn't sense him, they were likely too distracted talking to each other to notice him, and he hadn't been exerting a lot of ghostly powers near them. Danny landed on the ground and let go of his invisibility as he watched them go.

"I wonder about them… why do they keep showing up sometimes…?" Danny asked himself. "They seem to want to help with the Ember issue as well… if I could just talk to them…"

The ghost boy thought to himself for a moment. He remembered how Andy would usually be near Agunimon during the battles they've faced. Takuya was never around though, even though he was usually with Andy before the fighting started. Not only that, but Agunimon used fire as his main attacks, and Tucker mentioned something about Takuya being protected by walls of fire when he tried to overshadow him._ I wonder… does Takuya have some kind of connection with Agunimon?_

Danny decided to call it a night himself, figuring he could find out more tomorrow. With a yawn, Danny then turned invisible and took off back towards Fenton Works.

* * *

The next day at school, the Ember craze was at an all time high. The school was now covered in decorations for Ember. There were posters of Ember all over the place, all the school text books were replaced with Ember magazines. Although there wasn't a dress code in Casper High, the school staff weren't too happy to see almost all their students were wearing something Ember related, including make-up and hair wigs.

Mr. Lancer in particular was not happy at all, as his swear of "Chicken Soup For the Soul!" indicated.

Danny and Sam, along with Andy and Dorimon, who was comfortably laying in Andy's backpack, made their way to Tucker, who had an Ember wig on his head, as well as the black eyeliner, and his clothes. "You're starting to creep me out, Tuck." Danny remarked. "And I fight _ghosts_."

"It's an Ember thing, you wouldn't understand it," Tucker remarked.

"Dude, seriously? We just had this discussion yesterday," Andy sighed.

"Yeah, but he's so into Ember that he doesn't care," Sam grumbled. "We probably need to find Tucker his own Digimon or something to snap him out of it."

"Why… would Tucker have a Digimon of his own?" Andy asked nervously.

"It was just a remark, Andy. No need to get nervous," Sam said, not really sure why Andy was acting that way. "By the way, how has Jazz been?"

"It looks like she's able to snap out of it, she doesn't seem to care about listening to Ember's music anymore since I gave her the Fenton Earphones and Lopmon had been working to detox her of Ember's song," Danny answered.

Sam smiled. "That's good to hear."

"Good for her, I guess, but even if you 'snapped me out of it', I would always be an Ember fan, you can't take that away from me!" Tucker proudly announced.

"How do you know you actually like Ember yourself or if it's her mind controlling music that's making you like her?" Andy questioned.

"I just do!" Tucker exclaimed with pride before a voice spoke up.

"Wow. What's with the wig?" Tucker jumped and turned, only to see Takuya behind him.

"It's an Ember thing, you wouldn't understand it," Tucker said, repeating what he told Danny earlier.

"Dude… that's creepy." Danny muttered. "He just repeated himself."

Takuya looked at Danny. "Really? Then I guess Ember's mind control is making Tucker into an android then."

"No, that was just the best answer I had for you," Tucker grumbled.

"We've pretty much lost him to the Ember side," Sam sighed.

Suddenly, Paulina walked up to the group. Takuya and Andy barely recognized her because of all the make-up she had put on her face, and her clothes were almost exactly identical to Ember's, even her hair looked like Ember with the wig she was wearing.

"Hey everyone! Ember's giving away free concert tickets at Buckey's Music Megastore! We need to get there now or we'll miss out!" Paulina announced before she noticed Tucker's wig. "Nice hair!"

Andy, Sam, and Takuya stared in shock, Paulina _never_ complimented anyone outside of the popularity circle.

"Okay… I think that's a sign Ember is a mind-controlling ghost for sure…" Takuya muttered.

"Or the world's ending…" Andy added.

"Thanks! Nice hair!" Tucker said back before he ran to join the crowd that was rushing to get to the music store for the tickets.

The crowd were all chanting Ember's name as they were running towards the door. Mr. Lancer quickly blocked the door with his body. "You people aren't going anywhere except de-"

The crowd ignored the teacher and ran him over as they shoved the door opened.

"TENTIOOONNN!" Mr. Lancer finished as he was trampled by the students.

As for Tucker, he was quickly grabbed by Danny and Andy, who had grabbed one of each of his arms. Sam grabbed onto Danny's waist to help him pull Tucker back, while Takuya grabbed Andy's waist. Tucker was surprisingly strong when he was motivated to try to get somewhere, he was practically dragging the four teens with him.

"Must. have. Ember. ticks…" Tucker exclaimed with grunts.

"Who knew Tucker was strong like this?" Takuya grunted as he tried to keep his footing.

"I think the janitor just mopped the floor…" Andy grunted.

"We're going to have to de-program Tucker…" Sam said.

"But how? He doesn't have a Digimon partner of his own to de-program him," Danny asked.

"I might have an idea," Sam replied. "He may not have a Digimon partner with him, but we do have something that can help. Remember those computer helmets Mr. Lancer was going to have us use to study for that upcoming test?"

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, I think I get it," Andy spoke up. "The computer helmet sends data directly into the human brain, or that's the theory anyways. If we could put in different programs into Tucker's brain, it'll have to expel Ember's music to make room for the extra data."

"Exactly," Sam agreed.

Takuya blinked. "Huh. Well, if that's what we have to do, then let's do it."

Danny smiled at Sam, before noticing the position they were in. Sam noticed it too, and they both let go of Tucker and each other, they started to whistle innocently.

"Guys! Don't let go!" Andy yelped when Tucker gained a sudden boost of strength because Danny and Sam let go.

Danny realized their mistake. "Oh! Sorry bro!" He grabbed Tucker's arm again and began to pull the determined boy back from the door. "Let's get him to the classroom, before he bolts on us."

"Yes, please," Andy groaned. "Sam, since you're not holding Tucker back, can you find us a rope or something?"

Sam nodded. "Sure." She ran off to find one, and find one she did, in the wood-work shop. She came back with it. "I found this in the wood-work shop. I think it will be of use to us."

"Great, now let's get Tucker to Mr. Lancer's classroom," Danny remarked.

"No! You can't do this to me!" Tucker yelled.

Danny, Andy, and Takuya picked up Tucker and hefted him over their heads before they carried him like a primitive tribe of people.

"Wow… We must look stupid for carrying Tucker like this…" Takuya remarked.

"You're telling me…" Danny grumbled.

They carried Tucker into the classroom before sitting him down in a chair and Sam used the rope to tie Tucker to the chair as Takuya shoved the helmet onto Tucker's head.

Andy turned on the computer and let it start its teachings to Tucker.

"This is where the healing begins," Sam stated.

"I hope it heals him and not mess him up," Andy frowned.

Danny frowned as well. _I hope Tucker gets better soon..._

Takuya frowned himself. _This is a desperate gamble. I hope it doesn't mess up Tucker…_

The older boy then looked around at everyone. "So, do we go and try to stop Ember?"

"We're going to have to try, yes, we can't just let her roam free if she keeps mind controlling everyone. Or the teens I guess, the adults are going to be worried too, not to mention in danger if Ember has them attack people," Andy stated.

"I'll be sure to help stop her," Dorimon promised, looking at Tucker from Andy's backpack, finding it sad to see the boy in such a state.

"We now know where Ember is, at least for now," Danny agreed. "I'm going to go pick up the Fenton Thermos in my locker, we're going to need it to catch Ember."

Takuya nodded. "Good idea." He then had a thought. "Maybe one of us should go to see if Ember is still there."

"Takuya and I can go and see if Ember is still there," Andy volunteered. "Danny, you and Sam get what you need and meet us at the Music Megastore."

Danny nodded. "Okay. I think that's a solid plan."

"Be careful you two," Sam said in concern. "I'd rather you didn't become Ember fan nuts yourselves."

Takuya gave a mysterious smirk. "We have our ways."

With that, he looked at Andy. "Okay, let's go, Andy."

Andy nodded to Takuya before the older boy hurried out of the classroom.

"Try not to take too long, alright?" Andy said to Danny and Sam before he went after Takuya.

"See you there!" Dorimon waved.

* * *

Once outside of Casper High, Andy and Dorimon looked around for a moment. "The streets are pretty empty… it's kind of creepy." Andy noted.

"Yeah, but convenient, we can Spirit Evolve and Digivolve without people seeing us," Dorimon remarked.

"True… But I think we should be cautious anyway." Takuya pointed out. "I mean, not all people are obsessed with Ember. She seems to be more towards our age group."

"Yeah," Andy agreed. "Dorimon, you digivolve into Dorugamon and fly us over to Buckey's Music Megastore, but fly high in the sky as it would give people less chances of seeing you."

Dorimon gave a nod. "Okay. I can do that easily."

Dorimon digivolved into Dorumon, before Andy's D-Arc glowed.

"DIGIVOLUTION." Dorumon was surrounded by fractal code as he felt the energy of Andy's will fill him. His skin began to peel away from his face and head, then his stomach and his tail was last to lose the skin. But as he regained his skin, his claws and legs came back first, then his wings came back with skin, flaring open to reveal their larger size, his tail swung around once as it regained the skin, and then his head and face were last to regain their skin. _"Dorugamon!"_

With Dorugamon, Andy hopped onto his back. "Takuya, you should get on Dorugamon's back. It would be too noticeable if there are two giant flying dragons in the air."

Takuya nodded. "Sure." He climbed up onto Dorugamon's back as well, sitting right behind Andy. He made sure to hold onto Andy's waist so he didn't fall off. "Okay… I'm good."

With Takuya and Andy secured on his back, Dorugamon opened his wings before he flapped them to get off the ground, and flew up into the sky. As Andy had requested, Dorugamon flew up high to try to avoid wandering eyes from seeing him. Hopefully if anyone did look up, they would think he was a plane or a big bird.

Takuya looked down, and clutched Andy's waist a bit tighter. Sure, flying was nice, but he felt safer when he did it himself as BurningGreymon. Flying on Dorugamon's back made him a bit nervous, even though he knew that the Digimon wouldn't let him fall.

* * *

Jazz went with the rest of the crowd when they bulldozed their way out of school to get to Buckey's Music Megastore. She didn't go because she wanted the tickets, but she needed to find a way to stop Ember. She knew her brothers and cousin would find a way to capture Ember, but something told her that it wouldn't be that easy.

Lopmon was riding on Jazz's head as they made their way to the store. "So, what's the plan for when we get to the music store?"

"No clue," Jazz answered.

"You don't have a plan!?" Lopmon frowned.

"Hey, I'm sort of making this up as I go along. I haven't exactly been trained on how to battle mind controlling ghosts," Jazz grumbled.

Lopmon sighed. "Well, a plan, even if not fully thought out, is better than having nothing."

"Right now the plan is to observe Ember and see what she can do, maybe we'll find out what her weakness is," Jazz replied. "Going into a battle blindly is dangerous."

Lopmon gave a nod of approval. "That's a very good observation. It may help the others too if we can find out Ember's weakness."

Jazz gave a small smile at the praise.

The crowd had eventually come up to the megastore as Jazz predicted. She tried to blend in with the crowd by pretending to be another crazed fan. Jazz didn't want to get too close to Ember, however, since Andy had warned her that their Digimon partner can only protect them from Ember's song if she's not concentrating a lot of her ghostly power into her mind controlling spell. The closer she was to Ember, the more risk she would take at being put under Ember's control again.

"This is a big crowd… of teens," Jazz muttered, finding herself surrounded by people around her age.

Lopmon frowned. "Yeah… It's like Ember is more focused on your age group…"

"But why? Does her power only work on people around 13 to 20, or is she choosing to only get people around that age group? And if she is choosing it, why?" Jazz wondered. "Hmm… maybe she just doesn't like adults?"

"I'm unsure about that." Lopmon noted. "It could be, but we don't know for sure."

Then Lopmon's ears rose when he sensed something. "Heads up, Jazz, we're not alone. There are Digimon around."

"What? Who?" Jazz asked, keeping an eye out for anything that seemed like a Digimon attack.

Lopmon looked around before seeing something orange and white getting on the big stage that Ember was going to show up at. "There!"

Jazz blinked, surprised to see a big monkey man wearing sunglasses, and had some kind of yellow teddy bear on his waist.

"Welcome everyone! Thank you all so much for coming to my concert!" The monkey Digimon spoke up into a microphone.

The Digimon was met with severe confusion however.

"What the?"

"A monkey? I came here for Ember, not a man in a monkey suit!"

"Where is Ember!?"

"I want Ember! Who is this guy!?"

"Who is that?" Jazz asked Lopmon. "And what is he going on about? This is not his concert… is it?"

"Look at your D-Arc…" Lopmon instructed as he looked at the Digimon.

Jazz checked her D-Arc as a hologram of the Digimon appeared. "Etemon, Ultimate level, and is a Virus type Digimon. Etemon is a Puppet Digimon. It is an unidentified Digimon that suddenly appeared in the Digital World. It calls itself the "King of Digimon", and its fighting strength is beyond imagination. And, well, it's rumored that it pulls the strings of the mysterious Digimon "Monzaemon"."

Looking back up at Etemon, Jazz frowned. "Great… We have to deal with an Ultimate level Digimon again? I don't think Ember is going to be showing up here for a while."

"It's possible Etemon had his cronies detained Ember so he could take center stage. Etemon loves performing concerts himself, but unlike Ember, his singing voice is awful, so awful that it actually hurts," Lopmon warned. "I'm not kidding, one of his attacks is singing terribly."

Jazz gave a grimace at the thought of that. "Okay, I don't think we should let him get off his singing then."

"It would appear Andy and Takuya aren't here yet, neither is Danny, we may have to go into battle ourselves." Lopmon frowned.

"I guess we may have to." Jazz agreed. "But we need to find a place for you to Digivolve without being seen if that is the case. And this place is so packed, it won't be easy to do that."

The crowd, angry at this 'man in a monkey suit', began to throw random objects at him, shouting that they wanted Ember.

Etemon, getting frustrated with the crowd's harsh treatment, shouted into the mic. "Alright, if that's the way you want to do it, I'll be performing my special _Dark Musical_!"

Etemon began singing so loud and so terrible and off-key that it began to hurt everyone's ears. Soon, their heads began to ache badly, so much so that many of them were starting to fall on their knees.

Jazz gave a loud groan as her hands flew to her ears. "Ow! That hurts!"

"I warned you..." Lopmon remarked with a groan himself, wrapping his big ears around himself in an attempt to block out as much of the noise as possible.

With everyone on the ground, trying to survive Etemon's Dark Musical attack, Jazz started to fiddle with her Fenton Earphones, while they were designed to filter out ghost sound based powers, she hoped that by turning up the level would help with a Digimon's sound based powers. It did work, although not as great as Jazz had hoped, it kept the singing from making her head feel like it would explode, but it still hurt. She managed to get on her feet.

"Lopmon! You need to stop him!" Jazz shouted through the noise.

Lopmon nodded. "Right!" He jumped off Jazz's head as her D-Arc began to glow.

"DIGIVOLUTION!"

"Lopmon, digivolve to…" Lopmon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Lopmon's legs gained shoes and yellow pants with a belt and yellow top that matched, two blades appeared as his hands regained their skin and red gloves, grasping the blades in both hands. The skin on Lopmon's head and face came back, just as a blue bandanna appeared around his neck as well. _"Turuiemon!"_

With Lopmon now digivolved to Turuiemon, he jumped high and fast, aiming one of his blades at the still singing Etemon._ "Gauntlet Claw!"_

Turuiemon smashed his claws into Etemon, shutting up the monkey Digimon, making him drop the mic and causing a loud feedback.

"OW!" Etemon yelped before he looked at Turuiemon in anger. "Why you little bunny! I will make you pay for that! No one interrupts the concert of the King of Digimon! Uh-huh!"

Etemon jumped at Turuiemon. _"Monkey Kick!"_

_"__Gauntlet Claw!"_ Turuiemon countered with his blades.

The two attacks slammed into each other. Turuiemon managed to nick Etemon's feet, but Etemon's body was tough, even with the direct hit from Turuiemon's blade, Etemon managed to get his foot right into Turuiemon's face, knocking him several feet back.

"Ooof!" Turuiemon slammed into a wall, making an imprint of his body in it. "He's strong, stronger than I thought…"

"Turuiemon, are you okay!?" Jazz called out in concern.

"Yes, I am." Turuiemon replied before he pushed off the wall and towards Etemon again. _"Ninja Fist!"_

Etemon saw the Champion rabbit coming and gave a smirk. "Come on now, I expect an actual fight. _Dark Network!"_

Etemon created a black sphere on the palm of his hand before throwing it at Turuiemon. Turuiemon gasped as the dark sphere slammed into him. Turuiemon let out a cry of pain as the sphere was eating away at him, his body started to get a little glitchy.

Jazz, knowing she had to do something, pulled out a card from her D-Arc in hopes of it saving her partner.

The card spun around before two fingers caught it, Jazz's face emerging from the shadows from the left as she looked up. She then held up her D-Arc above her head before swiping the card down through the slot towards the ground. _"Digi-Modify! Soulmon's Dark Claw Activate!"_

Turuiemon's blades turned into a dark, shadowy version of themselves, they looked sharper, longer, and deadlier. Turuiemon clenched his teeth as he used whatever strength he had left to use the Dark Claw to slash through the dark sphere, cutting it open, and he was able to fall out of it.

Although Turuiemon was able to get out of the dark sphere, he was still severely weakened from it._ If only I could become Cherubimon again, this stupid monkey would be a Digi-Egg faster than he could sing his first note!_

Jazz frowned to herself as she took note of her partner's state. _I only have one card to help with..._

"Look at you, you can barely stand after that attack," Etemon snickered. "You really think you're a match for me little bunny?"

Turuiemon clenched his fists, still ready to fight.

"Well then, I suppose this last attack will put you back as a Digi-Egg so I can finally continue my concert," Etemon remarked and started to form the dark sphere again.

Suddenly, a strum of a guitar was heard, and a large purple fist made of ghost energy suddenly came out of nowhere and punched Etemon so hard that he was flung into a wall.

"How dare you try to upstage me, monkey man!" Ember shouted as she appeared in ecto-green smoke. "This is _my_ concert! Not yours!"

The crowd, hearing Ember's voice, looked up. Their heads were still aching from Etemon's awful singing. They seemed surprised and clueless to who this Ember was.

"Why… are we here again?" Someone asked.

"I… don't know…? Something about a ticket?" Another replied sounding just as unsure.

Jazz took notice of the crowd's confusion.

Ember, thinking fast, quickly wrapped her body with her fiery hair, teleporting herself onto the stage before she took the mic. She began to play her guitar before her back-up band appeared behind her in a puff of purple smoke. This quickly got the crowd's attention as Ember began singing her song.

They began to chant her name again, making her more powerful.

Etemon, having finally recovered from the attack, growled as he rubbed his face. "That was a cheap shot! I demand a proper battle!"

"Why would I bother battling with a monkey man?" Ember questioned.

"Not a barbaric fight! I mean a true battle against musicians!" Etemon challenged.

Ember smirked confidently. "Then show me what you can do, monkey man."

"The name's Etemon!" Etemon snapped.

Turuiemon stumbled over to Jazz. The crowd was so focused on Ember that none of them noticed the giant rabbit in clothing, and wearing blades on its hands. Jazz hurried over to her partner just as fractal code surrounded Turuiemon, degenerating him back to Lopmon. Jazz picked up the tired out Lopmon.

"Are you okay, Lopmon?" Jazz asked in concern.

"I'm fine…" Lopmon panted. "I just didn't expect that Dark Network attack to be so strong…"

Jazz nodded in agreement before she looked at Ember, who was grinning at Etemon. "If there's one good thing that came out of this… I just found out that there is a weakness to Ember's spell after all."

* * *

Dorugamon finally arrived at the Music Megastore, though by the time he reached there, he, Andy, and Takuya could hear Ember singing, but then shortly after, a horrid voice was yelling into the mic, they sounded so off-key that it was giving them a bit of a headache.

"Okay, that's not normal." Dorugamon frowned.

"It sounds terrible." Takuya agreed, feeling his head aching. "Ouch…"

The horrid singing was abruptly cut off, however, and Ember's voice took over again, though she sounded a little more frantic than before.

Takuya noticed that, but it didn't seem to be something to wonder about. He just took it as Ember was worried about losing her fans to a horrible singer.

"Ugh, let's hurry and get down there. Whoever is singing besides Ember is obviously not human…" Andy frowned.

Dorugamon flew down. The people were too focused on the sing off to notice a fox dragon coming down for a landing.

"Dorugamon, stay out here for a minute, alright?" Andy instructed. "We may need to get back on you if a fight breaks loose."

Dorugamon nodded. "Sure, Andy."

Takuya hopped off. "So what now? We head in?"

"Yeah, we need to find out what's going on," Andy answered. "And hope our ears don't bleed in the process."

Takuya groaned. "Great… I can't _wait_ to head in there when I am Spirit Evolved…" This was said in sarcasm because of his enhanced senses he had when evolved as a Digimon.

"Stay human for now," Andy suggested. "We need to assess how bad the situation is first before we go in all fire ablazing."

"You wanted to say that, didn't you?" Takuya asked with a deadpan look.

"Maybe?" Andy chuckled.

The two of them went into the store, they could already hear the crowd chanting Ember's name. And Ember was grinning at a monkey person, who was gritting his teeth.

"What is that?" Andy asked, looking at the monkey person.

Takuya frowned. "I don't know. I've never seen anything like it…" He was cut off as he felt the flash of heat from his Spirits that signified a Digimon in the area. "Oh great… It's a Digimon…"

"Takuya? Andy!? What are you two doing here?" Jazz yelled from the crowd, carrying an injured Lopmon in her arms.

"Jazz!? What are _you_ doing here?" Andy asked in surprise at seeing his sister there. "And what happened to Lopmon?"

"Oh! I came here to see if I could find out what Ember's weakness is, but then this odd monkey Digimon came out of nowhere and started to sing… badly. Calls himself Etemon, and Lopmon wound up fighting him." Jazz replied.

"He was stronger than expected…" Lopmon panted. "And then Ember showed up and began a sing-off with Etemon… Etemon is… an Ultimate level Digimon."

"Figures, we've been facing a lot of Ultimate level Digimon lately," Andy grumbled. "We need to get Ember and Etemon out of here."

Takuya frowned. "Yeah… We do, somehow." _But I'm wondering if I should go with my Fusion Evolution because of Etemon being an Ultimate. BurningGreymon is too large to fit inside through the doors, and Agunimon may not cut it._

"But it's too dangerous to take on both Ember and Etemon at once." Jazz frowned. "Where's Danny?"

"He… uh… are you talking about Fenton or Phantom?" Andy awkwardly asked, remembering his cousin still didn't know Danny's secret.

Jazz looked at Andy with a confused look. "Why do you ask? We need Danny Phantom."

"Just wanted to make sure I know who you're talking about," Andy replied. "He… should be here soon, I mean Danny Phantom likely senses Ember here, and with all this loud music going on, I'm pretty sure all of Amity Park can hear them."

Jazz nodded. "Okay. That makes sense."

Lopmon didn't look too good, Takuya noted. "I think you should get Lopmon back home. He looks pretty beat up, and most likely needs some medical attention."

"I'll be fine… we can't just leave… not right now…" Lopmon frowned.

Andy looked up for a moment, seeing something flying towards the roof. "Okay, I'm going to go get Dorugamon. We'll see if we can get Etemon out of here, while Danny Phantom handles Ember."

Takuya looked at Andy. "What do you want me to do?" He had his hand around his D-Tector in his pocket in case he had to evolve.

Andy looked at Takuya, then at Jazz for a moment, then back at Takuya again. "Wait until Dorugamon and I get Etemon outside, then you… do what you need to do after that, so you'll have more… room to move around."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. I can do that." _And while Andy does that, I can figure out my plan for attack, including which evolution form to use._

Jazz raised an eyebrow at Andy's instructions to Takuya, but she didn't think much of it at the moment. They had more pressing matters to worry about anyway.

"Jazz… keep Lopmon somewhere safe, alright? If he recovers enough, he can help us out in battle if it becomes necessary," Andy instructed to his sister.

Jazz looked at Andy and nodded. "Sure, Andy. That's no problem."

With the plan laid out, Andy hurried out to get to Dorugamon. Takuya went over to the door to wait for his chance to run out and evolve. Jazz stayed at a corner, waiting to see what would happen.

There was a sudden sound like someone just scratched a record. The music stopped, which caused the sing off to stop as well.

"Hey! What happened to the music!?" Ember shouted.

"I can't get my groove on without any music," Etemon grumbled.

The crowd looked up, gasping. Jazz looked up as well, and was surprised to see Sam was up on a large cardboard cutout of Ember, and drew glasses, mustaches, and a little goatee on Ember's cutout face with a red marker.

"Hey, look! It's Ember McLame!" Sam exclaimed with a smirk.

"Heh, looks like not everyone is your fan." Etemon grinned.

Ember hissed. "Well, maybe you'll like my new song better!"

Ember turned the knob that was on her guitar.

But before she could strum the guitar, green ecto-blasts slammed into her and knocked her away. It was Danny Phantom, and he was not happy. "Hey, do you take requests? How about beat it?"

Etemon started laughing. "Looks like you've got some really upset fans. Now I'm going to take center stage."

Danny frowned, and was confused by this monkey man. Etemon took a deep breath with his microphone. He began singing really off-key, using his Dark Musical attack. Everyone in the store all yelled as they covered their ears. Even Danny was getting weakened by the attack, because it was a Digimon attack. He began to fall from the air.

"Hurry, Dorugamon!" Andy yelled as a purple, white, and red blur went past Danny.

_"__Cannonball!"_ A large iron ball slammed into Etemon's face at high speed, it quickly shut the monkey man up.

With Etemon down, the room fell into silence. However, Ember had recovered from Danny's attack, and Danny recovered from Etemon's attack. Danny managed to stop himself from falling, and rubbed his head a little.

"Ugh… Wow. That _was_ horrible singing…" Danny muttered as he regained his senses.

Dorugamon flew over to Danny with Andy on his back.

"Be careful, Danny, that monkey man? That's an Ultimate level Digimon called Etemon," Andy warned.

Danny felt his eyes grow wide. "Really? Wow. That would explain the power behind that terrible singing then."

"I've had enough of these interruptions! This is my light, and I'm not sharing it with anyone!" Ember shouted as she strummed her guitar, a purple glow washing over the crowd.

Takuya and Jazz felt it, the ghostly power going through them. Jazz's D-Arc glowed green, while Takuya felt his spirits burning, expelling the ghost power quickly.

Takuya could feel his Spirits almost screaming at him to evolve, but he refrained. It wasn't time to do that yet.

The rest of the crowd, however, immediately began chanting Ember's name. Ember's hair fire suddenly became larger and taller. She gave a devilish grin at Etemon before she strummed her guitar, knocking him back more. Then she turned her attention to Danny and Andy.

"My, what a cute pet you have there," Ember remarked, looking at Dorugamon. "I wouldn't mind having a dragon to ride of my own."

"Uh… thanks?" Andy blinked, he certainly hadn't been expecting a compliment from Ember.

Danny frowned. "Yeah, no. I don't think that 'dragon' would like listening to you."

"I wasn't talking to you, dipstick," Ember snapped before she turned a knob on her guitar. "In fact, get out of this store! You're not invited to my concert!"

Ember strummed her guitar, which slammed into Danny, throwing him several feet back.

"Danny!" Andy called out in concern.

"Watch out!" Dorugamon shouted before he flew up, barely avoiding another guitar song attack from Ember.

Below them, Takuya could feel the urging of his Spirits getting stronger. He gritted his teeth. _Should I continue waiting or just do it now?_

Danny regained his flight and came to a stop in the air. "Andy!" He flew back to help his brother.

_"__Dark Network!"_ Etemon's voice shouted.

A dark sphere of energy was suddenly thrown. Dorguamon pushed Danny to get him and himself and Andy out of the sphere's way, before it slammed into a wall, creating a hole.

"Let's… not get hit by that…" Andy gulped.

"I agree," Dorugamon replied.

Danny gaped. "Okay… That would be a painful result…"

Takuya also gaped. _Wow… smart move Dorugamon..._

"Ember~ Ember~ Ember~" The crowd was constantly chatting, not seeming to care about the battle that was going on.

Andy noticed that Ember's flames were getting brighter and hotter. "... The chanting… is it making her stronger…?"

Ember turned to Etemon, then smirked. "You're never going to win against me, not in a sing off and not in a battle either."

Etemon, angered by Ember's comment, began to throw a tantrum, using his Monkey Kick on the store's structure, which was causing the store to start falling apart.

"Dorugamon, get Etemon out of here, hurry!" Andy yelled in alarm.

Dorugamon dove at the rampaging monkey. Etemon didn't even notice Dorugamon until he was right up on him. Dorugamon tackled Etemon into a wall, before grabbing him with his claws and quickly started flying out of the store.

"Danny! You handle Ember! We'll take care of the monkey man here!" Andy shouted to his brother as Dorugamon flew to the exit.

Danny nodded. "Okay! Be careful, Andy!" As soon as Andy was gone, Danny turned back to face Ember. "Now that we have that nuisance monkey out of the way, our battle has just begun!" He let loose with some ecto-blasts on Ember.

Ember glared, annoyed that she kept getting one annoyance after another, she strummed her guitar again, this time creating two energy fists at Danny. Danny yelped and tried to dodge. He did dodge one of the fists, but the other one hit him. Danny turned intangible to avoid slamming into the ceiling above, and he phased through the ceiling, finding himself now on the roof. Ember had followed him up there.

"And the battle is just about to end, dipstick, you hear there?" Ember smirked. "Everyone is chanting my name. And soon, the whole world will be chanting my name when my concert will go global tonight, and I will be remembered forever! Then you'll all be my slaves!"

Danny glared at her. "We'll see!"

Takuya, having seen Danny, Ember, Andy, Dorugamon, and Etemon heading outside, had run out of the store as well, and was now making his way to find a hiding spot to evolve. "C'mon… where can I hide…?"

Danny managed to get another hit on Ember with his ghost ray, but she was being powered up by the crowd's chanting that his attack didn't do much. Ember smirked before she strummed her guitar again, and Danny fell into another giant cardboard cutout of Ember, which fell onto the edge of the roof. Danny groaned, his powers weakened from Ember's attacks, and Etemon's earlier attack. He reverted back to human form. Sam, having seen Danny going to the roof earlier, kicked open the door, holding the Fenton Thermos.

"Hey! Stay away from him!" Sam exclaimed as she ran out to help Danny, getting in front of him.

"Sam!" Danny yelled. "Get out of here! This is too dangerous for you!"

Sam wasn't budging though, just glaring at Ember.

"Aww, teen love, they say it never lasts, but nothing distracts teenagers more than hormones~" Ember smirked as she began to turn the knob on her guitar. "And I need you out of my hair for the next 8 hours. I have more than just music for you. Now that they're chanting my name, my music _can_ affect other ghosts _and_ digital beings!"

Meanwhile, Andy and Dorugamon managed to get Etemon out of the music store. He was about to have Dorugamon fly up to attack with a full powered Cannonball again, when suddenly his head got dizzy. Without warning, he saw his brother Danny, in human form, on the roof, and Sam standing in front of him. Ember was in front of them, smirking. She then strummed her guitar, and the energy she blasted out this time was pink, and it had hearts in the energy as well.

The pink energy glowed through Sam and Danny, though the song was so powerful, it flung Sam over on top of Ember's cutout, while Danny's eyes spiraled pink and white. After the song ended, Danny suddenly turned to Sam with a sudden dreamy, lovesick smile.

_"__Well, I think I'll leave the new couple alone~" _Ember ginned before she phased through the roof to get back into the music store.

Andy blinked as he came out of the sudden vision. "What… what was that…?"

"Andy? Are you okay?" Dorugamon asked in concern.

Andy looked up at the roof, and saw the Ember cutout hanging from the edge, but Sam wasn't on there yet. "Is… is it going to happen now…? Dorugamon, don't worry about Etemon right now, get to the roof, hurry!"

Though Dorugamon didn't know why Andy suddenly wanted him to get to the roof, the urgency in Andy's tone told him that now wasn't the time to ask questions. Dorugamon flew up to the roof quickly, just in time for Andy to see Danny, in human form, and Sam standing in front of him, with Ember smirking at them, just like in the vision he saw a few seconds ago.

"Grab Danny and Sam, hurry!" Andy instructed frantically.

Not hesitating for a second, Dorugamon flew down to Danny and Sam just as Ember strummed her guitar and the pink energy beam came out.

"How about a love song!?" Ember grinned.

It felt as if the world was moving in slow motion. Andy wasn't sure if he'd get to his brother and Sam in time before the song reached them.

Danny and Sam were about to be hit, but Dorugamon reached out and grabbed Danny and Sam's shirts before lifting both off the roof and to safety, his dive pulling up sharply. They narrowly dodged the love song.

Ember sighed a little. "This is way more trouble than it's worth. But I already gave my concert tickets to this crowd. Let's see them try to stop me now."

Ember turned intangible and phased through the roof.

Dorugamon flew through the sky, still hanging onto Danny and Sam, careful not to let his claws touch them. "Are you two alright?"

Danny looked up and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. We would have probably been obsessed with each other if not for your timely arrival."

Sam sighed. "And I would have probably fallen from that cutout if that had happened because of the results."

Andy sighed in relief to see they were able to make it in time to avoid Ember's love spell, though it did make him wonder how he saw it coming._ Could Lopmon have been right? Could I really see into the future…?_

Andy shook his head, deciding now wasn't the time to think about it. "Let's get back down. Etemon is likely still on a rampage. I don't know where Ember went, I doubt she stuck around."

Dorugamon nodded as he started to fly down. However, as he was flying down, Danny noticed someone moving from the corner of his eye. Danny looked over at an alleyway, and saw Takuya pulling out some sort of device from his pocket.

_Is that Takuya? What is he doing?_ Danny wondered to himself.

However, Danny was shocked by what he saw next. A shimmering ball of what he recalled was fractal code appeared around his cousin's left hand before Takuya swiped the device over the coding, and then a cocoon of it appeared around his body before bursting not even a few second later, revealing that Digimon that was called BurningGreymon.

"What the!?" Danny yelled, startling Sam, Dorugamon, and Andy.

"What? What's wrong?" Sam asked. "Is it Ember?"

"No! I… I just saw Takuya turning into a dragon! That fiery, burning… gray mon or whatever it was called!" Danny frantically said, his mind all jumbled from what he just witnessed.

"What?" Andy frowned as he looked down.

"Uh…" Dorugamon saw BurningGreymon flying from the alleyway, where Danny had the full view of. "Oh… Oh dear…"

Andy facepalmed himself when he saw BurningGreymon as well._ Way to be thorough Takuya, I guess Danny wasn't the only careless one here._

BurningGreymon flew up and saw Danny and Sam in Dorugamon's claws. "Are they okay?"

Danny was staring at BurningGreymon, Sam was skeptical, she wasn't sure if Danny actually saw Takuya turning into this dragon, eagle creature, but she also knew better than to keep a closed mind about these things, especially considering Danny can turn into a ghost.

"Yes… they're fine, if a little shaken up," Dorugamon answered, deciding not to tell BurningGreymon that Danny just saw him evolve for now.

"Good." BurningGreymon sighed before he glanced around. "I sensed another Digimon nearby. Where is it?"

As if on cue, Etemon started singing that terrible off key song with his Dark Musical attack. Danny groaned, feeling the effects more than the average person due to his half ghost nature.

"I think you can find it…" Andy frowned, covering his own ears.

Looking off to his left, BurningGreymon saw Etemon on top of another building. "Wow… He sings horribly."

"You're telling me…" Danny groaned.

BurningGreymon flew down and opened fire on Etemon. _"Pyro Barrage!"_

Etemon let out a screeching noise when he was hit by the flames. "You annoying little pyro! I'll teach you for trying to stop my concert!_ Dark Network!_"

Etemon fired a dark sphere at BurningGreymon.

Seeing the Dark Network attack coming at him, the draconic Digimon flew around it before firing his Pyro Barrage at the attack so it wouldn't hit Andy, Sam, Danny, or Dorugamon. The sphere exploded harmlessly away from them before it got within range.

Dorugamon flew down to the ground while BurningGreymon was battling it out with Etemon, putting Sam and Danny down.

"What is… going on? Is my cousin a Digimon!?" Danny finally yelled when he managed to get over the speechless part of his shock.

"Calm down, Danny… are you sure you saw Takuya turning into that BurningGreymon?" Sam asked.

"Yes! I'm sure!" Danny answered, still freaking out a little. "Andy! Didn't you see it? You had to have seen it!"

Andy frowned a little. "Uh… well…"_ What should I say? This is Takuya's secret, but Danny just saw him evolve._

Luckily, Andy was saved from anymore questions when Lopmon came running out to them, and Jazz was running after him.

"We need to get Etemon out of here now. A team of humans are on their way here, we can't let them get involved with Etemon," Lopmon spoke up.

"Lopmon says he could hear sirens coming this way," Jazz explained.

Danny froze. "Uh oh…"

Sam looked at Andy, Jazz, and Lopmon. "What do we do to get that monkey brain out of the area?!"

"I'll distract him," Lopmon spoke up. "Dorugamon, you and BurningGreymon hit Etemon with your strongest attacks while I keep him distracted."

"That could put you in danger too," Andy pointed out.

"There's no time to worry about me, just hurry!" Lopmon replied before he started running towards Etemon.

"Lopmon!" Jazz frowned.

"Danny," Andy spoke up. "We'll talk about Takuya later, I need you to do something for me."

Danny frowned. "Okay… what do you need me to do?"

* * *

Lopmon got in front of Etemon and spoke up. "Etemon! I am a huge fan of yours, won't you please sing me your song?"

That got Etemon's attention immediately.

"Huh? You really like my songs?" The monkey seemed quite thrilled at this. "Uh huh! This will show that pop chick I do have fans!"

Etemon began singing with Dark Musical again. It hurt Lopmon, but he stood his ground to provide the distraction.

Dorugamon flew over to BurningGreymon.

"We have to attack Etemon with our strongest attacks now," Dorugamon said.

"There are people coming this way, if we don't get Etemon out of here, they're all going to get caught up in Etemon's singing," Andy warned.

"But… Lopmon is right there, he could get hit," BurningGreymon pointed out.

"Don't worry, Lopmon will be fine, we need to attack now," Andy quickly said.

"Don't hesitate," Dorugamon added. "We need to finish Etemon and turn him into a Digi-Egg in one blow."

BurningGreymon nodded, he began to ready his attack while Dorugamon flew higher into the sky.

"Higher… higher…" Andy whispered. "Okay, now dive!"

Dorugamon flipped in the air, turning his body around to Etemon, and began to dive down, making a whistling noise in the air. BurningGreymon finished charging up his attack, his body was in flames.

_"__Wildfire Tsunami!"_ BurningGreymon dove down as well, flames surrounding him so that he looked like a giant meteor.

_"__Cannonball!"_Dorugamon shouted as he shot out a big iron ball.

Lopmon saw the attacks coming and braced himself, but then he suddenly felt something cold grab onto him, and his body turned intangible before he sunk under the concrete. Etemon was surprised, not seeing the two massive attacks coming.

"Eh? Where'd you go?" Etemon questioned before the Wildfire Tsunami and the Cannonball engulfed him.

Etemon let out a loud cry as his fractal code appeared around his body. Dorugamon flew in close since he had already been diving towards Etemon. Andy held out his D-Arc.

"Time for your singing career to retire," Andy said before he began scanning the code. "Fractal Code Digitized!"

A card appeared in the D-Arc's slot as Etemon turned into a Digi-Egg. Andy looked at the card he got, which was 'Dark Network'.

BurningGreymon flared his large orange wings and came to a hover. "Wow. That was a close one…"

"We should leave," Andy said, already hearing the sirens himself. "Take Etemon's egg and get him to the Trailmon."

Andy then whispered something to Dorugamon.

Dorugamon then spoke quietly to BurningGreymon. "We'll see you at FentonWorks later… there's something we need to talk about."

BurningGreymon looked at Dorugamon and Andy in confusion, but he nodded. "Sure."

With that, BurningGreymon turned and flew off, no doubt to go to meet a Trailmon and drop off Etemon's Digi-Egg.

Dorugamon landed and Andy jumped off of him. Andy quickly scanned the degeneration card on his D-Arc to have Dorugamon degenerate back into Dorimon before the people came.

Andy was glad he degenerated Dorugamon, because the people that came weren't just cops, oh no, there was an entire SWAT team surrounding the students of Casper High. There was also a school bus, and Mr. Lander standing on top of it with a megaphone. Andy wasn't paying Mr. Lancer too much attention, though he did hear him say something about 'grounding act' and that they would be under 'house arrest'. The SWAT team were grabbing each student and tossing them into different vehicles of the SWAT team.

_Wait, is that even legal? Is that an actual thing?_ Andy found himself questioning as he held onto Dorimon and was looking for Danny, Jazz, Sam, or Tucker.

_"__You will be returned to your homes and await parental punishment. And as for your precious Ember, she is going down!"_ Mr. Lancer was finishing saying. However, as soon as he finished saying that, the large cutout of Ember wound up falling off the music store's roof, and crashed into the bus, which Mr. Lancer had to dive off of.

Dorimon found himself wondering how a human as pudgy as Mr. Lancer could avoid that falling cutout with ease. _I don't think that is supposed to be normal for a human..._

Andy tried to move away from the SWAT team, he didn't want to be grabbed and thrown into a van before finding his friends or siblings._ Where are they? Did Danny go ghost and left already? But I don't see Jazz, Tucker, or Sam either._

Then Andy heard Sam grumbling. He turned to where he heard her just in time to see a buff man in a uniform taking her to one of the vehicles rather than mandhandling her like everyone else. Andy could guess it was likely due to the fact her parents were rich and would not be happy if they found out how they treated her daughter if they were rough with her. Everyone else was fair game though.

Another guy grabbed Kwan and threw him into another van, just like with everyone else. Andy then saw a flash of orange, and he smiled when he saw it was Jazz. She was hiding in the building, though it was only a matter of time before the SWAT team ran out of students to throw into their vans and come get the rest who were hiding inside the store. Though it would buy them some time.

Andy hurried into the building, finding Jazz sitting on a counter with Lopmon on her lap. Danny was there too, currently in his ghost form.

"I still can't believe you actually saved me before the attacks hit," Lopmon said quietly to the ghost boy.

"Yeah… well, to be honest, I wouldn't have thought of doing it if it weren't for Andy's idea, you should be thanking him," Danny sheepishly replied.

Lopmon looked at Andy. "I guess I owe you a big thank you for that idea of yours."

"Technically it was both of us. If Danny wasn't able to pull it off, then my idea would've been useless," Andy chuckled. "Takuya's taking Etemon's egg to a Trailmon. How are you holding up?"

Lopmon smiled. "I'm going to be alright. I just need some time to recover, that's all."

"I'm glad… but it would seem Ultimate level Digimon would be too much for Lopmon alone," Jazz sighed. "And that Ember girl is still out there."

"Not to mention there's no telling how powerful she'll become once her broadcast goes live to the entire world. People chanting her name makes her stronger." Danny frowned.

Lopmon frowned at that. "That _is_ a problem. I didn't think ghosts could get strong off of that kind of energy."

Jazz looked down at her partner. "Ghosts can, apparently, feed off of human emotions to an extent, as we saw that with Spectra. Maybe that is what Ember is doing?"

"It's possible," Dorimon spoke up. "From what I've experienced with ghosts so far, there are a variety of them that exist for different reasons. Like that Poindexter kid being the spirit of a child who was unable to move on from his bullying days, haunted the school to take revenge on other bullies. Spectra being someone who feeds off of young people's misery to stay young, or young looking. Skulker who hunts rare species, be they ghost, human, or even Digimon. Ember might have her own reasons for wanting to hear people chant her name than just simply to be strong. There must be a reason why it makes her stronger."

"Wow Dorimon, that was incredibly insightful of you," Andy chuckled, which made Dorimon blush a little.

"I… just observed what was going on with the ghosts…" Dorimon admitted. "It was nothing special…"

"You bring up some good points about ghosts I never really noticed before myself," Danny noted before he summoned his bright ring of light on his torso that split horizontally, changing him back to his human form. "Whatever Ember's reasoning may be, maybe it'll help convince her to stop if we could just talk her out of it instead of having to fight her. Fighting her will just make her into an enemy, another one I would have to deal with later on."

Jazz smiled at hearing Danny's words. "You're taking a more mature approach, bro. I can't be any prouder of you for that."

Danny blushed as Lopmon and Dorimon giggled at the sight.

Andy was chuckling as well. "That's a good idea, bro. We'll see if we can do some research on Ember at home, and try to find a way to talk her out of it. It may have something to do with how she died, or how she lived in life, it could've formed some kind of Obsession in her that's making her do all this in the first place."

Dorimon looked at Andy. "Her Obsession? You mean something that she wants?"

"In a sense… I'm more talking about Ghost Obsessions," Andy answered.

"From what our parents taught us, all ghosts have an Obsession that ties them to this world," Jazz explained further. "These Obsessions likely formed from their lives when they were still alive. It could be anything, a person, an object, an emotional reasoning, regret. Their ghost powers could also be from what their Obsession could be as well."

"In Ember's case, being a rock star who mind controls people into loving her and chanting her name to make her stronger," Danny added.

"That… makes sense…" Dorimon murmured. "Wow. I learned something new about ghosts today!"

"Ghosts are quite fascinating, aren't they?" Lopmon chuckled. "We have ghost type Digimon, but we don't usually get actual ghosts in our world. Ghost type Digimon are similar, but are also very different from actual ghosts."

Dorimon grinned. "Yep. But learning about real ghosts can be just as interesting."

"We should-" Danny began to say before the doors suddenly slammed open.

The three Fentons cringed before they turned to the door to see the SWAT team decided to come into the building to search for stragglers, and their sunglasses eyes fell on them.

"Oh… crap…" Danny muttered upon seeing the SWAT team. "So much for getting out unseen…"

Andy yelped as the big, buff men in uniform grabbed onto them and dragged them outside to their vehicles. Jazz, who was being dragged beside him, suddenly looked worried.

"Oh no… our parents… they're going to ground us for this!" Jazz frowned.

"Why are you worried about that?" Danny asked, who was also being dragged beside his siblings. "We have bigger problems to worry about.

"You don't understand! If our parents ground us, they won't let us use the computer!" Jazz explained.

Andy frowned. "And without being able to use the computer, we won't be able to do research on Ember."

Danny frowned as well. "And that means we won't be able to find anything that could help us with stopping her either."

They knew they were screwed as the SWAT team threw them into the van. Once they were in the van, the SWAT team shut the door.

"That's the last of the students accounted for," One of the men in uniform said.

"Good. Let's get these students home and let their parents sort out their behavior." Another SWAT officer said before he grumbled. "This seems like a waste of our time, being asked to round up teenagers when we could be out doing our real jobs."

"To be fair, we've been having a slow day." Another one shrugged.

Andy looked out through the bars of the window, and the sirens that went off as the SWAT team began to drive off. "Why does it feel like we're being arrested?"

"We sort of are," Jazz sighed. "Didn't you hear Mr. Lancer? We're under 'house arrest'."

"I could phase us out of here," Danny offered quietly, because there were other students in the back of the van too.

"No, that would get us into more trouble since Mr. Lancer likely let our parents know we're being brought home. And we have too many eyes here," Andy pointed out.

"Good point… Sam's likely going to hear it from her parents worst of all though." Danny frowned.

"And they'll likely blame us for it, knowing how their logic works." Andy rolled his eyes. "'Oh, it's not our precious daughter's fault, it's the fault of those bad influences she call her 'friends'' fault.'"

Dorimon blinked. "Are her parents that bad?"

Jazz sighed. "No, but her relationship with them is complicated to say the least."

"Let's hope you never have to meet them," Danny sighed.

Dorimon shivered a bit. "I hope I don't either…"

Lopmon frowned a little, but didn't say anything on the matter.

* * *

Takuya sighed in relief, after having one of the Trailmon take Etemon's egg back to the Digital World. He was going to head on home since Andy said they would meet with him back there, however, he got a call from Dash on his D-Tector.

_"__Takuya, could you come over to Casper High? And come over to Mr. Lancer's classroom,"_ Dash requested.

"Huh?" Takuya was confused. "Uh… Sure?"

_"__Try to hurry too, this is… getting really weird,"_ Dash said before hanging up.

Takuya frowned before he pocketed his D-Tector and ran out of the abandoned subway station before racing down to Casper High. _What could be getting weird at the school?_

Takuya, who was currently Agunimon, slide evolved into his beast form, BurningGreymon, and flew to Casper High since that would be the quickest way there. There weren't a lot of people outside, so it was easy for Takuya to fly to Casper High without worrying about someone looking up and seeing him. The night sky also helped keep him covered from view.

Takuya, as BurningGreymon, flew down and landed before letting his evolution go and returning to human form. He opened the doors to Casper High and entered the school. _Is everything okay? I hope Danny, Andy, Dorimon, Jazz, and Lopmon are alright..._

When Takuya ran through the hallways, which were dark and creepy, he saw there was a bit of light in the room Dash told him to go to. Takuya walked into the room, and his eyes went wide as he saw what was in the room that Dash was telling him about. He had completely forgotten about Tucker. Tucker was still tied up to the chair, still looking at the computer monitors with the helmet on his head. Dash was there, looking in concern.

"Crap!" Takuya swore as he ran over to Tucker. "Aw man! I completely forgot! Tucker!" He yanked the helmet off Tucker and began to untie him. "Are you okay?!"

"You tied him up there?" Dash asked, hearing what Takuya was implying.

"9 hours… of cramtastic crash session…" Tucker said, his pupils shrunk. "I… should definitely be ready… for that test…"

"It was Sam's idea." Takuya replied. "She thought it was best to deprogram him from Ember's spell by using that machine Mr. Lancer had set up for studying from."

"Oh… jeez, didn't realize how… harsh that Sam girl could be," Dash muttered. "I was trying to find where everyone went, and I noticed… um… there was light in here, and went to check it out. And I saw this geek all tied up with the computer helmet on him. I thought someone was trying to brainwash him, and was a bit… unsure about touching the rope in case it was booby trapped. That's why I called you, I figured you could burn the rope or something."

Takuya nodded. "I could have, but this was no booby-trap. It was just a forgotten mistake."

Tucker shook his head as Takuya removed the helmet. "Whoa… that was so weird."

"Are you okay, Tucker?" Takuya asked in concern.

"I think so…" Tucker replied. "But I feel like my brain was muddled before being reprogrammed, if that makes any sense."

"So… are you a robot now?" Dash questioned.

Tucker blinked, surprised to see Dash of all people here, and looking _worried_ about him no less.

"Uh… No." Tucker said, a bit wary, which was understandable since Dash had been Danny and Andy's bully before becoming a Legendary Warrior himself.

Dash noticed the wariness and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not going to wail on you or anything. Though it was weird to see you all tied up with that helmet on your head."

Tucker blinked before he perked up. "I guess that… _would_ freak anybody out."

"Tucker, how do you feel right now? Do you feel like you want to go see Ember and chant her name or something?" Takuya asked, wanting Tucker to focus on the important question.

Tucker looked back at Takuya. "Now that you mention it, no, I don't. I don't feel like I want to chant her name." He then froze. "Chant. A verb that describes saying something over and over again in joy or excitement." Tucker shook his head. "Wow… That was weird."

Dash and Takuya looked at each other in concern, before looking back at Tucker.

"Well… at least you're cured…" Takuya hesitantly said.

"And needs to be cured of being reprogrammed like a dictionary," Dash sighed.

Tucker grumbled. "I think we can blame Sam for that one… Wait… does Dash know what's going on?"

"Uh… yeah, sort of," Takuya replied, trying to figure out what to say. "He wasn't under Ember's spell, so he knew something weird was going on."

Tucker then remembered how Takuya had this D-monster - no, Digimon - data inside him. While that explained how Takuya was not under Ember's spell, it didn't explain how _Dash_ wasn't brainwashed either. "Okay…"

"Don't think too hard on it, techno geek," Dash spoke up, seeing the gears turning in Tucker's head. "Your brain could use some relaxation before it explodes from information overload."

Tucker blinked in surprise, not able to stop his mouth from falling open at the comment from Dash. Takuya smacked his own face with his hand in exasperation.

"What? Just because the techno geek didn't think I know what some things are doesn't mean it's fact," Dash grumbled. "And anyways, we should all head home, it's getting late, and I'm sure our parents are starting to get worried."

Tucker snapped out of his staring state and shook his head. "Oh. Right. Yeah. We probably should."

Takuya frowned a bit to himself. "Okay. Besides, I hope Danny and Andy got home okay, and Andy wanted to talk to me about something anyway."

* * *

The SWAT van parked in front of Fenton Works. Andy and Jazz kept their Digimon partners close to their chest so they wouldn't lose them as the men in uniform opened their van's doors. They roughly dragged Jazz, Danny, and Andy out of the vehicle. Then they marched up to Fenton Works' door, kicked open the door, before they all but tossed the three teens into the floor of their living room. Jack and Maddie watched in surprise as they watched the process before their eyes. As soon as the kids were dumped in their house, the men in uniform closed the door and went on their way.

"Okay… that was painful…" Danny groaned.

"Gonna feel that in the morning…" Andy groaned as well, though he felt bad for Dorimon since he had sort of landed on Dorimon due to the way he was thrown into the living room.

"Ouch…" Jazz muttered, feeling her body aching, but that was most likely due to landing on Lopmon because of how she was thrown into the room. She hoped he wasn't too badly hurt by that.

"What is the matter with you kids?" Jack asked, likely having already gotten the call from Mr. Lancer due to the lack of a surprised look on his face from how they were literally thrown into the living room by a SWAT team.

"You need to be preparing for the North Western Nine testing tomorrow!" Maddie scolded.

_That's it? We're just getting scolded despite the mandhandling we just endured? They aren't a little bit shocked about us just being thrown in front of them like that?_ Andy groaned, having pulled Dorimon out from under him.

Danny was a bit surprised too. _Okay, I was _sure_ we would be getting worse than just a scolding._

"Sorry Mom, sorry Dad, but we need to do some research about Ember," Jazz started as she stood up.

Of course, Jazz mentioning Ember gave Maddie and Jack the wrong idea about her intentions with Ember.

"Jazz, please, of all kids, we thought you'd be the most responsible to not fall under the whole Ember craze we've been hearing about." Maddie frowned in disappointment.

Jazz blinked. "What? Mom, it's not like that!" But her protests fell on deaf ears.

"Oh Jack, where did we go wrong?" Maddie frowned.

"Don't worry, Maddie, we just need to use the correct amount of discipline and they'll be back to being good kids in no time at all!" Jack promised.

"But Mom, Dad, that Ember is a g-" Danny started to say, only to get interrupted.

The door then opened, cutting Danny off. Takuya entered, looking around. "What's going on?"

Jack and Maddie looked at Takuya.

"At least he wasn't brought here by the SWAT team…" Maddie mumbled.

Takuya looked at his aunt in confusion. "What SWAT team?"

"Just about everyone in Casper High had to be taken by the SWAT team to get them back home, us included," Jazz explained.

"So we're kind of in trouble right now," Andy added.

Danny was looking at Takuya, he wasn't sure what to say right now.

Takuya saw the way Danny was looking at him and raised an eyebrow. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"Uh… no…" Danny hesitantly answered.

"What are we going to do with you three?" Maddie frowned, still upset that her kids went off on a concert when they needed to be studying for the big test tomorrow.

"I know what we can do with them!" Jack smiled. "I've been keeping a certain thing for this day!"

"What thing?" Maddie asked.

Jack led the family into a different room. It was a lower room, but it wasn't the lab. Takuya had never been to this part of the house before. There was a spiral of stairs leading down. When they got to the bottom, however, Takuya's eyes went wide. The room was pretty small, but he could see chains, shackles, and a large silver and green containment big enough to fit even Jack himself. It looked like a small dungeon of some kind.

_What _is_ this? Is _everyone_ in my family here crazy?!_ Takuya thought as he shook a bit with fright. It wasn't helping that his hand went to his D-Tector, which was in his pocket.

"Takuya, relax, this is just a place meant for ghosts if Dad ever caught one and didn't have room in his lab," Andy whispered to Takuya, seeing him tensing up. "Though Dad could also have another reason he doesn't want to say…"

"Not helping…" Takuya whispered back.

Maddie looked at the container before opening it, seeing spikes of steel inside. "Jack, we can't lock the kids in some medieval containment device."

Jack seemed to pout at that. "Okay, fine. Let's ground them then, like any other parent would."

"When you say 'ground', what does that entail?" Jazz cautiously asked.

"You three are going to your rooms, with no access to the internet." Maddie said sternly. "You're not allowed to leave this house either. Instead, you will be studying for the test."

"But what if we need the internet to study for the test?" Andy asked.

At that, Maddie and Jack paused for a moment.

"It is a very hard test to study for without any internet to do research after all," Danny added, seeing what his brother was doing.

Jazz caught on too. "It would help us, but if you want to make sure we are doing just that, maybe Takuya can keep an eye on us."

"Fine, you can use the internet _only _for studying," Maddie finally said.

"And your more responsible cousin has to keep an eye on you," Jack added.

"And you're only allowed to use one computer," Maddie added as well. "You three can study together."

Takuya blinked. "Uh… I don't get a say in this, do I?"

"Because you came home _without_ being brought back by the SWAT team, you are the mature one here, so you will be making sure they study and study only." Maddie said as she looked at her nephew. "Besides, you also need to study for that test as well."

Takuya groaned at that, but he did relent. "Okay. I will do it." _At least it will be better than using that helmet machine thing Mr. Lancer tried to have us use for studying._

"But if you kids use the internet for anything else, or you leave the house at all tonight, we'll be putting you in the Fenton Stockades as punishment." Jack grinned.

Maddie glared at Jack. "Keep that up, and I'll be putting _you_ into the Fenton Stockades!"

Takuya grinned at the way his uncle shut his mouth. _Nice, Aunt Maddie!_

Everyone began making their way upstairs. Andy, who was in front of Takuya, stopped for a moment, watching the rest of the family going upstairs. Andy turned back to Takuya. "Listen… we're going to need some time to prepare, so wait for us in the living room, alright? You can make yourself some dinner in the kitchen if you're hungry."

Takuya blinked, but nodded. "Okay. And I think I will get some food. I always seem to get extra hungry after my evolutions are dispersed."

Andy nodded before he went upstairs.

* * *

With Takuya in the kitchen making some dinner, Andy met up with Danny and Jazz in Danny's room.

"So which computer will we be using?" Jazz asked. "My computer runs pretty well."

"We could use mine or Andy's as well." Danny pointed out. "But, I think we will go with yours, Jazz, since you offered first."

"Mine is also a good computer for research. You usually use yours for playing games," Jazz pointed out.

"Then it's decided, we will do research on Ember on Jazz's computer," Andy stated.

"Sounds like a good idea," Lopmon agreed.

Andy then sighed. "Alright, Jazz, you and Lopmon go ahead and set up the computer. Danny, Dorimon, and I will be there in a little bit."

"Alright, we'll be back soon," Jazz said as she picked up Lopmon.

Jazz left to go get her laptop, leaving Danny with Andy and Dorimon.

Danny looked at his twin. "So, what's on your mind, bro?"

"Danny… you said you saw Takuya become a Digimon, right?" Andy asked. "The one called BurningGreymon?"

Danny then remembered that incident. "Ah! That's right! I did see that! What happened with that? Our cousin is a Digimon?!"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down! He'll be able to hear you if you're screaming that loud!" Andy hissed.

Dorimon quickly hopped over to the door and tackled it to close it. "There, hopefully that'll help keep the voice muffled a bit."

Danny took in a deep breath to calm down and lowered his voice as well. "Sorry, I'm just a bit freaked out about that right now…"

"No kidding?" Andy sighed, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "I don't blame you though, I probably wasn't much better when I saw Takuya suddenly evolving for the first time. Jazz was just as shocked when she suddenly saw you transformed."

Danny chuckled sheepishly a bit. "I guess it runs in the family…" He then paused as Andy's words ran through his head and clicked. "Wait… _You_ saw him become a Digimon too?!" Danny managed to keep his voice volume lower, but it was still a bit loud.

"No, I just said that to troll you, of course I saw him become a Digimon," Andy replied. "It was… probably around the time Skulker was hunting you. Skulker thought I was you, so Takuya had to evolve to protect me. Dorimon was still a baby at the time, he couldn't do much yet."

Danny was a bit surprised. "Takuya did that to protect you from… Skulker was after you?! W-why didn't you mention that to me?!"

Andy put his hands on Danny's shoulder. "Bro, listen to me carefully; calm down before you end up falling through the floor."

Danny blinked before looking down, he yelped when he noticed his legs were starting to become transparent.

"Oh… Sorry!" Danny exclaimed in embarrassment. "I thought I had a handle on that…" He mumbled as he returned his legs to their tangible state. He then took a deep breath and let it out in order to calm down somewhat. "Okay… I'm better now…"

"You two really are twins…" Dorimon muttered. "Andy was freaking out all over the place when he was trying to figure out the relationship between you and your ghost form."

"Dorimon, please, this isn't the time," Andy hissed, blushing in embarrassment.

Dorimon just giggled in response.

Andy sighed before he looked at his brother. "I didn't tell you about Skulker because I didn't want to worry you at the time. And I just sort of forgot about it after a while. There hadn't been any reason to bring it up."

Danny nodded. "I guess that's understandable, given what we were doing and all that. So… do you know _how_ Takuya can become a Digimon? And what are his forms?"

"I can't say I know the specific details on how Takuya's evolution works, but from what he told me, he has these spirits of two Digimon in his D-Tector. He uses the D-Tector to scan his… um… data code-"

"What?" Danny blinked. "Data code? What is this, the Matrix?"

"Takuya has bits of fractal codes inside him due to his relationship with his spirits," Dorimon explained. "That's… the best explanation I could give about it."

"Fractal codes, in case you were wondering, is physical data that takes the form of a Digimon or a thing in a digital world. Like how in video games, you travel through the forest or desert with an avatar, those are all 'fractal codes' basically," Andy informed.

Danny nodded. "So fractal code is a physical form of data. Okay. And Takuya uses his… fractal codes to become a Digimon?"

"In a sense, I believe the spirits digitize a part of Takuya in order to have a fractal code exist within him. You see, Takuya needs to have the fractal code appear on his hand, then have the D-Tector scan it. Once he does that, that will enable him to evolve into one of his Digimon forms. I'm guessing the spirits use the fractal code in order to fuse their body onto him, allowing Takuya to use their body," Andy speculated. "But again, I don't know all the details, I'm just speculating at this point. The point is, he has two Digimon forms; a human spirit, and a beast spirit. The beast spirit is BurningGreymon, the one you saw him turn into, it's a more feral type of Digimon where they resemble beasts. His human spirit is Agunimon, which you had seen before. The human spirit is… well, more human-like as you could probably guess."

"Take me for example, I'm more of a beast type Digimon, so most of my Digivolutions are going to be more beast-like," Dorimon added.

Danny nodded, taking in the information. However, he then remembered the times he had seen Agunimon. "Wait… so, when 'Agunimon' has shown up, that was Takuya? He was literally fighting ghosts and those Digimon? He could have gotten hurt or worse!" Danny almost shouted again, but he brought his voice back under control. "Sorry… This is… just hard for me to take in right now…"

Andy pat Danny's back. "I understand. I felt the same way when I first saw Takuya turn into a Digimon. I also felt like that with you when I figured you and Phantom had some kind of relationship with each other. Jazz definitely felt like that when she was suspecting we were doing something unusual. But you're a hero who fights with ghosts as well. I'm sure you, of all people, would be able to understand why Takuya does what he does. Keeping his identity a secret even from his family, fighting dangerous battles against ghosts and Digimon, in order to protect people. You do the same thing. You and him aren't all that different after all."

Danny gave a smile to Andy at that. "You're right, bro. I shouldn't panic just because of what I have heard recently. I'm sure Takuya has his reasons why he didn't say anything to me. And I will respect his decision until he is ready to tell me himself. And if he does tell me… I'll tell him about me and Phantom as well. I… uh… he doesn't actually know I am Phantom, does he?"

Andy shook his head. "As far as I'm aware, he doesn't. The closest he knows about you and Phantom is that Phantom is likely inside your body who takes over you when you need him to. He thinks Phantom is a separate entity though, so he doesn't know you and him are one in the same."

Danny sighed before he gave Andy a mischievous look. "Just like you did before I told you my secret?"

The younger brother pouted a little. "Hey, you becoming 'half ghost' wasn't a possibility that crossed my mind, alright? What was I supposed to think? That you were actually full ghost? That would imply you were… dead…"

Danny saw Andy's face fall and hugged his brother. "I'm sorry about teasing like that. And… we'll tell Takuya when the time is right. Whether he tells me his secret, or he discovers mine, or someone else tells him for one reason or another."

"Considering our track record, he's going to find out soon," Andy chuckled as he hugged Danny back.

Dorimon teared up a little. "It's times like these I wish I had a brother too."

Danny looked at Dorimon. "You can have brothers?"

Danny looked at Andy, and Andy shrugged. "Don't look at me, I don't know much about Digimon families. I just hatched his egg here."

Danny grinned. "What was that like?"

Andy remembered how Dodomon used to always try to 'eat his face' as soon as he came out of the egg. "... You ever been kissed by a Digimon before, bro?"

"Uh… no?" Danny remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Show him, Dorimon." Andy smirked mischievously.

"Wha-" Danny looked over at Dorimon to ask what Andy meant, when Dorimon suddenly jumped at Danny's face, doing the same thing he did to Andy back then.

Danny fell backwards, yelping.

"Alright, so I have the lap-" Jazz began to say when she opened the door, only to see a purple fluff ball latched onto Danny's face, and Andy laughing like a maniac. "... Okay, I can see you guys are a little busy right now. Come and get me when you're… uh… finished."

Lopmon was laughing on top of Jazz's head as Jazz closed the door.

Danny sat up and yanked Dorimon off of his face. "Bleh! That's gross!"

"So yeah, that's what it was like~" Andy grinned.

"I'm a great kisser, so what's the problem?~" Dorimon smiled.

Danny grumbled. "Sometimes I wonder if _you_ are the more mischievous one of us…"

"It's not a question of who's the more mischievous one," Andy remarked, picking up Dorimon. "It's just a matter of what our mood is and what opportunity rises."

Danny sighed. "Let's just get Jazz and go do some research on Ember."

"Oh, one more thing I need to tell you," Andy spoke up.

"Yeah?" Danny asked.

"You… remember how Dorugamon and I came in and saved you and Sam from Ember's love song?" Andy asked. "If I hadn't… that would've affected you."

Danny blinked. "Uh, yeah, I remember that. Why?"

"Well… haven't you asked… how in the world would I know to save you two from Ember's music when I was somewhere else entirely when that was going on?" Andy pointed out.

"Well, a bit yes, but I was more freaked about Takuya becoming BurningGreymon than I was curious about how you knew what Ember was doing." Danny admitted. "But now that you brought it up… how _did _you know?"

"I… saw it play out… before it actually happened," Andy answered hesitantly. "I saw it in my head… I can't really explain how or why though."

Danny blinked. "You… saw it in your head… before it happened?" He then rubbed the back of his neck. "That… sounds a bit odd, bro."

"We have a theory that Andy might be a seer," Dorimon spoke up. "Someone who can see into the future."

"Isn't that a psychic?" Danny asked.

"A psychic is a bit vague, cause it could mean they could read your mind, or make stuff move with their minds. A seer is just strictly someone who can see into the future," Dorimon explained.

Danny looked at Andy. "Wow. I didn't think you would be able to see the future, bro."

Andy frowned. "I can't, nobody should be able to. I don't know what that is, but I'm not going say it was some kind of prophetic vision. It was probably just a fluke, maybe something in the air with all the ghost and Digimon energy going on. It might've just caused me to hallucinate for all I know."

Danny chuckled. "You live with ghost hunters for parents, and yet you don't believe in the idea of being able to see the future. That's an odd combination if you ask me. Besides, that must've been a very accurate future hallucination you had since it actually happened."

Andy rolled his eyes. "One or two 'predictions' doesn't make me a seer, bro. Besides, I didn't have 'visions' before."

"We did also say that it's possible Andy's visions started to wake up after your accident triggered it," Dorimon informed.

"Dorimon, please, Danny doesn't need to be hearing stories about his brother maybe seeing into the future," Andy grumbled.

Danny chuckled. "Sure, I don't, bro~" He rubbed Andy's hair. "C'mon. Jazz is waiting for us."

"Yeah, yeah… So you've decided on not letting Takuya know you know, bro?" Andy asked as they were walking out of their room.

"Yeah. If he decides to tell me, that's his choice. He will tell me soon enough." Danny replied.

"Okay, then I won't tell him you know," Andy promised._ Though I am getting tired of keeping both of your secrets from each other. Maybe this is a sign that the universe is telling you two knuckleheads to just tell each other already._

Danny smiled. "Thanks, bro."

* * *

Danny was in Jazz's room with Jazz and Lopmon. The two of them were waiting for Andy to get Takuya.

"So Andy just had Dorimon started kissing you like that?" Jazz asked.

"Yup. I probably walked right into that one though," Danny grumbled.

Jazz chuckled. "Dorimon probably stole your first kiss~"

Danny blushed at that. "H-hey! Being kissed by a Digimon is like being kissed by your dog, it doesn't count!"

Jazz chuckled again, Lopmon barely staying on her head with his own laughter.

"Newborn Digimon can get a bit attached to the first person they see," Lopmon chuckled. "Though Dorimon sounded particularly lively."

Danny groaned. "Great… I wonder if _my_ Digimon partner will be that clingy…"

"Oh? Are you planning to get a partner Digimon one day, Danny?" Jazz asked, surprised by the comment.

"Well, if you get a partner, and if Andy has a partner, what's to say I won't get one as well?" Danny replied with a shrug.

"But… you're half ghost… would a Digimon be able to become your partner?" Jazz asked.

Danny frowned. "Need I remind you how Bertrand had all those Soulmon working for him? And let's not forget about Vlad, the other half ghost crazy fruit loop, who has a Digimon partner as well, who's just as fruit loopy as Vlad himself."

Jazz blushed a bit. "Oh… right…"

Lopmon became a little somber at the mention of Vlad's Digimon partner. "That Digimon… Tsukaimon he calls himself now? I'd like to know what exactly happened to him. He was my friend, almost like a brother to me…"

Danny blinked. "He was?" This was the first he had heard of Lopmon's connection to Vlad's partner, so he was not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Tsukaimon was once a Digimon called Seraphimon," Jazz explained. "Um… is it alright if I told him, Lopmon?"

Lopmon nodded. "It's best that our allies know what's going on, leaving them in the dark is a dangerous move."

Jazz nodded before she looked back at Danny. "Basically, Danny, Lopmon was once a Celestial Angel Digimon called Cherubimon. He ruled the Digital World alongside his two fellow Angel Digimon, Seraphimon and Ophanimon. There were some events that caused Cherubimon to become evil, but thanks to the efforts of the Legendary Warriors, he was saved and returned to normal. The cause of Cherubimon's corruption was defeated, and the Digital World was saved. But, after a peaceful period, something went wrong. Seraphimon began to act strange, and wanted to head to the human world. Cherubimon went to stop him and the two fought, but somehow wound up here in our world. After that, well, events led to where we are now."

Danny took a deep breath and let it out. "Wow… that's… a lot to take in."

Lopmon nodded. "If you'd like to tell your two closest friends about this, that would be fine as well. They could help us, and maybe they'll find their own Digimon partners as well. Things seem to work differently here than they did in the Digital World."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"In the Digital World, one had to be chosen in order to partner up with a Digimon, or… become Digimon in some cases," Lopmon answered. "Here, however, it would seem the human and the Digimon can choose each other, they can choose their own destiny, rather than destiny choosing them. I noticed this when Jazz and I became partners."

Danny blinked. "Huh… So it's not about fate when it comes to Digimon partners, at least in our world. That's interesting."

"I think Andy figured that out too when he and Dorimon became partners," Jazz admitted. "It's not really something you're told, it's just something you figure out when you become partners."

"Sounds really deep," Danny chuckled.

Then there was a knock on the door. The room became silent before Andy opened the door. Dorimon was sitting comfortably on Andy's head. Takuya was behind him.

"Sorry that took so long, I wanted to finish eating my dinner before coming up here," Takuya chuckled sheepishly.

"He ate five bowls of chili, and three big frozen hamburgers," Andy mumbled.

Danny blinked at hearing that. He remembered Takuya could become a Digimon, and wondered if his cousin eating so much was the result of that. _Huh… Do Takuya's evolutions take up a lot of energy? They must if he has to eat a lot… I wonder if that means my ghost powers might start taking a lot of energy if I use them more?_

Takuya then walked into the room. "So, do you have the computer you want to use with you guys?"

"Yeah, we'll be using Jazz's computer since her computer is pretty much made for doing research," Andy answered.

"And I hope you know we're not going to waste time studying for some human test tomorrow," Lopmon spoke up. "This is to find out more about Ember in order to stop her from broadcasting her music to the world."

"And mind controlling everyone to chant her name, which, by the way, makes her stronger," Dorimon added.

"Which means it would be very, very bad if we don't stop her," Danny finished.

Takuya nodded. Even though he was supposed to keep his cousins on studying, Ember came first. "Okay. Let's get to it then." He then looked at them all. "By the way, the way you all spoke, saying one thing after another, it was a bit creepy."

"We might all be a bit in sync right now," Jazz chuckled sheepishly. "We all have one goal in mind, we also have the same knowledge on how to achieve that goal. We were just telling you about it."

Takuya sighed. "Okay, let's get on it then."

Jazz opened her laptop and put it out of sleep mode. Everyone watched the screen as much as they could without being too close, they knew better than to invade personal space if they could help it. Jazz opened an internet browser and typed in Ember McLain's name.

When the name was typed in, up came a few article links, one of which mentioned a house fire and someone with the same last name who died in it. Takuya saw that and blinked. "Hey, could we try that link?"

"Yeah, I'll click on it," Jazz answered before she clicked on the link.

The link took them to a news article. There was a picture of a house on fire, parts of it was falling apart due to the flames. There was another picture at the bottom, showing a girl who had third degree burns, on a stretcher. She was so badly burnt that she was hardly recognizable. Her head was burnt and nearly bald as well. It was likely her hair was on fire before she was rescued. Everyone cringed when they saw the state the poor girl was in. Takuya, someone who had seen fire as his element, couldn't help but feel slightly guilty about it despite it not being his fault or connected to his spirits in any way. It was a brutal reminder that fire and humans didn't mix.

Jazz began reading the article about the house fire. _"19 year-old aspiring rock star Amber McLain dies after terrible house fire. The fire, which started due to a defective guitar amplifier, was so bad it left her barely clinging to life with third degree burns. She was the only one rescued from the fire alive before succumbing to her injuries the next day."_

"Amber McLain?" Danny asked.

"That must've been Ember's human name," Andy theorized. "She likely changed the spelling when she became a ghost. Likely to distance herself from her life, and also because it's more fitting considering she's… well, a fire ghost."

Danny frowned. "That's… tragic, with what happened to her."

"There's more," Jazz said, scrolling down.

_"__We interviewed the people Amber McLain came in contact with before the house fire. One of them was a boy who was about 19 years old. According to him, he and Amber were dating. The last time he saw her was a few hours just before the house fire. He claimed that he and Amber were supposed to go to a dance together, but he stood her up due to wanting to break up with her, but was too timid to break up with her to her face. So he had hoped by standing her up, she would get the hint. But he began to apologize, not realizing that Amber would die tragically that night."_

"So that's it…" Jazz frowned. "Ember wants everyone to remember her. She was aspiring to be a rock star before she died. A boy she liked stood her up. She didn't want to die as a nobody."

"That explains her motivation and Obsession," Andy muttered.

"And it also explains why she is a fire ghost…" Takuya added. "She died in a fire."

"That's… really sad." Danny frowned.

"Well, when people die, it's usually sad, bro," Andy said before looking at his brother. "And tragic…"

Though Andy left it unsaid, Danny could tell that Andy still felt scared whenever he thought about the accident, the accident that could've so easily killed Danny, that Andy could've easily assumed Danny's ghost form was him having died in the accident.

Danny reached out and squeezed Andy's hand to reassure his twin he was still alive.

Jazz looked back at them for a moment, having a ghost of a smile on her lips before she spoke up. "Alright, now that we know Ember's motivations, what do we do from here?"

"We find her, and try to talk to her. She may be a ghost, but she can still be reasoned with, regardless of what our parents taught us," Danny stated in determination.

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. I can vouch for that." He remembered Poindexter and how he had tried to reason with the poor ghost.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Andy chuckled. "But if we're doing this, only one of us should try to talk to her. If there's too many of us, she'll see us as a threat rather than people trying to make peace. I would suggest that Danny would talk to her. He's…"

Andy paused for a moment, looking at Takuya, then at Danny. "He's the least threatening one to Ember."

Though in reality, Andy's reasoning was because Danny's ghost half would likely resonate with Ember more than with them and their Digimon partners, or in Takuya's case, being a Digimon.

Danny got the idea right away, making that connection. "Yeah. I think it would be best if I did it."

"The rest of us could be on standby in case Ember does decide to get violent," Andy continued.

"We should stay out of sight, and not too close in case Ember will sense us," Lopmon added.

Danny nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. And I would feel better knowing if you guys were there, even if out of sight, in case things get bad."

"The only problem is finding her, she has the ability to teleport." Dorimon frowned.

"Wait… she has that midnight concert, right? We could go to it early and try to talk to her before she starts it," Andy spoke up. "Does anyone have her ticket so we know where it is?"

Danny shook his head. Takuya pulled out empty pockets.

"I do," Jazz said. "I was there when she threw her tickets during her and Etemon's sing off."

Takuya looked at Jazz. "Wow. Nice save for us. And… good thing you were in there in general. Although I don't think it must have been good to hear that terrible singing…"

"It wasn't… dear gosh, it wasn't," Jazz groaned.

Jazz took out a piece of paper from her pocket. "Let's see… the concert is being held at Amity Stadium."

"Great, we know where the concert is, now the only problem is sneaking out without our parents knowing," Andy remarked.

Suddenly, they could hear what sounded like drums being played outside the window. Jazz had the window open due to it being a nice cool night, and the breeze felt nice. They quickly rushed to the window, nearly bumping into each other's heads. Andy had to stand on his tiptoes to look over Jazz's head, while Danny had to push Takuya to the side just to see out the window.

A van with a large-scale mock-up of Ember's guitar on top of it drove by, playing her song 'Remember'. There were a lot of teens running after the van, cheering loudly.

"Great, she's brainwashing more people as she goes to her concert," Dorimon groaned.

"But we can follow that van." Takuya pointed out. "Err… at least, we can follow the teenagers anyway…"

"We still haven't answered the question to how we're getting out of here," Andy pointed out.

"No problem," Jazz smirked before she bent down and took out a grappling hook from behind one of her stuffed animals.

"... Jazz… why do you have a grappling hook?" Danny asked.

"You think that's surprising, wait until you see what she has stashed under her bed, and behind her bookshelf," Lopmon muttered.

Takuya blinked. "Okay… I don't want to know…"

"What? It's good to keep these things around, you never know when you might need them," Jazz said like it was no big deal. "Like now for instance."

Jazz shot the grappling hook out her window. The hook grabbed onto the nearest street light, then Jazz jumped out of her window and swung like an ape man.

"Okay… remember when I said our sister was boring?" Danny asked.

"Yeah?" Andy replied, staring in shock.

"I take that back now," Danny stated, also staring in shock.

"This family is crazy…" Takuya muttered.

"Which you're a part of, if I must remind you," Andy pointed out.

Takuya sighed. "Yeah, I know I am."

"Wait… JAZZ! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET OUT!? WE DON'T HAVE GRAPPLING HOOKS!" Danny shouted.

"You have your own ways! I'll meet you at the concert!" Jazz called back, getting drowned by the stampede of teens.

"I'll make sure she's okay," Lopmon sighed before he hopped out of the window, his ears inflating like balloons as he began to float through the sky, over the sea of teenagers.

Takuya looked at Andy and Danny. "Okay… I think we may need to sneak out somehow."

"Okay…" Andy sighed, knowing that Takuya and Danny could easily sneak out with their own powers. "I have an idea. Takuya, you go to our room, and do your… special thing to go out the window. Danny, Dorimon, and I will meet you at the concert. I will have Dorimon digivolve to float us out the window, but he has to be Dorumon, because Dorugamon is too big to fit through the window. Dorumon can still float us a little with his wings though."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. I can do that. I'll… meet you guys there."

Takuya then turned and ran out of the room, no doubt to do his evolution thing.

Danny looked at Andy. "Nice bro."

"You don't live through your cousin's and brother's super hero lives without being clever," Andy muttered. "Thankfully, him knowing about Dorimon, and him knowing you know about Dorimon does make it easier. You can fly us both to the concert directly."

Danny nodded. "Okay. But, one question. Which Digimon form do you think Takuya will use?"

"Probably Agunimon first to jump out the window, then he'll go into BurningGreymon to fly there," Dorimon guessed.

"We should wait a few minutes, otherwise Takuya will get suspicious about how we got there so quick," Andy suggested.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." He looked out the window again, and sure enough, Danny saw the form of Agunimon landing from the window before coding surrounded him and he became BurningGreymon. Once that was done, the Legendary Warrior took to the sky and flew off towards Amity Stadium.

"It's funny, now that I know Takuya is Agunimon and BurningGreymon, it's a lot easier to see him transform… err, evolve," Danny remarked.

"Yeah… that tends to happen," Andy chuckled. "Come on, let's go to your room. I don't think Jazz would like it if we stayed here too long. Also…"

Andy glared at the teddy bear that was sitting on Jazz's bed. "_He_ is watching us."

Danny chuckled. "Relax, bro. Bearbert won't hurt you."

"That's what he wants you to think," Andy hissed.

Dorimon frowned as Andy began walking out of Jazz's room. "I could eat that teddy bear if it bothers you so much."

"Noooo, no, no, no, you do not eat devils, Dorimon. Besides, Jazz would be really upset if you did," Andy warned.

Dorimon pouted. "Awww…"

Danny gave a pat to Dorimon. "It's okay. We can get you some metal to eat later."

The brothers headed to their room, preparing to head to Ember's concert.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** Trust me, it will become clear here. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** I wouldn't worry too much about Jazz and Tucker.

**Luna Lillyth****: ZAFT:** Thank you~ :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, the teens usually keep their personalities under the hypnotism, they've just become obsessive fans of Ember. In some extreme cases, Ember would make them do something like attack Mr. Lancer in the episode, but otherwise she usually let them keep their core personalities.

**ZAFT:** It makes it more believable and a bit scarier too, since the core personalities are intact. :3


	29. A Concert to Remember

**DarkFoxKit:** Alright, unless you have something to announce, I think we should just get into the chapter.

**ZAFT:** No, nothing to announce. Other than I had my birthday on Sunday. :P

**Andy:** Happy birthday, ZAFT.** *pushes a present toward ZAFT***

**ZAFT:** What is it? ***Opens present***

***Inside the present was Takuya all wrapped up and gagged***

**Andy: **I figured since you like Takuya, I could give him to you as a birthday present.

**ZAFT:** That's… nice… ^^' ***Takes gag off of Takuya***

**Takuya:** Wait until I get my hands on Andy…

**DarkFoxKit:** How did Andy even wrap you up in a gift?

**Takuya:** He jumped me and did this to me! Danny helped him too…

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh gosh, Andy recruiting his half ghost brother to help, no wonder you didn't stand a chance. XD

**Takuya:** ***Grumbles*** I _need_ to get some payback… Those two are a menace when they work together!

**ZAFT:** XD

* * *

**Chapter 29: A Concert to Remember**

"Hmm?" Dorimon blinked, sniffing the air.

"What is it? Is it another ghost?" Andy asked.

"No…" Dorimon said, still sniffing.

"What is it?" Danny asked.

"I smell someone familiar," Dorimon answered, before looking over at the window that was currently closed. "Yeah, over there."

At the same time, they heard someone knocking on their window. Danny and Andy looked at their window, surprised to see Sam was there.

Danny blinked. "Sam?! What are you doing here?"

"Open up!" Sam yelled through the window.

Andy opened up the window, seeing Sam had brought a ladder with her in order to reach their second floor window. Danny helped Sam into the room so she wouldn't fall to the floor as soon as she stepped inside.

"I came here so we could find a way to stop Ember," Sam explained after she got into the room.

"We already have a plan, we were just about to leave for the concert," Andy informed.

Sam blinked. "Really? What's the plan then?"

"We're going to talk to Ember," Dorimon answered.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "... Just… talk to her?"

"That's the plan," Danny confirmed.

"But she's an evil ghost. Do you really think she'd listen to anything you have to say?" Sam asked, skeptical.

"She may be a ghost, but that doesn't make her evil. She was once human, and she can be reasoned with," Andy pointed out.

Danny then looked at Sam. "We were able to reason with Poindexter to get my body back." He added.

Sam frowned a bit. "That is true…"

"We have to at least give it a try," Andy said. "If Ember decides to fight back anyways, then we'll capture her and take her back to the Ghost Zone. Though we hope it doesn't come down to that."

"We should hurry, Ember's concert will start soon," Danny said.

"Think you'll be able to carry three people?" Dorimon asked. "Well, two people and a small Digimon?"

Danny nodded. "I think I can, as long as Andy holds onto you, Dorimon."

"Then let's do this," Sam remarked.

"Going ghost!" Danny held up his arms as he summoned the ring of light that appeared on his torso, then split horizontally across his body, changing him into his black and white ghost form.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Andy said, rubbing his eyes a little.

Danny looked at Andy. "Well, you will."

He then reached out and picked up Sam and Andy, making sure to wait until Andy had Dorimon in his grasp before taking flight. Danny turned himself, and his passengers intangible before flying through the wall and out into the open sky.

* * *

When BurningGreymon saw the Amity Stadium, he was surprised to see so many people there that he didn't even realize this small town called Amity Park even had this many people living in it. He landed a good distance away in order to keep himself hidden before he let the fractal code surround him and he slide-evolved to his Human Spirit form of Agunimon. It was best to play it safe in case things went downhill when they tried talking to Ember. If he reverted to human, it would waste time and leave him vulnerable while he evolved.

Peeking out, Agunimon frowned to himself. _How can I get in without being seen? I know I could sneak in, but there are so many guards, not to mention humans around..._

"What are you doing here?" A voice suddenly spoke up, surprising Agunimon.

Agunimon saw a 'person' standing nearby. The 'person' was wearing a thick coat around their 'fat body', and a large hat over their head. Their 'hair' was twitching a little uncomfortably behind them. They had very thick gloves on their hands, and huge boots on their feet.

The Warrior of Flame watched the 'person' warily. "I was just trying to find a way into that building… Why?" Agunimon asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"I was just wondering… most Digimon seem to be evacuating Amity Park since this Ember ghost came in. The last Digimon who tried to challenge her was turned into an egg," The 'person' stated, not seeming to care about his disguise around another fellow Digimon. "So I was surprised to see another Digimon here."

"I'm a Legendary Warrior." Agunimon replied. "I can't just sit back and run when this Ember ghost is threatening others. Wait, if other Digimon are evacuating, why are you here? You're obviously a Digimon."

"It's that obvious? … Oh, well, I guess I wasn't trying to hide it from you," The Digimon sighed. "I… can't leave, not until I accomplish my mission, or my data will be terminated."

Agunimon frowned at hearing that. "Your… mission?" He was hesitant to ask, because he wasn't sure he would like the response.

"To capture Cherubimon," The Digimon answered. "I know he's here."

Hearing that, Agunimon felt his body tense up. _This Digimon is after Lopmon?!_ He remembered overhearing Jazz and Lopmon talking and the revelation that Lopmon was Cherubimon. "Why are you after Cherubimon?" Agunimon asked, although his tone of voice came out a bit harsher than he intended.

"Because my master wants me to capture him," The Digimon replied. "Cherubimon was a menace… maybe he isn't right now, but who's to say that him digivolving into Cherubimon won't corrupt him again? Besides, I don't have a choice. I either take Cherubimon to my master, or I get terminated."

Agunimon was torn on what to do now. He had to help with Ember yes, but there was this Digimon basically saying he wanted to kidnap Jazz's partner. The Warrior of Flame looked back at the stadium before looking back at the Digimon behind him. "..."

"Legendary Warrior Agunimon, you have battled with Cherubimon before, surely you can understand why I must do this," The Digimon stated, seeming to remember who Agunimon was.

Deep down, Agunimon _did_ understand, but from what he had seen personally, he wasn't so inclined to believe it was the case. Finally, he sighed before looking back at the Digimon again.

"I have been keeping an eye on Cherubimon." He informed the Digimon. "But he doesn't seem to be causing any trouble."

The Digimon was about to reply to that, when suddenly his 'hair' lifted up, showing they were actually ears. "I see him."

Agunimon turned quickly, seeing Jazz holding Lopmon and running around the stadium, likely trying to find a way backstage.

Turning back to the Digimon, Agunimon took on a glare. "The fact is, Lopmon has a partner, the human girl with him. And, although I am a Digimon and I help protect the Digital World, I won't let anyone attack one of the Celestial Digimon."

The Digimon frowned as he looked at Agunimon.

Neither noticed a certain African-American boy walking over to them.

Tucker had decided to go to this concert since he figured Danny would be there, and would need his help. However, when he got there, he didn't expect to see Agunimon, who seemed to be talking to a strange, chubby looking person. But whatever was going on, it seemed intense. The curious boy moved closer to them, though neither noticed him.

"I have to do this, Agunimon, I don't have a choice! If you're going to stand in my way, then I'm afraid we'll have to fight. I rather be turned into a Digi-Egg by you than have my data terminated!" The Digimon snapped, sounding desperate.

Agunimon seemed to be taken aback by that declaration, as he actually took a few steps back. "W...what?" He then held up his hands. "Wait… Let's not get hasty here! I'm sure we can come to some sort or resolution."

"What can we even do? There's nothing! Master is merciless and cruel, he won't stand for anything other than a mission accomplished!" The Digimon snapped before holding out his 'gloved hands' at Agunimon.

Seeing there was no other option, Agunimon finally sighed before he fell into his fighting stance, he had been hoping to avoid fighting, but he didn't have a choice. The Digimon was going crazy from desperation.

_"__Gargo Pellets!"_ The Digimon shot out green bullets from the gloves, destroying the gloves easily, revealing his 'hands' were actually guns.

Agunimon jumped up before pushing off the wall of the building and flipping in the air. As he came down to earth from his jump, the other Digimon kicked out with his right foot towards the attacking Digimon's face.

Tucker was shocked when he saw the 'person' turned out to be a Digimon too, and was fighting against Agunimon. They were still pretty far from the stadium thankfully, but the fighting was bound to cause some unwanted attention.

The Digimon moved around Agunimon before punching Agunimon's chest with his gun hands, while also shooting with his Gargo Pellets, causing more damage to Agunimon than if the Digimon had just punched him.

Agunimon yelped as he was slammed into the building, creating an imprint of his body in the brick exterior. His chest armor was singed from the Gargo Pellets attack, as was his face mask. "Ugh…" Shaking his head, he looked up, angry now. He pushed off the building, fire encasing his fists._"Pyro Punch!"_

The fiery punches hit the Digimon directly, burning off what clothes were his disguise. Agunimon landed and turned to face the other Digimon.

The clothes that the Digimon was wearing had burnt off, due to not being able to withstand Digimon attacks. Though the pants remained untouched. The Digimon growled as he threw off what remained of his clothing, as well as the shoes. Now that the Digimon was in full view, Agunimon could see this was a Gargomon, but that wasn't all. He could see scars on the Gargomon's chest and arms, there was a tearing gash mark on his right leg pants. When a Digimon's clothes had a tear, it was a scar, since their clothes were a part of them.

Agunimon was shocked at what he was seeing. "You…" Now he was even _more_ reluctant to fight, but if this Gargomon was still willing to fight, Agunimon knew he had to finish the fight. "You're hurt…"

Tucker was surprised too, he didn't know that much about Digimon, but he knew they, like ghosts, usually healed pretty fast. He had never seen any of Agunimon's scratches or torn armor remain after a tough battle, so to see this poor rabbit-like Digimon, with guns for hands, which Tucker might add was freaking amazing, was heartbreaking.

"This is my punishment for failing my mission," Gargomon answered. "Everyone who fails will get punished, until they are destroyed and absorbed."

Gargomon pulled back his hand guns. "Agunimon, I know you're powerful, but my desperation makes me strong as well. Let's see how you stand up to this!"

Gargomon lowered his hand guns on the ground before blasting out his bullets, which launched him into the air. Agunimon looked up, seeing that Gargomon was diving towards him, intending to rapid fire on him and the streets. However, to Agunimon's horror, he wasn't the only one in the immediate area. He noticed movement from the corner of his eye, and turned his head to see Tucker there, who was looking surprised.

Gargomon was about to fire his bullets when he noticed Tucker in the blasting range. Agunimon was about to do something when suddenly, Gargomon flipped himself over and landed on his hand guns in a handstand.

Agunimon turned when he heard something behind him, seeing Gargomon had stopped his attack and was now standing on his hand guns.

Gargomon fell on his stomach after a few seconds.

"Uh… am I… interrupting something?" Tucker timidly asked.

Agunimon didn't look at Tucker, but he did answer. "No… Not really…" _Why did he stop his attack? Was it because of Tucker?_

Gargomon pushed himself back onto his feet and frowned, looking at Tucker. "Human, what are you doing here? Why did you not run away during our battle? I could have seriously hurt you back there."

"Um… Well…" Tucker blushed a bit. "I was too intrigued in your fight…"

"You… are an odd one…" Gargomon stated.

"But look at you! You're a big rabbit with pants and guns for hands! That is so cool!" Tucker geeked out, before whipping out his PDA and snapping a picture of Gargomon.

Seeing that, Agunimon couldn't help but chuckle at Tucker's nerdiness taking hold.

Gargomon stared at Tucker. "Aren't you scared of me?"

Tucker gave Gargomon a cocky look. "Hey, I fight ghosts. I'm not scared of them, so why would I be scared of you?"

"You fight ghosts? Humans can't fight ghosts…" Gargomon frowned in confusion.

"I do it with the help of my friends. Two of them are from a family of ghost hunters, so I use some of their parents' equipment." Tucker explained.

Before Gargomon could ask, three figures suddenly appeared in front of them. This made Agunimon, Tucker, and Gargomon jump back in shock.

"Uh… sorry, we saw you guys fighting and talking, and just thought we should be here for back up?" Danny chuckled sheepishly.

"I told you they could work things out," Andy said._ Assuming my vision was right about Tucker and Gargomon._

Agunimon definitely was a bit freaked out at the sudden appearance of Andy, Sam, Phantom, and Dorimon. "I… didn't realize you were there…" _Geez… That really gave me a bit of a fright._

"You were too focused on each other to notice me," Danny chuckled.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to you?" Sam asked Gargomon in concern, seeing the scars he had.

"This is my punishment. It's best if you leave it alone," Gargomon said lowly.

Sam frowned before she suddenly glared at Agunimon. "Why did you have to give him those scars?"

Agunimon stared at Sam in shock. "What makes you think I did that?! He had those when we began to fight!"

"It's true, Agunimon didn't give me these scars, my master did," Gargomon admitted.

Sam looked at Gargomon. "Your master?"

"The one I work for, the one who sent me here… the one who punishes me for failing my mission…" Gargomon frowned. "I… I might as well have failed. I can't keep this up anymore. I don't even want to take Cherubimon back if this is how the master will treat him."

"Then don't go back," Tucker spoke up.

"I have to…" Gargomon frowned.

"Why? If going back just means you'll get hurt or even killed, then I'd say you're better off staying here," Tucker pointed out.

"He'll come here, he'll find me," Gargomon shivered, looking terrified. "And punish me harshly for not returning."

Agunimon frowned here before he sighed and closed his eyes. He had made up his mind. He then opened his eyes and looked at Gargomon. "If your master does come here, he will have to deal with me."

Gargomon looked at Agunimon in surprise. "Are you… sure? He's really strong, even for a Legendary Warrior like you."

Agunimon nodded. "I'm sure. I've fought against stronger Digimon, so I can handle myself." _And if I have to, I can use even my Fusion form_.

"But will you be alright on your own?" Sam asked in concern.

"I don't know… I guess I'll have to find someway to live with humans and hope my master doesn't come for me…" Gargomon frowned.

"Hey, if you want, you could probably crash at my place later. I have all sorts of stuff that you could easily blend into. A big rabbit with gun-like hands would seem normal to my parents… well, as long as they think you're stuffed anyways," Tucker offered.

"It might be best to go with Tucker, our house isn't the safest for Digimon unless you're small," Dorimon spoke up. "And you might still be… uneasy around Lopmon."

"And my house isn't the best because… well… my parents are very particular about what I have in my room, and are more likely to investigate you for bugs or bombs," Sam sighed.

Agunimon looked at Gargomon. "I think it's best you went with the boy as well. He's a good kid." He then reached up and rubbed one of his shoulders. "Those blasts of yours sure hit me hard…"

"Heh… I… was pretty desperate," Gargomon sheepishly chuckled.

"But you didn't attack when you saw Tucker." Danny smiled. "That shows you didn't give up your humanity… err… Digimonity…?"

Agunimon chuckled at hearing that. "I think you could call it humanity."

Gargomon gave a proud smile before putting his gun hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. "Of course, what kind of Digimon would I be if I would be willing to hurt children? I'd be no better than Cherubimon when he was corrupted."

Agunimon smiled at hearing that. "That's good to hear. If you had, I would have had no choice but to take your fractal code, and I don't like to do that unless it's necessary."

"Yeah… though I guess I wouldn't mind being a Digi-Egg at this rate… being reborn and forgetting everything sounds wonderful right now…" Gargomon sighed.

"You… forget everything if you turn back into an egg?" Sam asked.

"That's what usually happens when a Digimon is reborn," Dorimon explained. "Their memories of their past incarnation are wiped clean, so they can start over on a clean slate when they are reborn. Though there are a few, very rare exceptions that a Digimon reborn can still remember their past life."

Agunimon had to agree. "I have had to purify Digimon before, and they are reborn because of it."

"Well, that won't be necessary," Tucker spoke up. "Cause I can tell you're a good Digimon, it'd be a shame if you had to forget all that. Besides, you need to make it up to Lopmon later, how would you do that if you forget everything?"

Agunimon had to admit, Tucker had a point. He looked at Gargomon. "I think he has a point. Besides, it would be better if I didn't scan your code, because it would be wrong to do so when you are not actually evil."

Gargomon sighed before nodding. "I'll… see if I can salvage the mercy you have given to me. But my master is still a threat. Just… be careful if you really do plan on fighting him."

There were sudden lights that came on the stadium, it was so bright they could see it despite being a bit far away.

"As much as I like having this moment, guys, we really should get to the stadium if we want to stop Ember," Andy spoke up.

Agunimon frowned a bit. "Yeah. We need to move or her concert will go global, which will make her more powerful."

"If… if I can be of any help… then I will try," Gargomon spoke up.

Tucker smiled. "Your guns should come in handy in case things get ugly~"

"Tucker, this isn't Doomed, please try to refrain from shooting at things to solve the problem." Sam rolled her eyes.

Tucker gave a pout. "Way to ruin the mood, Sam…" He then froze again. "Ruin. A verb or noun. In verb use, refers to bringing something down to destruction; as a noun, refers to old buildings and complexes left behind by past civilizations." Tucker then shook his head. "Wow… I gotta stop doing that."

"What was that?" Sam asked.

"He's still feeling the effects of that cramtastic computer session we forced him into," Andy sighed, when he had gone to get Takuya earlier to check out the laptop, Takuya told him about what happened to Tucker.

Agunimon gave a bit of a wince at hearing that, not that it was seen by anyone. _Yeah… That was a pretty dumb move..._

"Oh gosh, I actually forgot about that! I'm so sorry, Tucker!" Sam apologized.

"It's fine, besides this isn't the time for guilt, we need to move," Tucker spoke up, reminding the group about their objective.

Danny frowned a little. "I can probably phase us though, but I can only take so many people with me at a time."

"You can take me. I can shut down the cameras and the lights before the broadcast goes live," Tucker suggested. He then froze once more. "Live. A verb. In verb form, describes the action of living, or showing something in real time." He then shook his head again. "I hope that doesn't become a habit…"

"Your mind needs time to process all that excess data before you can stop," Gargomon stated.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Tucker asked.

Gargomon put his hand guns on his hips and puffed out his chest proudly again. "I was also a tech support when I was working as one of Cherubimon's military soldiers. I worked alongside with a Datamon and learned a lot about data and how it transfers and processes in a creature's mind."

Tucker felt a big grin crossing his face at hearing that. "Wow! That's awesome!" He was getting all geeky again.

Danny chuckled nervously. "I think we just met Tucker's match for being a geek…"

Andy nodded, though he was also uncomfortable. His vision of Tucker getting Gargomon as a partner was starting to look more and more plausible now.

"Okay, so I can take Tucker with me, I can take another person as well," Danny said, getting back on track. "The rest will have to be on lookout in the crowd."

"Take Sam," Andy spoke up.

"What? Why?" Sam asked, surprised.

"You have the Fenton Thermos with you, right? And the earphones?" Andy asked.

"Uh, yeah, but that doesn't answer the 'why'," Sam pointed out.

"I'm getting to it," Andy rolled his eyes. "You and Tucker are the only ones who don't have Digimon partners with you. As we told you on the way here, Sam, we want Danny to talk to Ember. To do that, he'll have to appear as least threatening to her as possible. She'll be able to sense Dorimon despite his small size, so she might see it as a threat if I'm near Danny. At least with you two, she won't know that he has back-up waiting in case she decides to fight."

Agunimon nodded. "Andy has a point. And if I was there, well… things would go to the gutter faster than we could salvage the situation."

"We'll stay in the crowd, and we'll only come up on the stage if you need us," Andy continued. "Gargomon will stay with us as well. I doubt the people will care if he's there considering nobody cared about the fighting between Ember and Etemon earlier until they started their sing off. They'll be too deep into Ember's spell."

"Wait… we forgot someone." Dorimon frowned. "Jazz and Lopmon, they got here before any of us did!"

Danny hissed. "We better move."

Agunimon nodded. "We should." With that, he began to make his way to the stadium.

Danny took Tucker and Sam's arms before he turned them invisible and flew towards the stadium. Andy looked at Gargomon. "Stick with us for now, okay? I'm sure things will get better for you if you do."

Gargomon smiled a bit. "I hope so…" Then he too began to head towards the stadium, following Agunimon.

"Oh boy…" Andy sighed.

"You going to be okay, Andy?" Dorimon asked.

"Yeah… I'm just… worried about how this will all turn out," Andy answered before he started heading towards the stadium. "If the crowd chants Ember's name, none of us are going to be immune to her song."

Dorimon looked at his partner. "It will be fine. I'm sure Danny will come up with something. And who knows? Maybe talking to her might work."

"Yeah… until you remember how our lives had gone so far. _Something _is going to go wrong," Andy sighed. "We… should at least be prepared for it."

Dorimon had to admit that Andy had a point.

* * *

Danny phased Tucker and Sam to the backstage of the stadium. There was a security guard there who appeared to be asleep. While Danny could've easily gone past him while invisible, it did make it easier for him to only have to focus on intangibility with his friends. Danny phased through the door while hanging onto Tucker and Sam. However, Danny didn't see a certain Arbormon that was hiding behind the sleeping security guard.

"You sure that was a good idea, Jazz?" Arbormon asked.

"Considering how much easier it was for the ghost boy to get through when you knocked out that security guard, yeah," Jazz answered. "Besides, there was a chance the security guard would check inside and see them while they were focusing on trying to shut down everything."

Arbormon nodded. "Well, at least they can work without interruptions now."

"I'll admit, when I suddenly ran into you here, I was a little surprised. But Lopmon suggested we could work together to stop Ember," Jazz admitted.

"It's good when humans and Digimon can come together to stop a dangerous enemy," Lopmon agreed.

Jazz gave a smile before she turned upon hearing someone coming up on them. Her eyes landed on Agunimon's form as he came over to them, having seen them at the stadium. Arbormon also turned, seeing his fellow Digimon there as well.

"Well, about time you got here." Arbormon said before he noticed the battle marks on Agunimon's armor. "Wow… what happened to you?"

"Long story…" Agunimon sighed. "I will explain later."

"Jazz?" Andy spoke up when he reached the rest of them.

"Hey, Andy. Glad to see you could make it too," Jazz chuckled.

"I'm just glad you didn't try to break your way into the back," Andy remarked.

Lopmon looked up in alarm when he noticed the familiar Digimon behind Agunimon. "Gargomon? Is that you?"

"Yes… it's been a while, hasn't it, Cherubimon? Or… maybe I should call you Lopmon right now," Gargomon answered back a little timidly.

Lopmon looked nervous, which was understandable, but Agunimon made sure to put those fears to rest. "It's okay. He won't try anything while I'm here." The Legendary Warrior assured the Celestial Digimon.

"I'm a bit too tired to try anyways. I'm just here to help these guys out with Ember," Gargomon admitted. "You don't seem to be causing any trouble anyways."

Lopmon was not sure of what to make of that comment, but he decided to give Gargomon the benefit of the doubt for now. The Champion level Digimon looked quite exhausted anyway, not to mention had those injuries on his form.

"Don't worry, Gargomon is on our side," Dorimon reassured. "But we need to be here as backup."

"For what?" Arbormon asked.

Agunimon looked at Arbormon, Jazz, and Lopmon. "There is a plan in place to stop Ember. But if it doesn't work out, we will need to get involved."

"We're going to try to use ghost diplomacy," Andy spoke up.

Arbormon looked surprised.

"You're going to try to talk to Ember?" Arbormon asked. "But she's a ghost!"

"I'm not going to talk to Ember, I'm not crazy." Andy rolled his eyes. "We're going to have that ghost boy talk to her. He seems more than willing to help us out, and it would be easier for a ghost to negotiate with another ghost."

"I thought Danny was going to talk to her," Agunimon said in confusion.

"We… ran into the ghost boy along the way, and decided he would be a better candidate," Andy covered up.

"That sounds like a good idea, little bro!" Jazz quickly agreed.

Agunimon frowned at that, but didn't say anything else on the matter. _We have more pressing issues anyway._

"Wait, where _is_ Danny?" Agunimon questioned, remembering that Danny and Andy were supposed to come together, he saw the ghost boy, and he saw Sam and Andy, but he didn't see Danny with them.

"He's watching from in the stadium," Andy answered.

Before Agunimon could ask how Danny got in without a ticket, Jazz spoke up. "I gave him my ticket to use since I didn't plan on using it myself."

Agunimon nodded, seeming to accept Jazz's explanation. He then looked back at the security guard. "So, how are we going to get in?"

As if to answer his question, the door opened up. Danny and Sam looked at them.

"Tucker got the door's electronic locks to shut down, so you guys can come on in," Sam explained. "And hurry, before someone sees you."

Agunimon didn't hesitate to run inside, Arbormon, Lopmon, Jazz, Andy, Gargomon, and Dorimon right behind him. Once they were all inside, Sam shut the door.

"Haven't you been able to cut the power yet?" Andy asked Tucker when he approached the boy, who was working on a control panel.

"I'm trying. There's a lot of stuff here, and if I do something wrong, we're going to alert someone we're here," Tucker answered back. "This isn't like with trying to simply knock out a security camera with my PDA."

Sam walked over as well. "Well, we have to hurry. I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to shut down the power, right?" She reached out a hand towards a random button.

Sam ended up flipping a PA switch.

"Hey, be careful! You don't know much about how this works, Sam, you could've gotten electrocuted!" Tucker warned.

"This isn't the time to be arguing." Lopmon frowned.

Gargomon walked up to the control panel and frowned. "We should probably leave. The girl, Sam, was it? Just turned on the public announcement switch, everyone can hear what we're saying right now."

Tucker paled and looked at Sam with a glare. "Way to go, Sam!"

"Hey, I was trying to help!" Sam protested, seeming to flinch a bit under Tucker's glare.

"What are you all doing here!? Trying to ruin my concert!?" An angry voice shouted.

Everyone turned to see Ember glaring at them, she had quite a few security guards beside her as well.

"So much for sneaking in…" Agunimon growled. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go."

Tucker looked at Sam. "Yeah, so much for just being diplomatic."

"Bag them and gag them!" Ember demanded the security guards.

The security guards started to approach them. Arbormon and Agunimon were about to try to knock them out when Andy spoke up.

"Wait! Don't do anything, let them take us," Andy instructed.

The two Legendary Warriors were shocked at Andy's exclamation, but it worked out, because they were surprised long enough for the guards to grab both of them.

Of course, Agunimon and Arbormon could easily get out of the guards' hold, but Andy told them to let the guards take them. They both knew Andy usually knew what he was doing, so they decided to wait and see what would happen.

"You sure about this, Andy?" Dorimon asked when Andy was grabbed as well.

"Yes," Andy answered.

Jazz, Tucker, and Sam were quickly grabbed.

However, nobody seemed to want to try to grab the ghost boy. Ember knew it would be impossible for the human guards to keep their hold on a fellow ghost anyways.

"Why are you here, dipstick? You should know better than to try to interfere with me," Ember hissed.

Danny frowned, but he decided to try to go for the plan. "I'm not here to cause trouble, Ember, I only want to talk to you."

"Yet you had this entire group of humans and Digimon to try to sabotage my concert? As if I would listen to you!" Ember snapped.

"They… weren't trying to ruin it on purpose." Danny said, keeping to the plan. "It was just to get your attention."

"I don't take sabotaging lightly, dipstick. Nor do I do duets," Ember growled as she turned a knob on her guitar.

Danny's eyes went wide, knowing he had to get Ember out of here before she brainwashed his friends. The ghost boy flew at Ember, grabbed onto her arms so suddenly that Ember didn't have time to react before Danny turned them both intangible and flew them out of the stadium and into the night sky. He tossed Ember a little bit away before she could try to burn him for daring to grab her.

"The hell was that for!?" Ember snapped.

"Listen, Ember! This isn't the way to go about getting attention!" Danny exclaimed. "It isn't right!"

"I don't give two flying fish about 'right' and 'wrong'! My life was cut short before I could do what I aspired to do, and this is my way of getting back at the world!" Ember snapped before she strummed her guitar at Danny, sending sound waves at him.

Danny quickly flew away from the sound waves, barely dodging it. "I understand that you're angry. You wanted to be a rock star, and just started trying to be one when the house fire tragically killed you. I aspired to be an astronaut when the portal accident happened."

"You're still half alive, dipstick! You don't get to compare your own experience with mine!" Ember hissed, still trying to hit Danny with her guitar's sound waves.

Danny kept dodging the waves. "But I could've turned out just like you. People can still appreciate you, and you seem to still be able to be the rock star you wanted to be, just as a ghost rather than as a human. I'm sure you could still make it big by practicing just like when you were alive. But brainwashing people isn't the way to go! All that praise for you right now, the people chanting your name, it's all artificial. How do you know they actually like you for you or the music you're playing, the song you're pouring your heart- err… core into singing when you're mind controlling them in the process?"

"Chanting is what makes me stronger," Ember answered, though she wasn't yelling anymore, nor was she attacking as aggressively, but she was still trying to hit Danny.

Danny noticed it was getting easier to dodge her attacks, Ember was slowing down. "But is getting stronger really what you wanted, or is being a rock star, someone people can truly admire and appreciate, what you really want?"

Ember seemed to pause at hearing that, actually considering Danny's words. She had thought getting stronger was what she wanted, but now that she thought about it, it didn't seem like it was that important. But then she remembered the sing-off with that monkey man, Etemon or whatever he was called, and how she had been afraid of being forgotten. While taking over the world definitely had its appeal, it wasn't really what she wanted.

"I… I don't know…" Ember admitted at last.

"Then try to play your music without the mind controlling part. See if the people would actually like it. It would be more satisfying that way," Danny suggested.

"And what if they don't, dipstick? I'd be left forgotten, thrown out, just a washed up nobody." Ember frowned.

"That's what you'll be if you keep trying to mind control everyone. It'll work out for you now, but what if someone else comes along and breaks their spell? What happens to you then? Who are you to those people you've been mind controlling all this time?" Danny questioned.

Ember frowned some more. "That's true…" She was still unsure, but from what the ghost boy was saying, to actually try to win people over as a real rock star seemed more appealing now that she thought about it.

"I know you're worried about people not liking you or your music, Ember. But you do have to remember that people have to go through this before they can become a respectable rock star. Even the biggest stars has to start small. But the results would be all the more rewarding knowing you got there with your own talent rather than because of some ghostly power you had over people's minds. You have to put yourself out there, and keep trying until you finally hit that spark with people naturally," Danny said softly. "And who knows, maybe you'll also find some adults who would become fans of your music. Not every adult has to be a stick in the mud that hates rock music."

Ember found herself actually laughing at that last remark. "That's a good way of putting it, dipstick!"

"So will you at least try?" Danny asked.

Ember sighed. "Well… I'm a ghost now… would it be the same if I tried it like how I would if I was still human?"

"Well, when people die, they have regrets for not being able to accomplish something in life because they wouldn't be able to do it anymore," Danny started, before thinking. "But I would think it's usually because their spirits either move on to another dimension, or they're stuck in the Ghost Zone. But since you're here, able to move around freely, and even blend in with the human society… that means you're still able to accomplish what you want to do in life. So… I would say at least give it a shot. On the plus side, since you're a ghost, you don't have to worry about growing up and ruining your teen image."

Ember looked down, considering the ghost boy's words. For a while, things were tense as Ember mulled over Danny's words. Then, she smiled a bit. It was faint, but it was there. She looked back up at the ghost boy. "Heh… For that goody-two shoes hero you are, you're not bad, dipstick. Yeah, I'll give it a shot. I'll try to become a rock star without using mind control."

Danny smiled at that. "Then it's time to take that first step."

"What do you mean?" Ember asked.

Danny floated down onto the stage of the stadium. Ember followed him.

The security guards had brought the others from behind the stage. Andy smiled, seeing that his brother appeared to be successful.

"The first step is likely going to be the hardest for you, but you have to take it before you can start on that dream that you wanted in life," Danny stated before gesturing to the audience, who were watching them. "You'll have to snap everyone out of your spell."

Ember actually looked a bit nervous here, but she swallowed and began to play her guitar, but without the mind controlling spell on her song this time. "Let's see if this works then…"

"It _worked?_" Arbormon whispered in shock when he heard Ember was willing to snap the audience out of her spell.

For his part, Agunimon was also surprised, but he nodded. "Yeah… It appears it did…"_ So that's why Andy told us not to fight back, it was to give Danny the chance to talk to Ember._

Gargomon was standing beside them, though some security guards did grab him earlier, they didn't hang on to him for long due to his hands being literal guns. Though as long as Gargomon didn't make any hostile moves, the security guards decided to let the big bunny roam freely.

"It looks like things are working out the-" Gargomon suddenly frowned. "What the?"

Lopmon, Dorimon, Agunimon, and Arbormon felt a suddenly digital disturbance in the air. Agunimon noted it was similar to when DoruGreymon first came into the real world, as well as the other Digimon that suddenly appeared in their world.

"What's wrong?" Jazz asked, frowning when she noticed Lopmon was suddenly bristling.

"No…" Andy frowned when he looked down at Dorimon, seeing Dorimon hissing. "Not now…"

Agunimon was tense, looking around for the source of the energy. "_Why_ does this seem to happen when something goes right?!"

"What's going on?" Arbormon asked. "Why do I feel a weird distortion of digital energy?"

"I… don't like the sound of that." Sam frowned.

Tucker heard his PDA going haywire. He dug into his pocket and brought it out, looking at it. He saw a bunch of 0s and 1s all over the screen. "... My PDA should be off right now."

"It's a Digital Portal…" Agunimon growled out.

"What's a Digital Portal?" Sam asked.

Suddenly, there was a bright light. A huge fog formed around the area, making it hard to see.

"What the heck?" Ember frowned before she hissed. "Digital beings, they're coming!"

Danny suddenly saw a red mist coming out of his mouth. It was rare he got that kind of mist even with Digimon around. He would have to figure it out later, because if a Digimon was coming, then the people were in danger.

Agunimon could sense something coming, but as to what Digimon it was, he had no idea.

A few Digimon suddenly came through the portal and into the fog. Then more came out, and more. Agunimon began to pale when he saw what appeared to be a large group coming out of the portal. They appeared to be wolf-like, having white fur with dark blue stripes. Though there were some minor differences between the two wolf-like Digimon groups, like how one of them had whiter fur while the other had a more blue tint to its fur. One had black claws while the other had pink claws.

"What have you done!?"

"Where are we!?"

"Did you bring us here, Gururumon!?"

"No, you're the ones who brought us here, Garurumon!"

_How… Don't tell me this is like the Soulmon thing all over again…_ Agunimon thought as he felt his breath coming in quicker bursts. _We barely escaped that one with minimal damage last time..._

"What's going on?" Andy asked.

"Whoever those are, they sound pretty angry," Gargomon commented.

Then a shadow approached them. Everyone tensed up, before they saw a small Digimon looking at them. It was a small bi-pedal form that had a yellow body and wore what looked like a pelt that looked like the fur of a Garurumon or Gururumon, and it had one horn on its head along with red eyes. On its stomach was an odd circle pattern that was a mix of two colors, pink and blue.

"What the?" Arbormon questioned.

"Is that a Digimon?" Tucker asked.

The security guards let go of everyone and quickly backed away, they weren't paid enough for this.

Andy pulled out his D-Arc as Dorimon's eyes glowed. A hologram of the Digimon showed up. "Gabumon is a Reptile Digimon. Although it is covered by a fur pelt, it is still clearly a Reptile Digimon. Due to its extremely timid and shy personality, it always gathers up the data which Garurumon leaves behind, and shapes it into a fur pelt to wear. It's a Rookie level, and a Data type."

Sam blinked. "It's a reptile? That's odd. I thought it looked like a miniature version of those wolf-like ones we saw earlier."

"That's probably because of the fur it's wearing…" Tucker guessed.

Then a large wolf Digimon landed in front of them. It was huge, and looked rather intimidating. Tucker, Sam, Andy, and Jazz backed away from it.

The hologram on Andy's D-Arc changed to the wolf. "Garurumon is an Animal Digimon. It is covered in blue, white, and silver-colored fur as hard as "Mithril", which is called a legendary rare metal, and since the blades growing from the tips of its shoulders have sharp edges, anything that touches them is cut to pieces. Champion level, and Data type."

Agunimon fell into a fighting stance, not wanting to take a chance of anyone getting hurt. As it stood, as he was one of the Legendary Warriors, he was hoping his presence would keep the Garurumon from attacking, along with the presence of Arbormon.

"Nice doggy," Arbormon said.

"Humans? Why are there humans here?" Garurumon questioned.

"It can talk!?" Tucker yelped.

Sam elbowed Tucker. "It's a Digimon, of _course_ it can talk, you idiot."

Agunimon made sure to ignore the two humans behind him. "This is the human world, what did you expect?" He asked, his tone a bit harsher than he intended. "And what are _you_ doing here?"

"The human world!?" Garurumon suddenly shouted.

Then another wolf Digimon that looked very similar, but also slightly different to Garururmon, tackled Garurumon. The Gabumon whimpered before it ran in a different direction. The slightly different 'Garurumon' looked at the group and sniffed them.

"Humans…" The wolf frowned.

Lopmon looked at the Digimon as Jazz's D-Arc reacted. She looked at it curiously. "This… is a different Digimon? … Gururumon is a Beast Digimon. A Beast Digimon that is very similar to Garurumon. As a fiendish Digimon that lives in the dark, it is a nuisance who causes trouble everywhere. Champion level, Virus type."

Agunimon felt his Digimon side beginning to emerge more, as he gave a glare to the Gururumon and bared his sharp fangs, a low, almost inhuman growl escaping his throat as he did so.

Jazz looked over at Agunimon at hearing the sound he was making, and it sent shivers down her spine. _W-what is going on with Agunimon?_

Another Gabumon was beside this Gururumon, however instead of the Garurumon fur that the last one had, this one had a Gururumon fur instead.

"Is what you say true, Legendary Warrior? This is the human world?" Gururumon demanded.

Hearing the question seemed to snap Agunimon out of whatever state he was in, as the feral look in his eyes seemed to fade. He did lower his head a bit, never taking his gaze off the Gururumon. "It is." He confirmed. But he never dropped his guard, standing so he could jump in and protect the humans if it came down to it.

Gururumon let out an angry howl before it turned around, not seeming to care about them. "You Garurumon Pack! You did this! You caused a tear between the human world and the digital world and caused us to end up here!"

Another Garurumon howled back. "It was you Gururumon Pack! We got sent here because of _you_ tearing the barrier apart!"

Gururumon gave a roar._ "Chaos Blaster!"_ Intense blue flames came out of its maw, firing at the Garurumon in the fog.

Agunimon could hear people screaming from the fire.

_"__Howling Blaster!"_ A Garururmon retaliated, firing its own blue flames back at them.

Andy, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker all hissed from the intense flames, feeling the embers against their clothes and skin. Andy and Jazz's D-Arcs glowed quickly. Dorimon quickly became Dorumon. Then both Lopmon and Dorumon glared in anger that their partners were hurt.

_"__DIGIVOLUTION"_

Dorumon was surrounded by fractal code as he felt the energy of Andy's will fill him. His skin began to peel away from his face and head, then his stomach and his tail was last to lose the skin. But as he regained his skin, his claws and legs came back first, then his wings came back with skin, flaring open to reveal their larger size, his tail swung around once as it regained the skin, and then his head and face were last to regain their skin. _"Dorugamon!"_

Lopmon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Lopmon's legs gained shoes and yellow pants with a belt and yellow top that matched, two blades appeared as his hands regained their skin and red gloves, grasping the blades in both hands. The skin on Lopmon's head and face came back, just as a blue bandanna appeared around his neck as well. _"Turuiemon!"_

Andy, seeing that his partner was in his Champion form, quickly got on his back. Dorugamon quickly flew up into the air to try to get a better look at what was going on. The fog made it difficult to see, but Andy could see a lot of blue fire going through the fog. He could see several figures of Garurumon and Gururumon fighting with each other. "There's a lot of them."

Danny and Ember flew up as well, likely to get away from the crossfire.

"Andy!" Danny flew over to Dorugamon. "What's going on?"

"I think something happened to the barrier between this world and the digital world," Andy said.

"The Garurumon and Gururumon pack appear to be at war with each other, and that war was brought out here when they fell through the portal," Dorugamon spoke up.

Ember frowned. "So we have a Digimon war here? Great…"

"More like a tribe war," Andy remarked.

"What do we do? There's too many of them, and the people could get hurt if this goes on," Danny asked.

_That's a good question._ Andy frowned. "We've never had to deal with a tribal war between Digimon before…"

Meanwhile, Turuiemon, Agunimon and Arbormon got in front of the humans to protect them. Gargomon was the only other Digimon behind them, frowning. This wasn't his fight, he was weakened, he shouldn't have to fight. At least that was what Gargomon was telling himself.

Agunimon was able to stop the fires pretty easily, but Arbormon was having a more difficult time due to being made of wood. Turuiemon was using his Gauntlet Claws to try to push back the Gururumon and Garurumon that got too close.

Gargomon knew he could just leave it to these three to protect the humans, but it just didn't feel right that he sat back and did nothing as well. After all, Cherubimon himself was one of those fighting, even if he was not at his Mega level.

"This isn't good. If we don't stop this war between the two packs, they're going to destroy everything around them!" Turuiemon hissed.

Agunimon growled. "Tell me something I don't know. But what can we do to stop it?! It's not like this is the Human-Beast Digimon Civil War."

"The what now?" Sam asked.

"This really isn't the time to be asking questions," Turuiemon sighed.

"But what happened at that war? Maybe it could help us solve this one," Jazz pointed out.

"It won't," Agunimon frowned. "In that war, the Digimon were being tricked and manipulated by an evil Digimon. There isn't anyone like that this time, they're just having a war between packs."

"Like real live wolf packs. If there is more than one pack in a territory, they will fight with each other like a war, and the dominant pack will take the territory while the defeated pack leaves, or become food for the winner," Tucker explained.

Agunimon growled again before a thought crossed his mind. It was a long shot, but he had seen it with the Lunch Lady ghost before, so maybe it would work. "What would the two packs do if someone with _more_ power showed up?"

"It's hard to say, it depends on what they're willing to fight for," Turuiemon answered. "They may fight back if they feel threatened."

_So much for that plan…_ Agunimon thought grimly.

Then a Garurumon fell in front of them. Turuiemon was unable to push it away in time because three Gururumon were right there, glaring at the fallen Garurumon.

"No! Move!" Turuiemon shouted.

_"__Chaos Blaster!"_ The three Gururumon shot out their intense flames, combining into a much stronger, much more deadly attack.

Arbormon had to move away quickly since he would burn up faster than the other Digimon. Turuiemon grabbed onto Jazz to get her out of there. Agunimon managed to grab Sam and moved, but he couldn't grab Tucker as well.

Tucker gasped as he was staring at the incoming flames in horror. It was almost beautiful, to watch what could be his own death coming right for him. Agunimon gasped as he looked back at the boy he accidentally left behind. Danny and Andy were too far away, they likely couldn't even see what was going on due to the fog.

However, just as the Chaos Blaster hit the poor Garurumon, instantly turning him into a Digi-Egg, the remnants of the fire started to come over to Tucker. Gargomon stepped in front of Tucker. Using his bigger body as a shield. Gargomon knew he wouldn't have been fast enough to push the boy out of the way, so instead, he moved in front of the boy to protect him.

Agunimon landed, but when he looked back to see if Tucker was okay, not only was the boy fine, but what he saw shocked the Legendary Warrior. For what he saw was Gargomon protecting Tucker. It was almost surreal, seeing how the bunny Digimon was willing to protect a human he had just met.

Tucker, for his part, was surprised when he didn't feel the flames on his body. Looking up upon seeing a shadow over him, the African American techno-geek was shocked to see Gargomon was using his own body to protect him. "G-Gargomon…?!" Tucker was at a loss for words

Gargomon let out a loud scream as his body was coated in flames. Tucker shut his eyes. Agunimon put Sam down and started running to Gargomon in hopes of helping him. The Chaos Blasters had already hit the poor Champion, and he was crying out so loud that it was hurting Agunimon's ears. Still, he kept running, hoping to save Gargomon.

"GARGOMON!" Agunimon shouted as he ran the distance to the burning Champion level.

Gargomon's fractal code appeared around his body, and his body itself was starting to blur as the data was starting to fade.

"No! Don't die, Gargomon! We were going to do so much together!" Tucker cried out, seeing Gargomon's body start to blur.

Tucker, remembering Gargomon was made of data, quickly tried to save him using his PDA. He dug out his PDA in a desperate attempt to save him. "PLEASE! DON'T DIE!"

Gargomon's fractal code reacted to Tucker's PDA, and began to surround the PDA. The PDA itself glowed before it changed its shape, a shape that looked more like Andy and Jazz's D-Arcs. It was a dark grey body, almost the color of metal, with a dark green screen outline, buttons, and strap. Tucker was shocked. "W-what is this?!"

Gargomon's fractal code went into the new D-Arc's screen. Once the Chaos Blasters dissipated, Gargomon's body was surrounded by code. Agunimon stopped, surprised to see Gargomon wasn't a Digi-Egg already, instead, however, the code around Gargomon got much smaller. Then when the code disappeared, in Gargomon's place was a much smaller bunny-like Digimon that looked very similar to Lopmon, only this Digimon was white instead of brown, and had green where the pink was supposed to be. He also only had one horn on his head as opposed to Lopmon's three. The little Digimon was on the floor, unconscious, though surprisingly, he had no wounds, not even the scars he had as Gargomon.

Not wanting to take a chance, Agunimon ran over the rest of the way to Tucker's side. "Is he okay? And are you alright?"

Tucker looked to be in a bit of a shock, not that Agunimon could blame him, too much had happened in a span of ten seconds. Tucker blinked before looking at the smaller Gargomon, the new device in his hand, and at Agunimon.

"I… I-I think so…" Tucker answered, still quite shaken up.

Agunimon knelt down next to the smaller Digimon. From what he could see, the smaller Digimon seemed to be okay, and he was breathing normally. That was a good sign to the Legendary Warrior. "It looks like your savior is going to be okay. He's still breathing."

Tucker, seeming to snap out of his shock, suddenly ran up to Agunimon to check on the once-big Gargomon. "What happened to him though? Why is he… smaller and different?"

Agunimon looked at the device in Tucker's hand before looking back at Tucker. "I think he degenerated to his Rookie form."

"Tucker, are you alright!?" Sam asked in worry when she reached them.

Turuiemon hopped back over, looking at the unconscious Digimon in Agunimon's arms. "I… didn't expect him to do that… but then again… I guess Gar- well… Terriermon always did have a thing for wanting to be a hero."

Tucker blinked. "Terriermon?" He looked at the unconscious Terriermon.

"That's his Rookie form's name," Turuiemon clarified.

Jazz noticed the D-Arc in Tucker's hand. "No way… you became his partner? That's probably what saved him."_ Wait… that means… Andy's vision was right!_

Tucker looked down at the device. "I'm his partner? And _I_ saved him?" The boy was in shock. He had never expected to save someone's life before, but apparently he had done just that.

"Yeah, when you have a D-Arc, that indicates you and the Digimon that you chose now have a link with each other, the D-Arc represents that link," Turuiemon explained.

Tucker couldn't believe it. He felt giddy, excited and nervous all at once. He wasn't sure if he could handle it, but he would sure try! Then a thought crossed his mind. "Wait… my PDA is now a D-Arc… but I had 4 more payments on it!"

"You're seriously complaining about that?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

Then they heard more howling in the fog.

"Listen, I'm glad that Tucker was able to save and make a new Digimon partner, but we're still not out of the fog yet," Arbormon spoke up.

Agunimon nodded. "Arbormon's right. We have the two tribes to stop still."

Agunimon then handed the unconscious Terriermon to Tucker. "Take care of him."

Tucker held onto Terriermon with his arms before giving a determined nod. "I promise I will."

Agunimon gave a smile before he stood up and looked back at where the Gururumon and Garurumon tribes were still fighting.

Meanwhile, Danny, Andy, Dorugamon, and Ember were trying to figure out what to do about the two packs.

"I heard someone screaming." Danny frowned.

"I think that was Gargomon," Dorugamon said. "Maybe we should go see if everything's alright?"

Andy shook his head. "They have Agunimon, Arbormon, and Turuiemon with them. We need…"

Andy then remembered a story he heard long ago, about how two tribes were fighting in a war with each other, but a soothing music was able to quell the fighting. He didn't remember the story in detail, but if music could stop the fighting in the story, then…

Andy looked over at Ember. She was quite good at what she did, her song, her mind control, the audience chanting her name making her stronger._ If the audience is still under her spell, and she's able to affect not only ghosts, but Digimon as well when she's stronger…_

"Ember, if we have everyone chanting your name, would you be able to use your music to calm down these Digimon until we can send them back to their home?" Andy asked Ember.

Ember looked at Andy in surprise. "It's possible." She admitted. "I _am_ quite strong right now. I could probably affect those two Legendary Warriors too if I wanted. But there's a lot of Digimon here, it's going to take more than one town to make me strong enough to affect all of them, especially when they're fighting each other."

"Then we'll just have to make more people chant your name," Danny stated. "I can probably get you on the air here. You can use your song to get people to chant your name to make you strong enough to use your powers on the two packs."

Ember gave a smirk. "You sure you trust me with all that power? Didn't you come here to make sure I didn't do that?"

"Would you want to turn on us after everything is said and done?" Andy asked. "Do you have a reason to?"

Ember paused at hearing that. She smirked again. "I suppose I _could_ turn on you, but I would rather not risk it with those Digimon fighting to keep the humans safe. That does bring up the question though; do you want me to use mind control if I go on the air?"

"Only if it's absolutely necessary," Danny answered. "I'd rather you didn't, but if you don't now, a lot of people could get hurt, or killed."

Ember nodded with her smirk in place. "Okay, dipstick. I will do it."

"We'll try to keep the two packs within the area so they don't end up running all over the place, hurting and scaring people in the process," Andy spoke up. "Come on, Dorugamon, let's hurry!"

"Right!" Dorugamon flew down to where Agunimon and the others were while Danny flew to the backstage to get the power back on.

Ember followed Danny back, but she then went to the stage instead. "Better hurry, dipstick, I don't know how long those other guys can hold off these angry dogs."

"Agunimon!" Andy yelled out when Dorugamon got close but was still flying. "We're going to have Ember sing to try to stop the fighting between the two packs. We need to keep them in the area so they don't go running off!"

While Andy did shout Agunimon's name, he was talking to everyone in the group who could fight.

Agunimon looked up at Andy and heard what the boy had told him, and no doubt everyone else who was in shape to fight. He gave a nod. "Okay, we can do that."

Agunimon looked to Arbormon. "You ready to do crowd control on these wolves?"

Arbormon gave a smirk and smacked a fist into an open palm. "Yeah. I'm raring for some action!"

"I'm ready too!" Turuiemon spoke up.

Jazz looked at Tucker and Sam. "Tucker, Sam, you two hurry backstage, Danny might need your help getting the power back on. I don't mean to be insulting when I say this, but neither of you aren't in any condition to fight with Digimon."

Tucker looked down at Terriermon, who was still unconscious in his arms. "You do bring up a good point about that last one." He then looked back up. "Okay. We'll go and help Danny."

Sam nodded as well. "Sure, Jazz."

The two of them then turned and ran backstage to help Danny.

* * *

Dorugamon created a large iron ball from his mouth and put it down on the floor.

"I haven't had to use this in a while," Andy noted as he took out his notepad and pen and started to write something.

Some of the Garurumon and Gururumon's attacks were starting to get out of control. The audience were still there, none of them had run away because they wanted to see Ember, their minds were still in her control.

Arbormon and Agunimon ran towards the battle.

_"__Blockade Seed!"_ Arbormon shot out several seeds from his mouth. Each seed that landed on a Digimon covered them up in vines, tangling them up.

Agunimon looked around, seeing a few Gururumon and Garurumon trying to leave the area but he knew they had to remain in the area. Thinking fast, he called upon his element. _"Pyro Tornado!"_ Spinning around, Agunimon let fire flare out from his armor, creating a wall of fire that cut off the Digimon that were trying to escape.

The two wolf Digimon gave out angry howls. They began to look at the two Digimon that were using attacks on them.

"Legendary Warriors, stay out of our battle!" A Garurumon demanded.

"No can do." Agunimon replied as he landed and stood in their path. "We have our reasons why we can't do that."

A Gururumon jumped at the Garurumon that was growling at Agunimon. _"Killer Bite!"_

Garurumon let out a howl of pain as the Gururumon dug its icy fangs into its back. Another Garurumon ran at the Gururumon. _"Subzero Ice Fang!"_

The Garurumon sang its own icy fangs into the Gururumon's side, hoping to try to yank it off its fellow Garururmon.

Agunimon and Arbormon could see more of the wolves turning into Digi-Eggs.

"They're… quite vicious," Arbormon noted. "And I can't even tell them apart."

Agunimon frowned. "It is hard to tell, but I think the Garurumon have a blue tinge to their fur color."

"Alright! Move the iron ball!" Andy instructed, having stuck the paper onto the iron ball.

Dorugamon pushed the iron ball, making it roll towards the two packs that were fighting. Agunimon wondered if Andy planned to make it explode. That would be a big bomb considering the size of the iron ball.

_I hope Andy knows what he's doing…_ Agunimon thought with a bit of worry on his face.

"Now!" Andy called out.

Dorugamon's forehead gem glowed as the iron ball began to melt and started to coat the Garurumon and Gururumon. The Gabumon that were caught up in the fight were coated as well. The Gabumon seemed to have no interest in fighting, however, and many of them appeared to be carrying Digi-Eggs of their fallen guardians.

Agunimon saw what Andy was doing. _So it wasn't going to explode… Andy's using it for something else!_

The two packs were stuck now due to the melted metal hardening around their feet. This, of course, didn't stop them from trying to blast each other with their long range attacks. And they were even angrier that their battle kept getting interrupted by outsiders.

"STAY OUT OF THIS! This doesn't concern you!" A Gururumon roared.

"You did good at keeping them stuck, but…" Arbormon frowned. "Why not just make a giant iron wall or a cage or something?"

"The iron ball wouldn't be big enough for that many Digimon. Melting it was the best way to keep them here," Andy answered.

Agunimon could see the reasoning now. "I see. We can keep them at bay by trapping their feet."

Dorugamon gave a pleased look to Andy. "That was a good plan."

Andy yelped as he and the others had to duck down to avoid a Chaos or Howling Blaster. "Not good enough though. The people are still going to be in danger. How's Turuiemon and Jazz doing?"

Andy wasn't able to get all of the Garurumon and Gurururmon, there were more on the other side of the stadium that Jazz and Turuiemon decided to try to take on.

Agunimon looked in that direction. "It seems the two are doing okay. But one of us Warriors may have to go and help them if it gets to be too much for them."

Turuiemon was doing great at dodging the two packs' attacks, and using his gauntlets to keep any stragglers from leaving the stadium.

"Danny should hurry and get the power running. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." Turuiemon frowned, panting a little.

"I hope he does soon." Jazz admitted. "This is getting a bit out of hand."

Turuiemon looked around, seeing the Gabumon were picking up the Digi-Eggs that the Garururmon or Gururumon reverted back to during their fighting. Not for the first time, Turuiemon felt a tinge of guilt, wondering how many Digimon were turned back into a Digi-Egg, their previous lives wiped clean and forgotten, because of him.

Jazz saw the guilt crossing Turuiemon's face and frowned. "Don't worry about what is happening right now. We have to keep these Garurumon and Gururumon from getting out and harming the audience. We can talk about how you feel later after this is over, if you want, but for now, focus on the task at hand, okay?"

"Don't worry about me, Jazz, I'll keep them from getting out," Turuiemon promised._ If not for me or the people of this world, then at least for Terriermon._

Jazz smiled. "Okay. Just remember the offer is open if you need it."

* * *

Meanwhile, Danny was frowning, he had no idea how to get the power back on with this thing. He may have come from a family of geniuses and inventors, but he had never dabbled with advanced technology or inventing himself.

Thankfully for the ghost boy, he heard Tucker and Sam knocking against the door. Danny hurried over and opened it, seeing Tucker was carrying a familiar yet unfamiliar creature in his arms.

"Tucker? What are you carrying?" Danny asked. "Is that… Lopmon…?"

"No, this is Terriermon." Tucker replied. "He was once Gargomon."

Danny blinked. "I need to hear about this when this whole thing has passed."

"Later, Danny, we need to get the power back on," Sam spoke up. "Were you able to get it back on yet?"

"No! I have no idea how this thing even works!" Danny waved his arms in exasperation.

Tucker looked inside. "I think I could help. I mean, I am good at technology."

"You were the one who was supposed to cut the power out anyways," Sam agreed.

"Yeah sure, go nuts, Tuck," Danny replied.

Tucker handed the unconscious Terriermon to Sam. "Look after him for me, alright?"

Sam nodded. "Sure." She took Terriermon from Tucker, who ran inside and to the large control panel.

"Okay… Let's see…" Tucker looked over the panel, trying to find the power switch. Then, he saw it. "Aha! I found it!"

Tucker reached over and flipped the power switch, seeing the panels light up as soon as it was flipped on. "Power's on, Danny! But it might take a minute for it to power up the entire stadium."

"A minute?" Danny frowned.

"It's a big stadium, it uses a lot of electricity, taking a minute for it to go through the entire stadium is actually pretty dang fast," Tucker pointed out.

"I'm sure they'll be able to hold off the pack for another 50 or so seconds," Sam reassured Danny.

"I should go he-" Danny began to say when suddenly a Garurumon and Gururumon crashed into the control room.

Sam and Tucker ran to the other side as soon as the two crashed into the room. Danny started to panic a little, his eyes went to Tucker and Sam, to the two wolves, to the control panel. If the control panel was damaged or destroyed, there would be no way for Ember to go live, and no way for her to get enough power to quell the two warring packs. On the other hand, his two best friends were in danger of getting hurt.

_"__Killer Bite!"_ The Gururumon latched onto the back of the Garurumon, who howled in pain before using its own attack.

_"__Body Blow!"_ The Garurumon slammed its back into the face of the Gururumon, which forced the first wolf Digimon to let go of its victim.

The Gururumon quickly retaliated. _"Gururu Thrust!"_

The Gururumon did a backflip while kicking the Garurumon back, getting closer to the control panel.

_I have to do something! Tucker and Sam are in danger, I have to protect them! But the control panel… if I don't keep that safe, then everyone will be in danger!_ Danny frowned, feeling split on what to do._ What should I do? WHAT SHOULD I DO!?_

Danny's instinct to protect his friends was stronger, he flew over to them just as the two wolves did their Chaos and Howling Blaster, which would hit both of his friends. Danny grabbed onto Tucker and Sam, turning them intangible. The control panel, thankfully didn't get hit, but it did get slightly damaged from the embers of the intense blue flames that hit each other.

"Aw, no!" Danny exclaimed at seeing the control panel slightly damaged. "The panel!"

The control panel was sparking a little. Tucker frowned. "It… it's still running, but it might take a little bit longer for it to charge up the entire stadium."

"Tucker, we also need to get the broadcast up once the power is up," Sam realized. "Otherwise this whole thing would be meaningless."

Tucker realized Sam was right. "Damn… I completely forgot about that!"

"I can't keep this up… I can't protect you two, and the control panel at the same time!" Danny frowned. "I need help…"

* * *

Andy didn't know why, but he had a sudden strong urge to go to the backstage where Danny, Tucker, and Sam were.

"Agunimon, Arbormon, can I trust you guys will keep an eye on these packs?" Andy suddenly asked.

Agunimon looked back at Andy, surprised, but he nodded. "Yeah. We can." _Is it Danny? Is he okay?_

Arbormon nodded. "You can count on us."

Andy nodded to them before he got back onto Dorugamon's back. "Let's get backstage, Dorugamon."

"Right!" Dorugamon flew up, dodging the stray attacks that the wolves were using on each other.

Andy didn't know why he had this feeling, but he just knew Danny needed his help. He just hoped that he would be able to give it to him. As Dorugamon was flying over Jazz and Turuiemon, they both looked up for a moment, wondering where they were going, before they focused their attention back on the packs.

Dorugamon landed in front of the door, and Andy hopped off of Dorugamon's back. The door was gone, however, replaced by a big hole in the wall. Andy's eyes widened when he saw two of the wolves from different packs had somehow slipped by them and ended up in the control room. He could see Danny trying to keep Tucker and Sam intangible to avoid the attacks, but the control panel itself was sparking, damaged.

Dorugamon didn't like the sight of the control panel sparking somewhat. "Okay, that doesn't look good…"

Andy knew he had to do something, but going in there with Dorugamon would likely make the situation worse. He needed to get the Garurumon and Gururumon out of the room with as little damage as possible.

"Dorugamon, we need to get those two out. But you can't attack them or you might damage the control panel," Andy spoke up. "Do you think you'll be able to do it?"

Dorugamon frowned at hearing the conditions. "I think so, but it will be tricky. If I can't attack them, it will be somewhat harder."

"Don't worry, you won't be without help." Andy smirked, pulling out a familiar Devidramon card from his pocket. "Just be sure to look at them in the eyes."

Dorugamon saw that and smirked back. "I like how you think, partner."

Dorugamon ran into the room. He used his head to headbutt the Gururumon off of the Garururmon. The Garurumon looked up at Dorugamon with a growl.

"Don't interfere!" Garurumon demanded.

Andy, seeing his chance, took out his D-Arc. Andy then held up the device and his card. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the D-Arc over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other._ "Devidramon's Red Eyes activate!"_

Dorugamon's eyes turned a crimson red, and the Garurumon suddenly found himself unable to move, his entire body was numb. With the Garurumon paralyzed, however, the Gururumon decided to take this chance to attack.

_"__Killer Bite!"_ Gururumon opened its maw, intending to finish off his paralyzed opponent with his icy fangs.

Dorugamon, seeing this, spun around, slapping the Gururumon away with his tail. Dorugamon then jumped over at the Gururumon before he could do anything else.

"How dare you try to stop me!?" Gururumon snapped.

With Dorugamon looking straight at the wolf's eyes, Andy swiped the Red Eyes card into the D-Arc again. Just like with the Garurumon before, Dorugamon's eyes turned a crimson red, paralyzing the Gururumon. With the two wolves now paralyzed, Dorugamon grabbed onto Gururumon's leg and began to drag him out. He grabbed onto Garurumon's leg as well, dragging them both out of the room.

"Is everyone alright?" Andy called into the room as his partner was dragging out the two wolves.

Danny perked up at hearing Andy's voice and dropped the intangibility. "Andy?!"

Tucker looked over. "Yeah, we're all fine."

"Talk about good timing, we weren't sure how we were going to be able to get Ember's broadcast up like this," Sam said in relief, still hugging the unconscious Terriermon.

Dorugamon finished with his task of dragging out the two wolf-like Digimon and poked his head back in. "Andy wanted to come and help you. I think he sensed something was wrong."

"You can do that now?" Tucker asked, surprised.

Andy rolled his eyes. "I"m not psychic, Tucker. Though I guess maybe being Danny's twin might have something to do with it."

Tucker grinned. "Well that explains it then."

Andy looked at the control panel. "Is this still able to get the power back on?"

Tucker went over to the control panel to check it. "Yeah, though it might electrocute us if we're not careful. There should be enough power in the stadium now, I just have to get Ember on the air."

"Do you know how to do that?" Danny asked. "It's not like uploading a video on the internet with your PDA."

Tucker looked at Danny. "We can use the cameras aimed at the stage. They will transmit to the satellites, and it will then go live."

"On the stage… you mean where the rest of those wolves are duking it out?" Sam frowned.

"It'll… make for a great background while Ember sings?" Tucker smiled sheepishly. "And… 'special effects'?"

"Those 'special effects' can get us killed." Sam frowned.

"I can use one of the cameras," Danny volunteered. "Perhaps Agunimon and Arbormon can handle the other cameras. They should be strong enough to withstand those attacks."

Tucker then remembered that as well. "Hey, that's a great idea! I can stay here and handle the technical stuff."

"I should stay here with him in case something happens," Sam stated.

"We'll stay here too," Andy spoke up. "Dorugamon and I will keep them safe in case another pack end up crashing into this room again."

Danny nodded. "Okay, sounds like a plan. Now, let's get Ember on the air."

Danny turned himself intangible and flew out of the room, heading into the stadium's stage. He quickly looked around for the two Legendary Warriors, before he spotted Agunimon just as he used a fire attack. Agunimon's fire was a bright orange, which was easy to spot in all the blue fires in the chaos. Danny flew to Agunimon and Arbormon.

"There you two are. Listen, I'm going to need your help," Danny quickly said to the two Legendary Warriors.

Agunimon looked back at Danny Phantom. "What do you need us to do?"

"Can you two man the cameras?" Danny asked.

"Cameras? What for?" Arbormon asked.

Danny looked at Arbormon. "It's so we can get Ember broadcasted live. She is going to try to calm the two warring packs with her music. But she needs to go live to get the necessary energy to do that. She gets her power when people chant her name."

"Wait… why would we do that? We can't trust Ember to not turn on us the second she can," Arbormon pointed out.

"We have to at least try, or would you prefer to have to fight all of these angry wolves?" Danny asked.

Arbormon looked back at the wolves. "Actually… I think we would be better off taking a chance on Ember…"

"We should keep an eye on Ember as well and be ready to suck her into one of those Thermoses you use if she does turn on us," Agunimon stated.

Danny nodded. "Come on, we better hurry before the cameras get damaged in the fight."

Agunimon looked around and saw one camera that looked intact. He rushed over to it and got behind it. "I'm set to go."

Arbormon looked around as well and saw another camera off in the distance. He ran over to that one and got behind it. "This had better work."

Danny flew over to another camera, it was a bit tattered, but it was still working. "Ember!"

Ember drew her attention to Danny. "Oh? Already behind the camera?"

"Yes, you're on live, start singing!" Danny called out.

Ember grinned. "You want a concert? You'll get one!"

Ember created her band members once more, while also creating a wall of fire around herself and her band to keep them from getting hit by one of the wolves. "Alright boys, hit it!"

The drummer began the music, the two guitarists joining in soon once Ember strummed her own guitar.

Once Ember began singing, the audience that were in a slight panic, began to cheer, not seeming to care about the fighting that was going on in the background of the stage. All they cared about was Ember, the girl was finally singing as promised.

_"__Yeah!"_ Ember began. _"Oooh yeah!"_

The music went on for a minute before Ember started the lyrics.

_"__It was, it was September._

_Winds blow, the dead leaves fall_

_To you, I did surrender_

_Two weeks, you didn't call_

_Your life goes on without me_

_My life a losing game_

_But you should, you should not doubt me_

_You will remember my name."_

At that, the song started to pick up, getting louder and more intense.

_"__Oh, Ember, you will remember_

_Ember, one thing remains_

_Oh, Ember, so warm and tender_

_You will remember my name."_

The crowd began to cheer loudly, Ember's ponytail fiery hair began to flare up. Although Tucker, Sam, Andy, and Dorugamon were in the control room, they could hear Ember's song as well.

"You know, she really isn't bad," Andy admitted. "I wouldn't mind cheering for her music when she drops the mind controlling part."

"I know, right?" Tucker smiled.

"Meh… she's okay," Sam grumbled.

_"__Your heart, your heart has rendered_

_Your walls, now bear the shame_

_Like dead trees in cold December_

_Nothing but ashes remain."_

The broadcast was, so far, a success. The people around the world were quickly falling for Ember's spell and began to chant her name as the song went on. With Ember getting stronger, her music was beginning to affect the Digimon around her. The two wolves stopped fighting and started to look over at Ember curiously.

Agunimon, Arbormon, and Danny, while focusing the camera on Ember and her band, were also subconsciously trying to fight off her spell. It was uncomfortable to have her spell affecting them as well. Danny was trying not to chant Ember's name. Agunimon and Arbormon were a bit more resistant than Danny, but they were starting to feel that urge as well.

_"__Oh, Ember, you will remember_

_Ember, one thing remains,_

_Ember, so warm and tender_

_You will remember my name"_

_"__Oh, Ember, you will remember_

_Ember, one thing remains,_

_Ember, so warm and tender_

_You will remember my name_

_Yeah, you will remember my naaaaame"_

By the time the song came to a close, everyone was chanting Ember's name. The two wolf packs had stopped fighting and were looking at Ember as well.

"Looks like it worked," Ember noted.

However, Ember didn't hear the boys saying anything other than chanting her name along with everyone else. She looked over at the two Digimon and the ghost boy who were handling the camera. They were definitely lost in her spell.

"Hmm… I guess I was a little too strong there," Ember noted, though she couldn't help but feel amused. If this was a TV show, she would have technically been the first 'bad guy' to have won against the 'heroes'.

Though Ember wasn't all about that. It was as Danny had said before; she wanted to be a rockstar, a genuine rockstar. She had somehow lost sight of what she originally wanted in her life when she became a ghost, and obsessed with attention, it didn't help that her so-called date decided to stand her up moments before her death. She would lift the spell in a moment, for now, she had a silent promise to keep.

Ember looked at the Garurumon and Gururumon pack. "You know… you wolves are pretty stupid. You go on attacking each other like some barbaric caveman beasts over something like pride or territory. In truth, you're both the same pack. Other than maybe a minor name difference, you're both Digimon, you both have almost the same kind of fur, you fight similarly, and you have children that are pretty much the same as the other. They don't seem to like the fighting either. Look at how much they're trying to save the Digimon you turned into eggs in your little war for pride or territory. Their parents are now gone, they will be reborn, yes, but their parents are _gone_. They will be completely different once they hatched, isn't that how it works?"

One Garurumon looked at the Gururumon pack. He did feel a bit guilty about taking a Gururumon's life, especially in front of one so young. "Yes… It is how it works…" Never before had a ghost been so right on so many levels.

The other pack looked around at the carnage. There were a lot of eggs. All the Gabumon were scurrying around, trying to find their parents. One small Gabumon picked up an egg, and started to hug it close to its chest, tears falling from its eyes.

Ember stood there, her green gaze fixed on the two packs with disappointment in her eyes.

"The ghost is right," A Gururumon spoke up. "What have we been fighting for all this time? The Celestial Digimon wanted all Digimon to work together and live in peace, not just human and beast Digimon, but all Digimon."

Ember felt a small spark of hope flare up inside her core. Was it possible? Would this plan actually work? "You better believe they did if they worked to save your world before."

"I cannot guarantee that our pack will fully stop fighting, but we will try to make peace between our two packs," A Garurumon stated. "And see if we can work together to rebuild what we destroyed in front of these innocent children."

"Funny, never thought I would heed a ghost of all things' advice," A Gururumon snorted.

Ember felt relief flood her core. It seemed the plan had worked. Then a wry smile crossed her face. _Heh… Never thought _I_ would be the hero here..._

It felt good to be able to help people. Not only did she, hopefully at least, resolve a war between two tribes, or packs in this case, but she saved the people she wanted to gain admiration from. It was true she still had to use her hypnotic spell, but at least what they said came from their own heart rather than what she wanted them to say. It reminded her of why she wanted to be a rockstar, she wanted to be someone people could look up to even in their darkest moment. She may not be super strong or a trained police woman, but she could be a hero in her own way, lifting people's spirits, and having someone they could admire.

_I can't believe I had forgotten that. I was so bitter about my death that I just wanted to lash back at the world. Well… hopefully there's still time I can right this wrong, and become the rockstar I had wanted to be in the first place. Being a ghost, as the dipstick said, doesn't change that._ Ember smirked before she gave a bow to her audience. "You have all been a wonderful audience, and you have helped me achieve a dream I had for a long time. But… I'm afraid you're all living in a dream right now, a dream I created. It's time to say goodbye to this dream… and while reality may be hard to accept, it's more rewarding when you can get past it and achieve your goals for real. I look forward to when I can return to Amity Park as a real rockstar, and you'll all be chanting my name of your own volition."

With that said, Ember strummed her guitar, sending out a calm, blue soundwave all over the crowd. The soundwave spread across the Earth. It wasn't loud or brash, but it sounded like a soothing melody, a gentle alarm clock to awaken one from a dream.

As the soundwaves washed over the crowd, Agunimon blinked before his hands flew to his head. "Why does my head hurt…?"

"Ugh… you're not the only one… I feel like I was hit by three semi-trucks…" Arbormon groaned, rubbing his own head as well.

Danny looked to be in a bit of a daze, blinking. "Why… do I feel like I just woke up from a nap?"

Agunimon looked around as the throbbing in his head died down. "Huh…?" He saw the two packs were no longer fighting. "Did… the plan work?"

"Hey, if they're not fighting anymore, then yes, it worked," Ember stated.

"What are we doing here?" The crowd began asking.

"I don't know, but I need to get back home, my parents are going to kill me!"

"Why am I wearing this shirt? Who's Ember?"

At that, Ember looked hurt, but she gave a determined expression. "One day… I'll truly be known around the world. Hey, dipstick!"

Danny blinked, realizing Ember was referring to him since that seemed to be her favorite nickname for him now.

"You're supposed to get these guys back home, right? Well there you go. I've done my job, now it's your turn," Ember pointed out.

Danny nodded. "Right." He then looked to the two Legendary Warriors with him. "Can you two get these packs back to the Digital World?"

Agunimon nodded. "We can."

Arbormon gave the thumbs up. "We got it under control."

As soon as he said that though, Arbormon had a thought cross his mind. "Um… How _will_ we get these packs past the humans?"

"Don't worry about that, the humans will be leaving soon, they already are," Ember pointed out. "They have no reason to remain here. The fog is keeping the wolves hidden from their view."

Arbormon nodded. "Okay. Well, let's get these packs back to the Digital World."

"I'm… going to call a few Trailmon, we're going to need more than one to get all these packs back," Agunimon sighed.

While Agunimon was doing that, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Turuiemon, Andy, and Dorugamon hurried on the stage.

"Hey, we saw everything from the monitors. Finally this whole thing has been solved," Tucker said in relief.

"I'll admit…" Sam frowned. "I was… worried when everyone, even you three, Tucker, Jazz, and Andy were chanting Ember's name. But… I'm glad that you decided to release your spell, Ember. You're more than I gave you credit for."

Ember gave a smirk. "You'd better believe I am. And one day, I _will_ be remembered, but in an honest way."

Andy and Danny both nodded.

"I'm glad that you have a second chance to accomplish what you had wanted in life," Andy said.

"Yeah, but despite that, not everyone gets that second chance," Ember sighed. "Not everyone can become a ghost upon death after all. I will be seeing you all later, and the next time you do see me, I will be an honest to goodness rockstar!"

With that said, the flame on Ember's head surrounded her body. She strummed her guitar before she disappeared.

Danny gave Andy a smile. "I think we did something right this time, bro."

Andy smiled as well. "Yeah, I'm glad we gave her a chance. I knew ghosts could be reasoned with, even if our parents said otherwise."

"Great, but for now, let's get these guys back home where they belong," Agunimon spoke up, sounding tired.

"Hey… what about Terriermon?" Tucker asked, holding up the still unconscious bunny.

"You have a D-Arc with his code, right?" Tururiemon asked.

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, I do. Why? Does that mean something?"

"It means you are now Terriermon's partner," Dorugamon spoke up. "Meaning you two should stick together now. The D-Arc represents your link with him."

Tucker felt giddy upon hearing that. "So I have a Digimon partner like Andy? SWEET!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Just don't get irresponsible with him and have him start shooting down trash cans or cars for extra points."

Tucker gave a pout to Sam. "I wasn't going to…"

Andy, Danny, and Sam started laughing at that. Jazz rolled her eyes. "Come on, guys, we have a lot of Digimon to take to the Trailmon."

"It's… going to be a long night," Danny sighed, feeling quite tired.

Agunimon sighed. "Let's just get these guys back. I could literally pass out if I stay up too late."

"Wait…" Andy frowned.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Don't we have that big test tomorrow?" Andy asked.

Everyone but Jazz and Tucker froze at that.

Agunimon let out a growl. "FFFFFFFUUUUUU-!"

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** Glad you liked it. But tell us what it is you liked most. :3

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit: **Glad you enjoyed the chapter. But what did you like about it?

**ZAFT:** Yeah, we like hearing what people like the most about our chapters. :3:

**It1023****: DarkFoxKit:** Who knows, Danny may or may not get a Digimon partner. You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

**ZAFT:** But it will be a surprise. :3

**ChloeTheKitsune****: DarkFoxKit:** Dorimon is such a kisser, and now both brothers know what it's like being kissed by him.

**ZAFT:** We aim to please with Dorimon's antics~ :3


	30. An Addicting Game

**DarkFoxKit:** Hey! Hey, ZAFT! Have you heard? Have you heard about the Super Mario 3D All Stars coming out this month!?

**ZAFT:** No, not until you told me! XD

**Andy:** You haven't heard about that? It's the three Mario 3D games put into one game for the Switch. Kit here hasn't stopped shouting about it since she found out.

**ZAFT:** Blame me for not paying attention to gaming news. ^^' But that sounds fun! I should try to pick up a copy when I can before they get sold out!

**Takuya:** You guys get excited over the silliest of things.

**Andy:** You wouldn't understand, you're not much of a gamer, you're more of a sports guy.

**Takuya:** ***pouts*** Why couldn't any of you be more of a sports person?

**DarkFoxKit:** Because video games are actually fun?

**ZAFT:** Okay, no need to tease the hot-head here… ^^' Let's move onto the chapter please… Last thing we need is the A/Ns being set on fire… ^^'

**Andy:** Right… well don't worry, we've had plenty of experience with the ANs getting caught on fire.

**ZAFT:** I don't think I want to know… ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 30: An Addicting Game**

Andy and Danny had been on their computers all day. Ever since they bought the new version of Doomed, they couldn't put the game down. Takuya couldn't blame them though, he remembered how his twin cousins were big gamers even when they were kids. Tucker was a bigger gamer, but they could become just as addicted like he would when a new quality game would come out. There hadn't been any Digimon or ghost attacks in Amity Park lately either, and after everyone but Tucker pretty much failed that big test the other day, not to mention how exhausted they were after getting the Garurumon and Gururumon pack back home to the Digital World, Takuya figured they pretty much earned it.

Dorimon didn't mind it either. He loved watching Andy playing the game, and was rooting for him whenever he had to battle with another player. And as long as Andy remembered to feed him, Dorimon was content. Andy did make sure he remembered, since he didn't want to risk Dorimon snacking on his computer.

Takuya couldn't help but chuckle at remembering Dorimon munching on that lunch tray from school. _Being a metal muncher seems to have Andy on his toes._ He looked over at Andy and Danny playing Doomed. He wasn't much of a gamer himself, although he did play a few with his brother Shinya back home a few times.

Takuya saw another player getting shot from behind by a huge guy with black armor and a purple face with red eyes. He also had a black hair ponytail. The player was eliminated quite quickly. Though what surprised Takuya was the fact that the boys' avatars looked exactly like them, just in cyber armor. The customization was highly advanced it would seem.

_Huh… I never knew Doomed had such advanced customization._ Takuya noted. _I wonder what else that game has._

"Who's that player? He seems good," Takuya asked.

"They call themselves Chaos," Andy answered. "They're probably one of the best players in the game."

"They've eliminated a lot of players, over 43 and counting by now, and the game came out just yesterday!" Danny added.

"Wow. I wouldn't want to mess with them." Takuya said as he eyed the image. "They sound like a very skilled player."

"Oh they are, and if we were going against her, we'd have our butts kicked too," Andy remarked.

"'Her'?" Takuya asked.

"Heh, you don't recognize Chaos, do you?" Danny chuckled.

Looking at Chaos's image again, Takuya blinked as he saw the familiar ponytail. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me… That's _Sam?!_"

"Yup. Sam is a really good gamer," Andy laughed. "She took Tucker by surprise when she kicked his butt in Mario Kart."

Takuya had to laugh at that. "Well, that should show him to never underestimate a girl!"

"I'd say girls are more dangerous than guys," Danny shivered. "I mean look at Jazz when she kicked that living turkey's butt when Mom and Dad brought it to life that one Christmas. And look at Ember, she technically got her goal in the end."

Andy then smirked. "Thankfully, I knew Chaos had to be Sam. The colors, the ponytail, the spiked armor, that screamed Sam. I recruited her into our party since I feel like it would be smarter to have a skilled player on our side than against us to try to gather all 7 keys. The keys are the big goal that every player is striving for."

"Oh? What are the keys for?" Takuya curiously questioned.

"The big goal in the game is to reach level 13, and collect the 7 silver keys to the Apocalypse," Danny informed. "Once you do that, you gain ultimate power and access to the world wide web! … In other words, likely cheats for the next installment of Doomed pretty much."

Takuya grinned. "Sounds tough. I can see why you asked Sam to help you."

"Yup," Andy agreed.

Chaos just threw a grenade into a building, causing it to explode. Wiping out a lot of players that chose to hide there. Chaos smirked before she walked over to Danny, Andy, and Tucker's avatar.

_"__Come on, I just cleared the area. The key should be close by,"_ Chaos said in Sam's voice.

Danny grinned. "Thanks, Sam."

"Yeah, a job well done. You go ahead and get the key, I'll scout around for more players or loot," Andy typed.

"Tucker, you also make sure we don't get jumped. Try to gather up parts that were left in the carnage for upgrade purposes," Danny added, which Takuya assumed meant Danny was likely the leader of their group while Andy was the tactician. Tucker was likely the techie of the group, to upgrade weapons and armor while Sam was their powerhouse.

Takyua couldn't help but notice how well balanced the team was and it rather scared him how easily the boys were able to make such a fortified team with a game that was just released yesterday.

_Wow… Danny and Andy really created a good team. I would hate to be on the receiving end of their power. It would probably be worse if they went rogue. That would be scary to see…_ Takuya thought with a bit of a shiver. _Seeing them looting, checking for parts, and 'killing' other players so easily is unnerving to say the least..._

_"__Got it,"_ Sam answered.

_"__I read you loud and clear!"_ Tucker replied.

"I think they'll be the first players to get all 7 keys~" Dorimon smiled.

* * *

"If you add in that C-24 to the gun, you can give it more ammo," Terriermon said to Tucker, sitting on his desk.

"Who would have pegged you as a gamer?" Tucker chuckled as he looked at Terriermon.

When Tucker had brought Terriermon home with him the other day, Terriermon woke up shortly after, who seemed confused. Tucker explained to him what had happened, and the D-Arc. Tucker was worried that Terriermon would not like that he was now Tucker's partner, but Terriermon seemed fine with it, in fact, he never seemed happier. Terriermon acted like a plush toy whenever someone else, like his parents, came into his room. He didn't need to be in his In-Training form like Dorimon since he was already small enough to pass off as a plush toy. Terriermon was also into a lot of things Tucker was, which made it even better in Tucker's eyes. Terriermon watched Tucker playing Doomed and already figured out how the game worked.

"Well, there aren't these kinds of games in the Digital World, but we did have contests like these games. But this game is really advanced, I mean the customization is insane! But I like it, it looks fun to experiment with the parts you gathered and see what kinds of weapons or armor you could make. I noticed that the C-24 gives you more ammo, while C-39 gives you more power, but less ammo. You have to think about these things before putting it together. You're going to want more ammo than power in most cases though," Terriermon informed.

"You're more of a gaming geek than I am!" Tucker joked back.

Terriermon gave a smile. "I'm glad you think so!"

* * *

Sam liked playing with her friends. At first, she thought she was going to have to kick their butts a few times before they realized it was her, it would've been funny to see their reaction, but Andy already figured out who she was before she had a chance, and walked up to her, asking if she would join their party. Sam shrugged, she thought it would be more fun and efficient to work with them instead of alone. Though she was glad she did, the boys got things done. While she could take on players, she lacked tactics, and a way to track down the keys. A player could get the jump on her easily, it was only due to her heavy armor that her avatar didn't die so easily to these ambushes.

Ever since Sam joined the party, however, Andy pointed her in the right direction on how to handle the players, especially when there was a large group of them. It was his idea to throw a grenade into the big empty building that these players so foolishly gathered inside, thinking it would keep them safe. It definitely gave them a lot of loot and parts to collect though.

Unfortunately for Sam, her escapism into the virtual world with her friends was cut short when someone opened the door and walked into her room. It was a woman with poofy orange hair, teal eyes, and wore a rather poofy yet fancy pink dress, she also wore fancy gloves, as if she wanted people to know she was a 'princess'. Next to her was a man with bright blond hair, casmier shirt and khaki pants.

"Sam, how long are you going to be on that computer, young lady?" The woman, Pamela, asked.

"And what are you even playing? That game will not only rot your brain, but it will give you bad influences. You know how video games can make one violent, and that will not be tolerated in this family," The man, Jeremy, scolded.

"I think it would be for the best if we unplugged this computer until we can get you away from the addiction of that horrible game," Pamela stated.

Sam glared at her parents, feeling seething rage. But she didn't lash out, because yelling and protesting could only get her so far, and it would prove her parents 'right'. _If only I had my own Digimon partner! Then I would have someone to complain to, and someone who could help me remain sane! My parents are just too overbearing! I can't stand it!_

"Despite what you might think, Mom, Dad, video games don't make you violent, if anything it helps release stress so people wouldn't get as violent," Sam stated as calmly as possible.

"Well, if you need to release stress, it certainly wouldn't be through this violent game," Pamela responded before she pulled the plug from Sam's computer, shutting it down.

"Mom! I was in the middle of something with my friends!" Sam snapped, unable to stop the anger this time.

"You will be off this game until further notice, young lady." Pamela stated firmly as she gave Sam a glare.

"Listen to your mother, Sam. We've been trying to be patient with you, but not only did you fail the North Westeren Nine Testing, you skipped school and curfew to see that Ember concert. I thought we raised you better than that, young lady," Jeremy scolded.

Sam shook her head. "You two don't understand. You never do."

"Perhaps we should have you transfer to a more proper setting in a private school." Pamela thought. "Maybe that would break your rebellious streak you are having."

"Not to mention how your friends have been a bad influence on you, especially those Fenton kids," Jeremy added.

Sam's parents were lucky that Sam wasn't a ghost herself right now, because she would burn her parents with how much her eyes were on fire at this point. "My friends are my friends, Mom, Dad, they aren't a bad influence on me. Just because you don't agree with or like the Fentons, it doesn't mean they're bad for me. They don't hang out in gangs, they don't smoke or drink alcohol, they're not trying to tempt others to do something illegal. They're honest to goodness good people despite what you may think."

"For how long?" Pamela questioned.

"I can't believe you two! You're judging them without really getting to know them!" Sam snapped.

"Well, we certainly know bad influences when we see them." Pamela snorted.

"Or you imagine it," Sam hissed.

"No more of that tone, young lady, or you're going to be grounded," Jeremy threatened.

_Any time I'm talking to you people, I already feel like I've been grounded!_ Sam inwardly growled.

"You better be studying, young lady, you have a lot of extra credit to do to make up for the test you failed," Pamela stated firmly.

"And we expect you to come down for a proper family dinner this time," Jeremy added before they left Sam's room.

Sam groaned before she threw herself to her bed, wanting to scream into her pillow. She used her cell phone to text Danny what happened before she actually did scream into her pillow._ I wish I could vent to someone other than my Grandma. I wish I had someone to keep me company when my parents get like this… I wonder what it would've been like if I had my own Digimon partner… like how Andy has Dorimon, how Jazz has Lopmon, and… how Tucker has Terriermon now… is it possible for me to even get a Digimon partner though?_

Sam felt like crying. _Is it too much for my parents to treat me like a person…?_

What Sam didn't notice was that her computer, despite being unplugged, went static for a moment. A silhouette was looking at her before the computer turned off again.

* * *

While it sucked that they lost their powerhouse due to Sam's parents being their overbearing selves, the boys continued on for a little while longer.

"Brutal that Sam's parents did that," Tucker commented.

"Yeah, well, I guess we should've expected that since we did fail the big test the other day, not to mention being taken home by the SWAT team didn't help any," Andy sighed.

"Well, you guys failed. I got a perfect score~" Tucker bragged.

Takuya grumbled, having heard Tucker's comment even though he was reading a book and not on the computer himself. He remembered that very well. _And it doesn't help I failed it either..._

"They really should've just postponed the test if everyone was going to fail because nobody could do the preparations they needed due to the… uh… 'big concert'," Danny grumbled.

"Hey, no one knew they would all fail." Takuya pointed out as he looked up from his book.

"Yes they did, considering Mr. Lancer had to bring in the SWAT team, and the parents called the school when their kids went 'missing' later that night," Danny groaned, remembering how their parents took it when they came back home that night after taking care of all the Digimon. It wasn't pretty.

"If they were smart, they should've realized none of their kids were ready for the North Westeren Nine test," Andy added with a grumble of his own.

"Are all humans always that dumb?" Dorimon asked.

Danny sighed. "No, not all the time, Dorimon."

"Though when it comes to parents and school… they can get pretty dumb," Andy muttered, most likely still bitter about the fact that they not only saved the world from what could've been a permanent mind control concert, but also stopped a war between two tribes, turned a would-be villanious ghost to good, and made sure everyone got home safely, yet in return, they got a lot of scolding and yelling from their parents, and a big fat F on an important test.

Dorimon shook his head, realizing his partner was still a bit bitter about what happened, not that he could blame him. They all worked hard to help people, and getting in trouble was the thanks they got. Granted nobody knew they helped people, but it still felt pretty unjust that they got punished for it.

Takuya sighed. "Well, I hope we don't have any more ghost or Digimon issues for a while. That last one was too intense to even think about now."

"You're telling me. It was just pure chaos," Danny sighed.

Andy looked at the time on the wall. "We should wrap things up. We need to get ready for a literature test tomorrow, and the last thing we need is to fail another test right now."

Takuya looked at Andy and Danny. "I think you should. It's been a long day, and I am not intending on failing that test myself."

"Yeah, you're right, it also isn't the same to go through the game without Sam anyways," Danny admitted. "We'll be wrapping up for the night, Tucker."

_"__Okay, I'll stay on a little longer. Terriermon and I have some ideas on making a new weapon and armor for later,"_ Tucker commented back.

"You do that, but don't stay up too long," Andy typed. "Just because you passed that big test yesterday doesn't mean you're allowed to sleep through the next one."

_"__Yeah, you do have a point."_ Tucker typed back. _"I won't stay up too long."_

* * *

Meanwhile, Jazz and Lopmon were in the lab. Jack and Maddie were exhausted from scolding the boys yesterday for failing the North Western Nine tests, so they decided to go to bed early that night. Not only did one of them fail, but all three of them did. When Maddie questioned them why, their answer was honest; they snuck out to go to Ember's concert. That really didn't help. Though Jazz knew why they said what they said, they were all exhausted after getting the Garurumon and Gururumon pack on all those Trailmon the other night. None of them were thinking straight, not even Andy, who was usually good at coming up with plausible excuses. Even Jazz was feeling too exhausted to back them up. She was surprised none of them had passed out mid lecture.

But now, Jazz found herself in the empty lab, looking at each weapon her parents had made over the years. Lopmon was looking at her questionably.

"What are you looking for?" Lopmon asked.

"A weapon so I can defend myself." Jazz replied. "I mean, sure I have you as my partner, but I figured it would be best to have a weapon in case you get hurt and can't fight back in my defense. Besides, Andy arms himself with his own weapons as well. He's able to fight with Dorumon instead of just hiding while Dorumon does all the work."

"Hmm… well, I'll admit, it would be easier to know you're able to handle yourself in a fight," Lopmon stated. "But do you have any training?"

"Sort of. I am able to use basic karate if I need to," Jazz answered. "Though with ghost weapons… not yet. But if Andy was able to teach himself how to use the Fenton Rod and the Fenton Thermos, surely I can too. But I don't think the Fenton Rod is what I'm looking for."

"What kind of weapon are you looking for then?" Lopmon asked.

"Well, the Fenton Rod is kind of a necessity, so that is one weapon." Jazz admitted. "But something else too." Jazz then picked up what looked like a toy gun. "Like this. It's a long range weapon, apparently."

Jazz placed the gun down and then picked up what looked like a small hilt of some kind. "I wonder what this is." She pressed the button and out came a many tentacled grabber that had Jack Fenton's face in the center of it. The grabber shot out and hit the button on the side of the Ghost Portal, opening the door. Jazz's eyes went wide in shock and horror, Lopmon froze as well.

The Ghost Portal's doors opened, and suddenly a ghost came out of it, laughing. It looked like a middle aged man wearing a white lab coat, though he didn't have any feet, he just had a misty tail where his feet should be. He had that crazy Enstie-like white hair, and he was wearing sunglasses. He looked like a mad scientist now that Jazz looked at him.

"HAHAHA! Finally, I am free to use the technology to take over this world!" The ghost announced in a loud obnoxious voice.

"Wait… were you just waiting behind that portal until someone opened it up?" Jazz asked after getting over her initial shock.

Lopmon frowned. "That's… kind of anticlimactic, and weird…"

The mad scientist ghost frowned. "Do not question what I do in my spare time, human and digital being!"

"Wait…" Jazz frowned. "You're… that loud ghost who specializes in technology, aren't you?"

The mad scientist ghost laughed. "Indeed I am, child! I am Technus, Master of all things Mechanical, Manipulator of all Digital things!"

Lopmon was immediately on guard. "Careful, Jazz, Andy and Dorumon warned us about him! He's got powers that could mess with a Digimon's data!"

Jazz felt her face grow pale. "Uh oh…"

"Ahh, now you see how much of a threat that I, Technus, Master of all Technology, can be!" Technus proudly exclaimed. "Now, I will just-"

Technus was suddenly blasted by a ghost ray. Jazz and Lopmon looked up in surprise before seeing Danny, in his ghost form, floating down into the lab, looking rather peeved as his right gloved hand was glowing green. "Come on, I just got to sleep!"

"Danny!" Jazz exclaimed, glad to see her brother there. "Good timing!"

"Not really. Technus was just shouting so loud it woke me up," Danny grumbled. "But good to see you and Lopmon are okay."

"You are still here, ghost boy?" Technus frowned.

"I live here," Danny pointed out. "Why are you even in my house again?"

"This child released me into your world, ghost boy." Technus declared. "But you will not catch me! I will not let you!" With that, he turned intangible and flew through the ceiling of the lab.

"No, wait!" Danny called out. "Ugh!"

Danny turned intangible before flying through the ceiling to catch the mad scientist. However, when he flew up to his and Andy's room, he saw Technus looking curiously at Andy's computer. Andy had the game still on in case Tucker wanted to talk to them before he went to bed for the night. Andy and Dorimon were staring at Technus, clearly surprised to see the ghost there.

Dorimon was on guard, but he was more surprised at Technus's odd fixation on Doomed than worried about the ghost and what he could do to them.

"That world looks far more entertaining," Technus commented. "And the style is so sleek. Perhaps it should be there I take over!"

"Technus!? Why are you in our room!?" Andy yelled, still shocked to see the ghost.

"Your sister-" Technus began before Danny cleared his throat, interrupting the ghost's rant.

"Technus, we need to talk," Danny stated.

Technus turned to face Danny. "No, we are not, ghost boy. You will never catch me, the Master of all Technology and all things Mechanical!" With that, Technus turned intangible again and flew through the wall, escaping Danny.

"Darn it, Technus!" Danny snapped, frustrated that the ghost decided to run away.

Andy frowned.

"So… does this mean we have to track down Technus?" Dorimon asked.

"I hope not…" Danny groaned. "I was hoping to talk to him like we did Ember, but apparently he is not interested in remaining around for me to try it."

"I mean I guess it didn't help you did kick his butt before," Andy remarked.

Danny grumbled. "I have to go track him down. Last time I let him on the loose, he created a giant, robot death machine from our dad's yardsale junk."

Dorimon shivered. "He also made me feel sick…"

Andy sighed before looking up at the clock. "Well… it's only 10 PM right now. Maybe if we hurry, we can stop or talk to Technus, and get back home to get enough decent sleep to make it through school the next day."

"I hope you're right, Andy." Danny sighed before he yawned once. "I don't want to fail this literature test…"

"Should we get Takuya, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam to help us find him?" Andy asked. "It shouldn't be too hard to find him since he… kinda likes to announce where he is most of the time, whether through his voice or his powers."

Danny put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hmmm…" _We could have the others help us, but there is the issue of Tucker and Jazz's Digimon partners, plus Takuya's own evolutions to consider._ "We could, but if we do, Takuya can't be evolved, and Jazz and Tucker would have to be careful not to let their Digimon partners get caught up in an attack if Technus lashes out."

Andy frowned at that. "Perhaps we should just bring Sam then. She doesn't have a Digimon partner to worry about, and bringing only one Digimon to the battle is probably better since Technus will have fewer targets to hit. Besides, we'll need Takuya and Jazz to cover for us if Mom and Dad wake up while we're gone, and… I really don't feel like getting lectured again tonight."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Danny said.

* * *

Sam was more than happy to leave her house when Danny and Andy called her to help them find Technus. She couldn't care less what her parents had to say about her leaving the house after 10 PM, she wanted to get away from them for a while, not to mention she needed to help her friends with a dangerous ghost on the loose.

"So where should we start our search for Technus?" Sam asked as she looked at the twins, she was currently on her moped.

"We're not sure yet. But last time Technus was here, he was using our dad's old junk to build a super robot, so logically speaking, we should be on the lookout for old garage sale stuff flying around," Danny answered, who was currently in his ghost form.

"I could also try to smell for him," Dorumon pointed at his nose, who was standing beside Andy.

Sam looked at Dorumon. "That would be better than relying on the garage sale thing, but either one works."

"We could split up while we look for him, we can cover more ground that way, and use the Fenton Earphones to keep in contact with each other," Andy suggested, holding out the Fenton Earphones.

Sam still had hers since the Ember incident.

"Sure." Sam replied. She pointed at her ears. "I kept mine, just in case."

"Smart." Danny smiled, though that made Sam blush a little for some reason.

"Danny and I can look in the skies, you can look around the ground," Andy spoke up, noticing the blush, but wanting them to keep focus on the task at hand.

"Sounds good." Sam agreed. "But what about Dorumon's evolution? Will you be able to keep out of sight while looking for Technus? I mean, Dorumon does become some kind of large dragon, right?"

"I think Amity Park's gotten used to giant flying monsters at this point," Andy chuckled sheepishly. "But don't worry, Dorugamon can blend in with the night sky pretty easily, and we'll be mostly checking around the more rural places, like the park."

Sam gave a nod. "Okay. I think that works out then."

"Besides, we're hoping Dorumon and Andy don't find Technus before we do, because Dorumon's vulnerable to Technus's attacks," Danny added. "Just remember though, no engaging with Technus until you call for us."

"Don't worry, bro, we'll be fine," Andy reassured. "Are you ready to fly, Dorumon?"

Dorumon smiled. "Yup!"

Andy held out his D-Arc, which began to glow on Dorumon.

"DIGIVOLUTION!"

Dorumon was surrounded by fractal code as he felt the energy of Andy's will fill him. His skin began to peel away from his face and head, then his stomach and his tail was last to lose the skin. But as he regained his skin, his claws and legs came back first, then his wings came back with skin, flaring open to reveal their larger size, his tail swung around once as it regained the skin, and then his head and face were last to regain their skin. When that was done, the Digimon landed, crying out his name. _"Dorugamon!"_

Sam had been watching in awe, while she had seen Dorugamon a few times before, it was her first time seeing the digivolution up close. It made her wonder if it was painful though, since the digivolution itself looked painful. Though Dorugamon didn't seem to be bothered by it now.

Andy got onto Dorugamon's back. "If none of us see Technus after about an hour, let's meet up at the park."

Sam nodded. "Okay. We can do that."

Danny nodded as well. "Okay. Just be careful guys."

With that said, Dorugamon flew up into the air, Danny going up in the air as well, though both of them headed in opposite directions. Sam watched them leave and sighed to herself for a moment. She was not jealous, she was just thinking how nice it would be to be able to fly as well.

Getting onto her moped, Sam headed off in another direction, away from Danny and Andy's directions. Her mind began to wander a bit, wondering what her own Digimon partner would look like, if she had one.

_Hmm, maybe it would be a nice, dark bat-like Digimon… no wait, Takuya said that's what Vlad has… okay, maybe a black, goth-like cat then? Yeah, that seems pretty cool and fitting for me. I am a cat person after all._ Sam smirked to herself.

_"__Guys! I can't believe you went on a ghost hunt without me!"_ Tucker's voice suddenly spoke up in the Fenton Earphones.

_"__Uh… how did you find out?"_ Danny's voice asked sheepishly.

_"__Terriermon said he felt Dorumon digivolving, that and I keep track of you guys with my PDA,"_ Tucker answered.

Sam chuckled. "Well, can you keep us on track then? I don't want either of the twins getting side-tracked."

_"__When do we get side-tracked?"_ Andy's voice asked.

Sam was about to answer before Andy cut her off. _"Don't answer that."_

Sam frowned, but pushed it from her mind. She looked around for any sign of Technus; even a flying garage sale would be a good sign right about then. "I'm not seeing any sign of Technus so far."

_"__Tucker, you can help us try to find Technus, but don't engage with him, especially with Terriermon. Technus's abilities does something that makes a Digimon really sick,"_ Andy warned.

_"__Don't worry! Terriermon and I will let the powerhouse handle him. But the objective is to find the big bad guy, then power him down to level 0!"_ Tucker replied in a nerdy way.

Sam felt a sweat-drop run down the side of her head. "Uh… Could you tone down the nerd talk? I don't want to hear it…"

_"__What? It helps with the tension while looking for Technus,"_ Tucker grumbled.

_"__Still can't believe the developers still haven't patched that glitch. I mean if you get knocked into level 0, you're just stuck there. Even if you die and respawn, you can't get out. You'd have to create a new avatar from scratch,"_ Danny grumbled.

Sam gave a cringe at that. "Yeah, that _is_ a pretty bad glitch…"

_"__It's just one of those infamous glitches that they like hearing the gamers talk about. If they removed it, it would ruin the mystery and experience. Though it does suck if you do get knocked back into it and have to start from scratch,"_ Andy chuckled.

Sam looked up for a moment and chuckled when she saw Danny walking on the side of a building. He was pretty far away, but she could see that white glow of his in the dark. It looked to be fun, being able to give gravity the middle finger.

"I can see your glow from where I am, Danny." Sam said with a bit of a teasing smirk. "You're lit up like a Christmas light."

Sam could see Danny had stopped walking on the side of the building and was standing there._ "Uh…"_

_"__I think you made him red now, Sam~"_ Tucker teased.

Sam went red herself. "I didn't need to hear that, Tuck!"

_"__Would you like to join Danny, Sam?~"_ Andy teased as well._ "Maybe the reason why you can see him so easily is because his ghostly aura is a beacon for you."_

_"__ANDY! Shut it!"_ Danny snapped.

Sam grumbled to herself, hearing the laughter of Tucker and Andy, before she stopped. "Hold it! I see a flying garage sale, heading towards the park."

_"__Seriously? The park?"_ Andy groaned._ "Oh… I see it now too. Dorugamon and I are just above the park."_

_"__Give me a minute, I'll be there soon,"_ Danny spoke up.

Sam looked up from her moped, seeing the glowing green appliances moving into the park. She also saw something else moving in the sky. Sam had to squeeze her eyes to see it was Dorugamon._ Andy wasn't kidding when he saw Dorugamon can blend in with the night sky pretty well._

Sam saw Dorugamon landing in some bushes and trees, likely to hide and observe until Danny got there. Sam parked her moped near the entrance before she hurried over to the bushes where she saw Dorugamon landing. She saw Andy there as well.

"Hey, glad you could make it," Andy chuckled.

Sam looked at Andy. "You weren't kidding when you said Dorugamon can blend in with the night sky. I could barely see him."

"It comes with being a naturally dark Digimon," Dorugamon whispered proudly.

Andy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, it comes in handy sometimes. Though in day time, not so much. Anyways, how long do you think it would take for Danny to get here-"

"I'm here," The boy himself spoke up as he landed between them.

Sam almost jumped. "Danny! Don't startle me like that!"

Danny sheepishly grinned. "Sorry about that, Sam, I didn't mean to startle you like that."

"Alright you two, we need to think of a plan on how we want to handle Technus," Andy spoke up.

They all looked over at Technus, seeing he was surrounding himself with the appliances he took from the town. "YES! Come to me, beautiful technology! And together, we shall build a new body worthy of my greatness!"

The three kids and Dorugamon watched in disbelief as Technus had the appliances turn into a giant mecha suit, though this mecha suit looked familiar.

The body of the suit was black with purple accents, spikes coming from the shoulder guards, spiked bands on the wrists, spiked bands around the knees, and the head had a ponytail sticking up from it. The face was that of Technus himself, but the body was definitely of Sam's avatar in Doomed, Chaos.

"Something sleek, stylish, and total modern. YEAH BABY!" Technus shouted.

"Hey! Did he rip off my avatar?!" Sam exclaimed.

"It's… kind of sad that he sounds like an old man trying desperately to be hip," Andy groaned.

Danny smacked his face with his hand. "Great… We have a ghost that wants to be 'hip', as he calls it."

"So what is the plan?" Dorugamon asked. "We could easily destroy that mech suit. It… looks really tasty actually…"

"No, Dorugamon, no eating a ghostly powered up mecha suit, that's probably bad for you," Andy scolded.

Dorugamon pouted. "Aww…"

Sam snickered. "You sounded like a pet owner just then, Andy."

"Dorugamon isn't a pet… but he is young," Andy remarked.

Danny rolled his eyes. "I'm going to try to talk to him, see if I can get him to stop trying to 'take over the world' and see if maybe he could do something productive with his powers instead of destructive."

Sam gave a thoughtful nod. "That sounds like a good idea." She then frowned a bit. "But what if he doesn't go for it? Not every ghost may be able to be reasoned with."

"Then we'll fight," Danny answered. "If he won't listen to reason, then he'll be too dangerous to keep around out here. You have the Fenton Thermos, bro?"

"Yeah," Andy answered, taking the Fenton Thermos out of his backpack. "And the Fenton Rod."

Sam nodded. "Okay, we have a plan, so let's put it into action."

"Wait, we need a backup plan in case Technus decides to fight," Andy spoke up. "Hmm, if he's going to play Doomed in real life, then so will we. Let's show him why the other players don't like running into us."

Sam gave a smirk here. "You mean trying a game strategy in real life? This should be good."

_"__You guys are going to do that without me!?"_ Tucker whined.

"We'll bring you back some of Technus's parts if you want to make a new ghost weapon or something, would that make you feel better?" Danny sighed.

Tucker's face wasn't seen, but he lit up like a Christmas tree at hearing that. _"Yes! But make sure it has no ectoplasm on it this time please. I do _not_ fancy having my stuff become his new body."_

"Terriermon should be able to sense if there's any ectoplasm on the parts anyways," Dorugamon stated.

Andy nodded. "Alright, so if Technus does decide to fight back… and since Sam isn't as big of a powerhouse as her avatar, we'll have to change up how we'll approach the battle. Here's what we'll do…"

* * *

Technus was enjoying his new body. "Now, I shall start taking over the wor-"

"Hey!" Danny spoke up, flying up to the mecha Technus.

"You dare to interrupt me, ghost child?" Technus growled. "I will not let you stop me again!"

Technus took a tire out from his 'belt', and threw it at Danny. Danny quickly went intangible, making the tire go through him before he returned to solid matter. "Whoa there! I'm not here to fight, I just want to talk."

"Talk? Talk about what, ghost child?" Technus asked, a bit confused now. "What could you possibly want to talk to me, Technus, Master of all Technology, about?"

"I would like to ask you some questions actually, like… why do you want to take over the world?" Danny asked.

"Why wouldn't I? It's an every man's dream to take over the world, especially with technology!" Technus responded loudly.

"Is it?" Danny asked. "If that is the case, then why am I not trying to take over the world? I don't want to do that. I just want to help people."

"Well, I did say every MAN, you are only a child," Technus waved off. "Besides, with this style, I can do just about anything!"

"Is… this some kind of habit or game of yours?" Danny asked. "You could really hurt people with what you're doing."

"Hurt people? Please, all I'm doing is upgrading myself and using their technology for a greater purpose!" Technus announced. "They should be thanking me! And I will soon show them how hip and cool their new ruler will be!"

Danny frowned at hearing that. "But people _won't_ be thanking you if you keep hurting them. They will instead _fear_ you, not respect you."

Technus frowned and actually paused at that. Then he looked at Danny. "Wait, you're just trying to talk me out of this so you could win again. Well not this time, ghost boy! This time, I will be the winner!"

Danny backed up. "Whoa! Just settle down, Technus! I'm not trying to trick you out of your- OOF!"

Danny was interrupted by a smack by Technus's giant metal hand. This caused Danny to fall into a tree before falling down in front of Sam and Andy.

"Looks like he decided to make the first hit," Sam stated. "Do you want to keep talking to him or should we strike now?"

Danny frowned, he wasn't too happy with being hit like that. "We'll fight him for now. Then we'll talk to him when he's in a controlled environment. He won't listen as he is now, he's too hyped up on power."

Sam frowned before she sighed. "So much for trying to reason with him."

"As you said, not every ghost can be reasoned with. Technus we might be able to, but he needs to be knocked down a peg or two first," Andy said. "Alright, let's go with Plan B then. Dorugamon?"

"Yup," Dorugamon lowered himself before Andy got onto his back.

"Advanced Battle Mode with an Intangibility Bonus," Danny smiled. "Ready Sam?"

Sam smirked. "You know I am, Danny."

Sam got on her moped and started it up like a motorcycle, then she floored it towards Technus.

Danny flew down and grabbed Sam's shoulders, turning her and her moped intangible as soon as he did the same for himself. Technus, seeing them, tried to shoot them with his ghost ray, which went through them.

"Now this is more thrilling than the Gauntlet of Doom at level 9…" Sam then frowned. "Oh jeez, Tucker's nerd talk is rubbing off on me."

Danny couldn't help but laugh as he accidentally let go of their intangibility, which was enough for Technus to fire another ghost ray at them, but it ended up hitting Sam's back wheel.

"Crap!" Sam exclaimed as she saw the back tire blow out. "My back tire is gone!"

The moped was now useless, Danny frowned, before looking back and seeing Technus firing his eye lasers at them. Danny gasped, realizing the purple hue on it was likely going to hit them even if they were intangible. A strong instinct to protect Sam overcame him, and Danny's hands glowed green before he raised them up, creating an ecto shield in front of him and Sam.

The eye lasers bounced off the shield and away from the two of them, back towards Technus. Technus tried to go intangible, but as Danny suspected, the lasers hit Technus anyways. Technus hissed at that, but his suit was still fine.

"Whoa! How'd I do that?" Danny asked, looking at his glowing gloved hands.

"Nice try, ghost child, but it's going to take more than that to stop me!" Technus shouted.

Above Technus, there was a whistling noise. Dorugamon was diving towards him from the sky, though he appeared to have something in his mouth already.

Technus looked up upon hearing the whistling noise, but he couldn't see where it was coming from very well, even with his ghostly eyesight. Though he did see something red and yellow glowing that was rapidly coming at him.

"Eh? What's that?" Technus questioned.

"Fire!" Andy yelled.

Dorugamon shot out what appeared to be a smaller than usual Cannonball attack, however, Danny noticed, just barely, there was a small piece of paper stuck to it. As soon as the small Cannonball hit Technus in the chest, Dorugamon's forehead gem flashed for a split second just before the Cannonball exploded, sending out a purple shockwave.

Pieces of Technus's body were thrown apart by the explosion and they fell to the ground, some parts landing in trees, a few crushing benches, and one part even landed in the fountain, throwing water everywhere with the resulting splash. Last, but not least, was Technus's head, or what was left of it, landing near Danny and Sam. The head had holes and wires sticking out of it, Technus was clearly not in it anymore.

Sam looked at the head. "Wow. That was some explosion."

"Bro, I think you have a problem. I mean that explosion was quite violent, I thought we were going to capture Technus, not blow him up," Danny pointed out when Dorugamon landed.

"Ah… well…" Andy sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, maybe I got a little carried away. I think my mindset is used to going in for the kill rather than trying to capture a player alive."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Does every guy like to blow stuff up?"

"You have to admit that it was effective at least," Dorugamon stated before he started taking a bite out of Technus's head.

"Dorugamon! I said no eating ghostly metal!" Andy spoke up.

"Aww come on, Andy, he's not in there anymore!" Dorugamon whined.

Sam chuckled. "You had best do as Andy says, Dorugamon. It could still make you sick."

"Fine," Dorugamon grumbled, stepping away from the head.

"So now what?" Danny asked. "We should probably try to track Technus down again-"

Danny's ghost sense went off again, but it was small, hardly noticeable. "Hmm? Is he nearby?"

"I thought I sensed a chill, but it disappeared pretty quickly," Dorugamon replied.

Sam frowned. "If it was not that noticeable, it's probably due to the head. It still has bits of ectoplasm on it after all."

"We'll try to find him then, but if we don't see him after a while, we should call it a night. Maybe if we're lucky, Technus will just hide out for the night and we can try to find him again after school," Andy suggested.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea." A yawn escaped her. "We need to get some sleep so we don't fail that test tomorrow."

"I don't think I can afford another failed test anyways," Danny groaned.

"Come on, let's start looking," Andy said. "The sooner we start, the sooner we can stop."

"I don't smell him nearby though." Dorugamon frowned.

"Doesn't mean he can't still be around. Be sure to check every nook and cranny, Technus could hide anywhere that has technology," Andy sighed.

"So… anywhere in the city then," Sam groaned.

Danny groaned as well. "We'll be here all night…"

"Come on, Technus is a big loud ghost, how bad could it be?" Dorugamon smiled.

* * *

The foursome ended up not getting to bed until 5 AM that night, having seen no signs of Technus anywhere. The only reason they decided to go home was because Sam almost passed out on them, and Dorugamon degenerated to Dorumon after a while.

When the sun came up and it was time for school, Takuya and Jazz were frowning at the twins when they saw how sleepy they were in the kitchen, they couldn't even eat their breakfast.

"What happened to you two last night?" Takuya asked as he gave them a look that said how disappointed he was at their lack of sleep.

"Did you two play that game all night?" Jazz frowned.

Danny and Andy wanted to defend themselves, they had a good reason for staying up all night, but Maddie and Jack were there, so they couldn't say the truth. Dorimon was completely conked out in Andy's arms, which made Andy quite envious right now.

"We… uh… had to face with a really… tricky player," Danny answered, yawning in between his words.

"Danny, Andy! Look at you two!" Maddie frowned. "How are you going to pass Mr. Lancer's test tomorrow with the state you're in? I knew we shouldn't have let you two stay on the computer for more than an hour."

Takuya had to agree with his aunt. "I can't believe I am saying this, but I have to agree with Aunt Maddie, and I'm only one year older than you two."

"You two have been quite irresponsible with how you handled your gaming time. You should've been studying for the test anyways," Jazz scolded as well.

"And get this, Fentons get As, or in your father's case, B minuses," Maddie added.

"Solid B minuses," Jack stated proudly.

_I haven't brought home an A or a B in a long time, I mostly got Cs these days. Why bring this up now?_ Danny grumbled.

Andy just stopped caring at some point, he was far too tired for this crap.

Takuya frowned at seeing Andy's tired state. "Maybe you two should stay home…"

"We can't, we have a test to do," Andy said, grabbing a piece of toast, stuffing it in his mouth, and grabbed his backpack, putting the still sleeping Dorimon inside it. "We thee you afer cwass."

Takuya frowned. "Okay…" _I hope they don't fall asleep in class..._

"If we hear that you two fell asleep in school, we're grounding you off of the computer for two weeks," Maddie warned as Danny picked up his own backpack, and ate a piece of bacon, he didn't like toast.

Takuya finished his own breakfast and grabbed his own backpack. "I'll see you after school, Aunt Maddie!" He then stood up and ran out after his cousins.

"I better get to school as well," Jazz sighed, holding Lopmon.

"Have a good day at school, Jazzypants!" Jack waved.

Maddie nodded before Jazz walked out of the house. Maddie then sighed. "I know we don't have to worry about Jazz, she's always been a straight A student. Takuya isn't bad with his grades either. Jazz, Andy, and Danny had been helping him with the subjects he struggled with when he first moved back. But… I'm worried about Danny and Andy, they haven't been doing well in school lately. Do you think we might not be doing our job as parents, Jack?"

Jack frowned. "I'm not sure, Mads. I mean, I thought we were, but I can't help but feel we are missing out on something."

"I was worried about Jazz when the SWAT team brought her back home, and then Takuya when he failed that North Western Nine test, but they both seem to still be doing okay," Maddie remarked. "Well… I suppose if Mr. Lancer calls and tells us that they failed their test or fell asleep in class… then… I'm not sure what to do..."

"Hey, don't worry Maddie, I'm sure whatever phase the boys are going through, they'll get over it. They're Fentons after all," Jack said, hoping to reassure his wife.

Maddie smiled at that. "You're right Jack. I'm sure the boys will be fine."

"By the way… have you noticed that Jazz now has her own stuffed animal? I wonder where they're getting these things," Jack mumbled. "Maybe I could get a ghost plush!"

Maddie couldn't help but laugh at her husband's comments. He always seemed to find a way to help cheer her up, though she was still worried for her precious twin boys.

Jack smiled at seeing his wife laughing. "And who knows? Maybe I could find you a ghost plush too!"

"That's sweet, Jack," Maddie chuckled.

* * *

By the time Danny and Andy got to school, they looked ready to pass out.

"Stupid Technus… I can't believe we couldn't find a normally loud, easy to find ghost all night!" Danny grumbled, clearly in a bad mood.

"Guess he's not so easy when he actually _wants _to stay hidden…" Andy sighed, putting his forehead against the cool locker door.

Danny sighed. "Well, let's get through school, first. Then we can search for him after classes are over."

Andy yawned. "I suppose. If Technus didn't actually cause any trouble all night, surely he won't do anything while we're at school for… 8… long… grueling hours… we're so getting grounded."

"I hope not…" Danny yawned. "I don't know about you, bro, but I think Sam might be getting grounded too…"

"Sam would be getting grounded if she so much as looked in our direction with her parents," Andy grumbled. "But I doubt we'll be able to stay awake like this. We'll have to try to get some soda or something to keep us going."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea, bro." Danny said before a yawn escaped him. "Should we get the soda the normal way or the ghostly way?"

Andy rolled his eyes. "There's just one problem, soda isn't allowed in class."

"Great… My brain is so sleepy I forgot that rule…" Danny groaned as he placed his forehead against his own locker.

"We're going to fail," Andy sighed as he started his death march towards Mr. Lancer's classroom. "Wait… I think I may know of a way to keep us awake."

"What?" Danny asked as he looked at his twin.

Andy was looking at Dash, who was walking past Danny to get into the classroom himself. Dash stopped when he saw Andy giving him a mischievous look, a look that quite frankly, terrified Dash these days. Danny blinked, before looking back, seeing Dash just quietly going into the classroom.

"Oh… don't worry about it, bro~" Andy smiled.

Danny looked at Andy. "You scare me, bro, and I am the half-_dead _kid."

"Not half dead, just a kid with ghost powers," Andy corrected before he walked into the classroom.

Danny followed his twin into the classroom, hoping things would not get as bad as he feared they would.

Danny hadn't expected Andy to be whispering something to Dash, heck, he didn't expect Andy to even get that close to Dash without getting socked in the face. What was even more surprising was the fact that Dash looked pale before nodding at something.

Looking at Andy, Danny blinked. "Wow… What did you say to Dash that had him pale like that?"

"Let's just say he kinda owes me a favor," Andy answered. "He'll be helping keep us awake for this class today."

Danny blinked. "Okay…?"_ When did Dash Baxter owe anybody anything? Andy almost sounds like he's the godfather of a mob or something._

Danny gave Andy a bit of a freaked out glance before turning his attention back to the front of the classroom. _Note to self, never mess with Andy when he is tired..._

This was one of the few classes Danny and Andy didn't share with Tucker or Sam, so they only had Dash to count on to keep them awake. The bell soon rang, and Mr. Lancer walked into the classroom. He already had a stack of papers ready for the test. Danny wanted to groan, though he did actually study some literature with Andy yesterday. Andy was pretty good with literature since he often wrote in his journal, and he could be almost as big as a bookworm as their sister, though, Danny thought guiltily, the latter was more his fault since him, Tucker, and Sam pushing Andy away led to Andy just reading books.

Danny put his head on his desk. _Great… Here comes the test… And I certainly think this _is_ my death warrant…_

Throughout the test, Danny had to keep fighting with the nodding off sensation, but then a piece of paper would hit him from behind. Or a pencil would thump him in the back. Sometimes a paper airplane or two would wake him up. Danny knew Dash was doing this because Andy 'told him to', but he couldn't help but feel like Dash may just be doing this to get on his nerves like he usually did. Dash was doing the same to Andy whenever he was starting to nod off as well though, so if nothing else, Dash was doing good on keeping his promise. But then some sort of red leaf would touch Danny every now and then, energizing him a little bit.

Danny was confused as to how these leaves came onto him, but he was not going to complain since the leaves seemed to keep him more awake. With his brain more awake, Danny had an easier time focusing on the test. Andy's bookworminess, not that he would ever say that to Andy, especially now when he was tired, seemed to have paid off. Danny found the questions to be pretty easy to answer, they asked grammar questions, and questions involving how a correct sequence of words would be in a sentence. Though some of the questions were pretty difficult to answer as they involved old English stuff that not many would bother with these days, guess it came with having a teacher who was a huge fan of the old classics.

Meanwhile, Andy would have been able to focus better, if not for one little, itty, bitty problem… he had fallen asleep and wasn't able to wake up. Dash had tried putting more leaves on him, but it wasn't waking Andy up. Andy didn't know how or why this happened, but when he fell asleep, he dreamed something odd.

_-Dream Vision-_

_I was surprised to find myself in the lab, with what looked like a young man with a shadow-like form behind him, and off to the side was Jazz, but she looked like she was in a daze, wearing a red jacket of some kind. Lopmon was off to the side, unconscious._

_Looking to my right, I saw Danny, in his human form, on the floor with Agunimon in front of him, but something seemed off about him. It was like… he wasn't himself. The Legendary Warrior was standing in front of Danny protectively, but the look in his eyes was not human-like at all._

_I was surprised at this reaction, but I couldn't go to see what was going on, because I was unable to move. I could hear them speaking, but I couldn't understand them. It was like they were speaking, but their voices were silent._

Andy suddenly woke up to Mr. Lancer holding up his test paper, looking rather annoyed. Andy blinked sleepily, lifting up his head, before realizing with horror that he had fallen asleep, and likely failed the test.

"Well, Andrew, I hope that nap was worth it." Mr. Lancer said as he placed Andy's test down, marked with a big fat 'F'.

Andy felt his heart drop to his stomach. It was his first 'F', not counting the North Western Nine test, everyone but Tucker failed that one. While he didn't get super stellar grades like Jazz did, he usually did well enough. Seeing the big, red, fat 'F' on his paper like an ugly battle scar made his blood run cold.

The bell rang and the students all quickly left. Dash looked at Andy in concern, but he had to leave. Danny looked over at Andy as well, worried. Andy started getting up, but Mr. Lancer shook his head. "Andrew, I'd like for you to stay. Daniel, you go on to your next class."

Danny gave a nod, but not before he gave his twin a concerned look one last time before leaving.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat. "Andrew, when a teacher looks at a student, he hopes to see a reflection of his own abilities. When I look at you, I see my own 'F'. I don't like to fail. Do you?"

"No, of course not," Andy answered with a frown. "I apologize, Mr. Lancer, I really didn't mean to fall asleep like that. You know I'm good with literature. I promise, I can do a lot better."

Mr. Lancer frowned. "Yes, yes, you can, Andrew. And that is why I am going to give you the opportunity to retake the test. You will have three days to study for the make-up test, and I want to see you do better this time."

Andy nodded. "Yes, Mr. Lancer, I promise I won't let you down this time. This was a one time thing, I'll make sure of it."

Mr. Lancer nodded. "Very well. Now, you had better get to your next class. I will write you a late pass so you don't get detention for being tardy."

"Thank you, Mr. Lancer," Andy said gratefully.

* * *

Later, after school, Tucker had Terriermon in his backpack. Like with Jazz and Andy's Digimon partners, Terriermon found the backpack to be comfortable, and he even had his own PDA for entertainment. Tucker did make sure Terriermon had it on mute if he was going to play games or watch videos on it though.

"Hey, Danny, Andy!" Tucker greeted when he saw the twins walking out of the school. "I found some hidden secrets in Doomed last night that would lead us to the next key. Rumor has it that it's in a safe at the Mega Market, and that there's an extra life there as well. We can totally stop by the Internet Cafe if you want me to show you."

Danny looked at Tucker. "That's great Tuck, but I'm worried about Andy. He fell asleep during the test today, and I can't help but get the feeling he didn't do so well."

Andy grumbled. "That's because I _didn't_ do so well. I flunked it!"

"You actually flunked a literature test!?" Tucker asked in shock.

"That's like if Tucker flunked techno science," Terriermon remarked from Tucker's backpack.

"I fell asleep. Being up all night looking for Technus really made it difficult to concentrate," Andy groaned. "Though… I'm surprised Dash wasn't able to wake me up. I didn't think I was a heavy sleeper…"

Danny fornwed. "Yeah… But anyway… We need to see if we can find Technus again. Um… Well, maybe Tucker can join us this time while you try to study for the make-up test, bro."

"Wait, what about Doomed?" Tucker whined.

"Later, Tuck, looking for Technus is more important," Danny stated.

"But… what if Technus is in the game?" Tucker said smoothly.

Danny paused. "Wait… Is that even possible?" He looked at Tucker.

"Hey, he's the ghost of technology, right? So why shouldn't he be able to go into a video game?" Tucker pointed out.

Danny sighed. "That is a good point, Tuck. I guess we can check Doomed for Technus, but _only_ for a short time. Andy needs to study."

"I'll help you guys look, but only for an hour. After that, I'm heading straight home to study… and maybe get a nap in," Andy yawned.

"Yeah, you'd better, bro. You look like a ghost." Danny teased his brother.

"Said the half ghost, who also looked like a full ghost during school," Andy grumbled.

Danny blushed at that comment. "Uh… Never mind…"

"How are you not tired?" Andy asked, rubbing his groggy eyes.

Danny shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. I just felt more energetic and awake since Mr. Lancer's class."

"I envy you sometimes, bro," Andy grumbled.

"Come on, maybe some hot chocolate at the Internet Cafe will help wake you up," Tucker chuckled.

* * *

When the boys were at the Internet Cafe, Andy had a mug of hot chocolate beside him as he was on a computer beside Danny. They were currently on Doomed, trying to find any clues of if Technus was in the game somehow.

"Okay, I cracked open the safe. I found the key, and the extra life, but no Technus," Tucker spoke up not too far away.

"I don't think he's on this level." Danny noted. "He may be on a different level."

"That is even assuming he's in the game at all," Andy yawned a little. "Wouldn't we have noticed by now if Technus was in the game? He would likely standout."

Danny frowned when he considered Andy's words. "Actually, I think Andy may have a point. Technus _would_ stand out if he was in the game."

"Maybe you should head on home, Andy, I can help Danny and Tucker look for Technus if he is in the game," Sam spoke up from behind them, likely just arriving at the cafe herself.

Andy nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Besides, it's almost been an hour anyways, and I need to take that nap before I start studying for my make-up test."

"Wait, what's Sam doing here?" Mikey spoke up, a nerd who was also on the computer. "She can't be here to play Doomed as well, is she?"

Danny gave Mikey a bit of a sheepish grin. "Um… About that…"

Sam glared at Mikey. "Oh? Why do you think that? Because I'm a girl? And us girls are lacking in what, opposable thumbs, one track minds, stupid berets?"

"Sam, I wear a beret," Tucker grumbled.

"What Sam means is that she can be a skilled gamer too. It doesn't matter if she's a girl or a boy, a game is meant for people to play," Danny spoke up quickly.

Tucker gave a nod to Mikey. "Yeah. Sam actually is quite the skilled gamer. But if you were game savvy, you'd know that."

Mikey rolled his eyes, clearly not believing them, but decided not to argue any further and turned back to his computer. Andy noticed Mikey was also playing Doomed, and saw what his avatar looked like. Mikey had his own party of big, strong looking warriors.

"Tomorrow night, we'll be coming after them if you'd like, Sam, show them a thing or two," Andy offered.

"As tempting as that sounds, petty revenge is not my style." Sam admitted. "Although if they _do_ come across our party, we could have a _bit_ of fun with them."

"I'll also see if I can get more ammo for the stronger players, we're going to need more firepower for them if we hope to get all the keys," Tucker remarked. "And… for Technus too, yeah."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Okay, Andy, you get on home. I'll take over for you."

Andy nodded as he stood up from his chair, however, as he did, a shadow towered over him.

"So, Andy, you came here to play games, huh?" Mr. Lancer asked with a frown.

Andy froze at hearing his teacher's voice from behind him.

"I'm disappointed, Andy, I thought you would be more responsible, but I find you here, on the computer, playing an internet game," Mr. Lancer sighed. "That must've been what kept you up last night as well."

Andy turned around to face Mr. Lancer._ What is he doing here?! Does he have a radar on me or something?_ "Mr. Lancer, with all due respect, while you may be my teacher, school hours are over. While I understand I _should_ be studying, it isn't any of your business what I do when I'm out of school."

Mr. Lancer still frowned. "That may be, but I do not wish to see you fail that exam again. It's bad enough the North Western Nine test was failed by almost the entire school, but to see you fail the literature test as well would not be good for either you or me, because it would be a bad reflection of my teaching skills and say that I was not doing my job."

"I…" Andy sighed, while he wasn't actually goofing off, he couldn't exactly tell Mr. Lancer what he was actually doing, and in Mr. Lancer's point of view, he was just goofing off. Andy couldn't blame the teacher for being concerned. "I know… I'm sorry. I'll head straight home and study."

"Come into my car, Andy. I'll be personally driving you home myself. I need to be sure you won't get distracted by other things," Mr. Lancer stated.

Andy frowned, but he didn't argue. He looked back at Danny, Sam, and Tucker. Terriermon was still acting as a plush, while Dorimon was still sleeping in his backpack. They gave concerned looks as well, but none of them could say anything either. Danny just gave an encouraging nod to Andy.

"Go on, bro. We will be fine." Danny said, trying to sound reassuring to Andy.

Andy let out a sigh, but he followed Mr. Lancer to his car, where he was going to hear a lecture for sure. Of course, while everyone was distracted, nobody saw a green mist coming out from Danny's pocket, where he kept the Fenton Earphones. The green mist went into the computer, though the computer went static, and showed a strange symbol. When Danny turned around, he blinked, seeing the weird, staticy symbol on the monitor. The symbol looked like a circle with a smaller circle inside it, with two half segments of circles around the outside, that had one spoke per segment coming out, one on top, one on the bottom, one to the left, and one to the right. The ones to the right and left were furthest outside, with those two sides having the shorter spokes. The symbol, however, soon disappeared, and so did the static, and the normal game of Doomed was back.

_What was that?_ Danny questioned.

Tucker looked over at Danny. "Is something wrong, Danny? You're staring at the computer."

Danny blinked, before looking at Tucker, who was giving him a concerned look. "I'm fine… but…"_ That symbol, I think… I saw it once before._

Danny remembered spying on Takuya a few times while invisible, at the time he was trying to figure out what his cousin was hiding. He remembered seeing Takuya pull out that device of his, and on the screen, he would sometimes see a symbol that matched the one he just saw on the monitor. Though Danny could never stick around for long, because Takuya would suddenly start to shiver a little and start looking around. Danny wasn't sure how, but Takuya appeared to be able to sense him. Danny, of course, now knew it was likely due to him having those Digimon Spirits.

"Okay, Danny. Let's get back to looking for Technus on Doomed." Tucker said as he turned back to his computer monitor himself.

Danny sighed, but he did the same thing Tucker did. _Maybe some Doomed will get my mind off of that symbol… whatever it is… But… I should ask Takuya about it at the very least, just in case it might be important._

Sam sat down on the chair Andy was in earlier and started up the game.

Sam then looked over at Tucker, who had Terriermon on his desk. Then she leaned over to Danny and whispered. "Hey, Danny… you ever think about getting your own Digimon partner?"

Danny blinked. "Huh? Oh! Um… well, sometimes. I mean, it would be nice, but then again, having a Digimon partner is probably a lot like having a pet, and I never had a pet before so I'm not sure how I would do with that."

"You seem to get along with Dorimon alright," Sam pointed out.

Danny sighed a little. "Yeah… I suppose sometimes I do wonder what it would be like if I had my own Digimon partner. But, well, I am dealing with my own… uh… issues right now. So I'm not sure how well I'd be able to handle a Digimon partner… Why do you ask?"

Sam smiled a little. "I was just wondering. I think it would be nice to have a Digimon partner of my own, you know?"

"Oh? Didn't you ever get your own pet though? I'm sure you could've easily afforded a few," Danny asked.

Sam flushed red a bit. "My parents said no to a pet… I wanted a black cat, but they think it's too dirty, or a 'young lady' shouldn't deal with mongrels. They're just grating on my last nerves, and it would just be nice to have someone to talk to when I'm in my room, alone, dealing with my overbearing parents."

Danny frowned a little. "If you want, Sam, I could visit you while invisible at night if your parents give you a hard time again."

Sam, for some reason, went red. "Um… No, Danny… That is not necessary…"

Danny blinked for a moment, wondering why Sam went red. He thought the offer was nice.

"Yeesh, get a room, you two," Someone commented as they walked past them, which caused both Danny and Sam to go red.

Sam coughed to force the issue from her mind. "Okay… Let's return to the task at hand, shall we?"

"Y-yeah," Danny quickly agreed.

Tucker innocently whistled as he was moving his avatar on the computer.

* * *

Meanwhile, Andy was sitting in the passenger seat of Mr. Lancer's magenta car. Mr. Lancer was driving the boy home and giving him a bit of a lecture.

"Playing an internet video game is hardly what a student who failed should be doing when they need to be studying." Mr. Lander said. "When I see a student pass through the portal of Casper High for the last time, brimming with the knowledge it takes to make it in the outside world, that is what I like to see."

_I'm not entirely sure if that's what school is doing. It's not teaching me how to cook, how to actually be social without getting my face pounded, how to actually survive in the harsh world outside the school walls. All it does is teach us how to memorize for a test that we would forget the next day._ Andy sighed to himself, but decided not to tell Mr. Lancer about that.

"And I do want to do well, it's just… sometimes things just come up, and… well, to be honest, sometimes I feel they're more important than school," Andy admitted.

"Sometimes life doesn't go the way we want it to, Andrew. That I get. But blowing off studying for your make-up test is inexcusable, even if things that are more important to _you_ come up. Not everyone will see the things you do as more important than school, and the same goes for when you are older," Mr. Lancer said sternly.

As much as Andy didn't like to admit it, Mr. Lancer did have a point. While stopping Technus from taking over the world using technology that could not just hurt people, but cause a potential worldwide problem was important to Andy, it wasn't important to Mr. Lancer. Not because Mr. Lancer didn't think stopping Technus was important, but because he didn't even know about the danger. To him, Andy was just being an irresponsible teenager who thought playing an internet game was more important than school or grades. Andy understood that, but it was no less annoying to him. It was like being told what you thought was important wasn't actually important at all.

And piling that with the lack of sleep, and Andy was one grumpy teenager. He ended up muttering something he hadn't meant for Mr. Lancer to hear. "Maybe you should pay attention to what's going on then."

"And you should pay more attention in class, Andrew." Mr. Lancer scolded as he pulled up to the Fenton Works building. "And here are the people to make you do just that."

Andy frowned and straightened up when he saw Maddie, Jack, and even Takuya standing there, hands either on their hips, or folded around their chest, with scolding looks on their faces._ Oh crap!_

Though it wouldn't really help him, Andy quickly rolled up the window he had down next to him._ I never explained what was going on with Takuya… I'm so freaking dead._

* * *

**Titanic X****: DarkFoxKit: **Glad you liked it. Terriermon was something I thought of for Tucker later one in the story, and thought it'd be kinda cool to give Tucker a gun bunny.

**ZAFT:** Glad you loved the AN too~ X3

**ChloeTheKitsune****: ZAFT:** Well, we wanted to change things up with Ember, and show she wasn't all just about mind-controlling others. We wanted to give her more development and well, it seems it was well accepted so far. :3

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Well, I wouldn't say Ember would be an ally, but yeah, the possibility is there. We did make her more 'human' despite her being a ghost. I kinda feel like Ember is one of those characters where if Danny had stopped and talked to her instead of sabotaging her concert, he may have been able to convince her to stop her mind control scheme, and become a proper rock star.


	31. A Digital World

**DarkFoxKit:** Another update, oh, and take a look at the picture. ZAFT here drew that themselves~

**ZAFT:** Actually, I downloaded an image of a D-Arc and colored it in with Andy's D-Arc colors, then Tucker's, Jazz's, Danny's, and Sam's. I only added the DP symbol and the symbols of the Legendary Warriors… ^^'

**Andy:** Still pretty good. Though Fox did the same thing with the picture of My Brother's a Ghost.

**DarkFoxKit:** You really think I could draw that well? Please. ***rolls eyes*** Anyways, we should get this update underway.

**ZAFT: **Yeah, we should. ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 31: A Digital World**

Andy wanted to be anywhere else but in the living room of his own home right now. Mr. Lancer was speaking with his parents, and Takuya, about how irresponsible he had been lately.

"It disappoints me, because Andy was one of my best behaving students. But lately, he's been falling behind," Mr. Lancer stated. "And when I gave him a chance to make up for the test, I found him goofing off at the Internet Cafe playing on that internet game."

"But-" Andy started, only to be interrupted.

"I can't believe you were goofing off, Andy!" Takuya scolded. "It's bad enough the North Western Nine test was failed by the school, I mean I failed it too, but failing a literature test is not excusable. You should know better!"

"It was-" Andy tried again.

"That's enough out of you. You're in a lot of trouble, mister," Jack scolded.

Jazz had joined them shortly after Andy was pretty much dragged into the living room. She looked more worried than angry or disappointed though, and she had Lopmon around her arms.

Lopmon frowned, before whispering to Jazz. "I can understand why they are all disappointed, but why aren't they giving Andy a chance to explain himself?"

Jazz just shook her head, not able to answer at the moment since there were too many eyes.

"What do you suggest, Mr. Lancer?" Maddie asked, looking more troubled than she had this morning.

"Andy _will_ pass the make-up test. I know he can. But I am proposing that he spend his time in my office after school studying until I administer the make-up exam." Mr. Lancer said. "Unless of course, you have any other options on how to make sure Andy passes the test."

Maddie and Jack frowned. Maddie realized that she didn't know of a better way, and it was the first time she really remembered being involved with any of her kids' school lives. She and Jack were always too busy with their next new ghost hunting invention to really think to ask how their kids did in school, or find out if they were doing well at all.

"I'm… afraid to say we don't, Mr. Lancer," Jack spoke up for Maddie, seeing her guilty expression.

Mr. Lancer nodded. "Very well, it seems Andy will be staying after school then and studying with me for the time being."

"And until you retake this test and pass it with flying colors, young man, we're forbidding all access to electronic devices except in the case of emergency or for school," Maddie stated firmly, hoping that would help get one of her boys to do better in school._ At least Danny seems to be doing better._

Takuya looked at Andy, seeing how his cousin looked down at the floor. Now that he thought about it, it was very unlike Andy to be as irresponsible as Mr. Lancer claimed him to be. _Is there something more to this though? I mean, Andy doesn't do something without a good reason..._

"Starting tomorrow, you'll be staying with me after school," Mr. Lancer said to Andy.

"I…" Andy sighed tiredly. "I understand… Mr. Lancer."

After Mr. Lancer left, Maddie took a deep breath and let it out. "Andy, I'm sorry if we're being too hard on you. But you have to understand, we love you, and we don't want you to fail and be held back a grade."

Andy frowned. "I know, Mom."

Andy started trudging to the stairs to go to his room. If he didn't need a nap before, he certainly needed it now.

Maddie frowned, feeling guilty that she may have been too hard on one of her precious boys. Jack put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You did what you had to do, Maddie. We are his parents, we need to show him there will be consequences," Jack reassured Maddie.

Maddie smiled at Jack. "You're sweet, Jack."

Beside Maddie and Jack, Takuya frowned to himself. He felt a bit bad about how he was acting towards Andy without knowing the full situation. _Am I being a bit too hard on Andy myself? Am I becoming too much like my aunt and uncle?_

While Maddie and Jack headed to the kitchen for some lunch, or more likely, for Jack to give Maddie some of his special 'pick-me-up' fudge, Takuya turned to Jazz.

Before Takuya could say anything, however, the older girl beat him to it. "I think you should go talk to him. I understand why you acted the way you did when Mr. Lancer brought Andy home, but… you should know Andy better than that by now. I suspected that he had a good reason for 'goofing' off the way he did."

Takuya chuckled a bit sheepishly. "I was that easy to read?"

"You are talking to someone who is studying in human psychology after all," Lopmon chuckled. "I may have given her a few tips."

Takuya raised an eyebrow. "You know about human psychology?"

Lopmon frowned a little. "Let's just say… I… learned a lot when… I first met with Koichi."

Takuya gave a slight wince, not wanting to bring up bad memories for Lopmon. "Okay. I'll go talk to Andy." He then made his way to the stairs and proceeded to head upstairs.

Jazz sighed a little herself. "I should've been there. I should've helped them look for that ghost… but I was worried about him doing irreversible damage to you…"

"Don't blame yourself, Jazz. We are still inexperienced when it comes to fighting with ghosts," Lopmon assured. "We will need to find a way to train against a real ghost, and be ready for them in the future."

At that, Jazz looked over at the kitchen, seeing the lab door was open. Despite her clumsiness releasing Technus before, Jazz knew she couldn't just give up. She headed towards the lab with Lopmon while her parents were distracted with food.

* * *

Takuya stood in front of the twins' room, the door was closed, meaning Andy likely didn't want anyone to come in right now.

Taking in a deep breath, Takuya let it out before raising a hand and knocking on the door. "Andy? Are you okay?"

At first, the older boy didn't hear an answer. Takuya frowned, and decided to knock again.

Takuya heard footsteps coming to the door. Andy slightly opened the door a little, enough for him to see Andy's face. "What do you want? I'm not in the mood for more scolding right now, Takuya."

Takuya sighed. "Yeah… About that… That was my fault. I didn't think about why you were probably 'goofing off'. You normally do things for a good reason, so…"

Andy stared at Takuya a little longer, making Takuya think Andy would just close the door in his face. However, Andy did eventually open the door up wider. "Fine. Come inside."

When Takuya entered the room, he made his way to Danny's bed and sat down. "So, care to explain why you were 'goofing off'? You normally don't do something without a good reason, and I just want to know why you did what you did."

Andy sat down on his bed, holding Dorimon, who was now awake. Dorimon frowned. "You mean you don't know?"

Takuya shook his head. "No, hence why I'm asking."

Andy yawned, clearly still sleepy. "I had a long night. Jazz accidentally released Technus into the world. Danny, Sam, Dorimon, and I went to go find him. Fought with him. Blew him up. He hid. Couldn't find him even after searching all night. Sleepy day at school. Tried to get Dash to keep me and Danny awake. I ended up falling asleep anyways. Failed the test. Went to the Internet Cafe to try to find Technus. Didn't find him. Mr. Lancer saw me there. And you know the rest."

Takuya sighed. "Yeah, you had a good reason for what happened." He then ran a hand through his hair. "Wow… I messed up big time, not even hearing the full story."

"That seems to be happening a lot with Andy lately." Dorimon frowned. "What are you going to do about that test?"

"I'm going to take a nap, then worry about that stupid test," Andy grumbled.

Takuya looked at Andy. "Yeah, I think a nap would do you some good. You look like you need it."

"Well, now that you know Technus is on the loose somewhere, maybe you could look around the city to try to find him? Danny and the others are searching for him in Doomed since there was a good chance Technus went into that game after seeing it last night," Andy requested.

"I don't see why not, but I am _not_ doing it while evolved." Takuya said. "I'll take my Fenton Rod though, just in case."

Andy nodded. "You go do that."

"By the way… Andy, what made you fall asleep?" Dorimon asked curiously. "I just thought it was odd that Dash wasn't able to keep you awake."

Andy shook his head. "I don't know either. It… felt like something pulled me to sleep, and wouldn't let me go until it was done."

Takuya frowned, but didn't press the issue as he turned and left to go look for Technus in the city.

Andy rubbed his forehead._ I wonder though… was that dream… a vision…? No… no, I am not a seer! I'm not a seer…_

Andy laid his head down on the pillow, but… suddenly, sleep was hard to come by, which made Andy want to pull his head under his pillow and scream.

* * *

The rest of the night was uneventful. Danny and his friends weren't able to find Technus anywhere in Doomed, and it was getting late. The Internet Cafe was closing, so the three friends had to head on home. Tucker needed to feed Terriermon and himself soon anyways. Sam needed to get home just so her parents wouldn't have to complain about her being late again. Danny did a quick sweep around Amity Park in his ghost form though, in hopes of finding any hints or clues about Technus's whereabouts, he knew the ghost wouldn't just give up and go back to the Ghost Zone, or leave Amity Park until he's had his revenge on them for beating him last time. But it was quiet. Danny had no idea where Technus was, and he was starting to get a little antsy about it.

Not wanting to have to go through another sleepy day at school, however, Danny went home to turn in for the night. Jazz was busy, doing something in the lab. She was looking at the lab's control panel, testing out different things while Lopmon watched her. Keeping her safe in case Jazz accidentally released another ghost.

Takuya called in Dash to help him look for Technus. But even with Dash's Nature Senses, something Dash decided to call the ability to look through nature to locate someone, they were still unable to find the normally loud, obnoxious technological ghost. Eventually, it got late enough for the two of them to decide to call it a night and head back home.

The next day, Andy and Danny were much more awake. They were both able to get a good night sleep, though they were still anxious about Technus being out there. Jazz herself looked a bit tired though.

As for Takuya, he was a bit sleepy as well, but not too tired either. He had enough energy to get through another day at school at the very least.

* * *

_Later, after Casper High finished for the day._

Takuya threw a basketball into the hoop in the gym. The gym was empty except for him, Andy, Dorimon, Sam, Tucker, Terriermon, Danny, Jazz, and Lopmon. The whole gang, minus Dash sadly, were here.

"Impressive," Sam complimented. "Maybe you and I should do a one-on-one."

Sam swirled a basketball on the tip of her finger before tossing it into a basket herself.

"What can I say? I play a lot of soccer back in Japan." Takuya chuckled. "I'm pretty athletic."

"So we're all going to search the city for Technus while Andy is studying for the test, right?" Jazz asked.

"That's the plan. Once I finish with the test though, I'll be joining you in the search," Andy answered, bouncing his own basketball against the wall.

Takuya looked back at Andy. "Well, hopefully Technus won't pull anything while you're studying, but I wouldn't count on it going so smoothly."

"Please, don't ever say that," Tucker grumbled. "That's tempting fate."

"I still find it rather strange that this Technus ghost hasn't shown himself. From what you've told me, he's pretty loud and likes to announce what he's doing," Terriermon remarked.

"I know. That's why it's so strange." Tucker said. "It's like he's disappeared."

"I mean, you did say he can hide himself in any technology, right?" Terriermon asked. "Were any of you wearing anything that he might've been able to hide in when you last saw him?"

The room grew silent at that. A basketball was left bouncing on the floor, forgotten. Danny, Sam, and Andy remembered that they had been wearing the Fenton Earphones when they were battling with Technus that night.

"Check your earphones!" Danny quickly said, digging into his pocket.

Tucker blinked. "Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me…"

Andy facepalmed himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I have forgotten about the earphones!?"

Sam pulled out her own Earphones. "How come we didn't think of that before?"

Andy was checking his earphones as well. "No signs of ecto activity inside these earphones."

"Mine are clean too," Sam spoke up.

The Fenton Gadgets had an interesting feature, they had a meter that let them know if it had been contaminated by a ghost.

Takuya frowned. _I would have sensed the ghost energy from Technus if he was in the earphones… right?_

Danny frowned when he looked at his own earphones. "... It… had ecto activity recently… Technus… was in my earphones… HE WAS IN MY EARPHONES THIS WHOLE TIME AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT!?"

Sam balked. "What?! Aw c'mon! For real?!" She smacked her face with her hand. "Ugh!"

"Alright, calm down! Calm down!" Jazz yelled. "Technus isn't still in those earphones, is he?"

"No, he's not!" Danny moaned.

"Okay. Well we _know _he was in there. So that means he likely left after hiding for a while. Do you know of any places he likely jumped into?" Jazz calmly questioned.

Andy paled. "The Internet Cafe's computers… we were on Doomed there yesterday."

Hearing that, Tucker paled. "Oh no… We _have_ to get to the Internet Cafe! He could already be in the game! Or worse!"

"What good is that going to do us now? If he's already in the game, we can't go in after him!" Sam spoke up.

"Besides, if he is in Doomed, then the best way to get to him is to get on any computer and log into Doomed ourselves," Andy added.

Danny frowned as he thought back on if he saw anything strange when he was on the computer yesterday at the Internet Cafe since Technus was hiding in his earphones. "Wait… I remember… there was some static on the computer I was using, and this weird… eye, thing, symbol appeared for a few seconds before it disappeared. Could that have been when Technus went in?"

Takuya perked up at hearing that. "Can you describe this eye-symbol?" He was hoping it wasn't what he feared it was. _Please don't be..._

Danny, recalling how Takuya would likely be familiar with the symbol, described the symbol from memory the best he could. Hoping maybe Takuya might have an answer to that mysterious symbol and likely where Technus went if he wasn't in Doomed anyways.

Upon hearing about the symbol and what it looked like, Takuya's face literally went pale. His hands clenched into fists tightly as he began to fear for the safety of the Digital World.

"What's… wrong? You don't look so good…" Danny asked in concern.

Lopmon frowned, recognizing the symbol as well. "That symbol you described… it's the symbol of the Celestial Digimon."

Tucker looked at Lopmon. "Celestial Digimon?"

"They're Digimon who govern over the Digital World. Think of them… like the President you have in this world, only instead of one country, they rule over the entire Digital World," Terriermon spoke up. "Lopmon is…"

Terriermon hesitated, he hadn't spoken that much to Lopmon yet, and he wasn't sure if Lopmon would want them to know about his status.

Jazz looked down at Lopmon. She was the only other person Lopmon had confided this information to, and Takuya was the only other person who knew.

Tucker frowned, seeing the way Terriermon looked at Lopmon, but he didn't press the issue.

"I am… or maybe was, one of the Celestial Digimon," Lopmon admitted.

Those who didn't know about Lopmon's status, all stared at him in shock. Once again, a basketball was bouncing on the floor, forgotten.

"_You_ were one of these Celestial Digimon?!" Sam asked in shock.

"Oh my gosh! We didn't even know we had such an important Digimon here!" Danny gulped.

"Please forgive us for any transgressions we did, oh powerful Celestial Digimon!" Tucker bowed his head.

"Tucker, stop that!" Andy groaned.

_Smack!_ Takuya smacked his face with his hand. "Tucker, Lopmon is _not_ a god…"

"Says you!" Tucker huffed.

"Hey," Dorimon spoke up. "Maybe Lopmon is a Celestial Digimon, but I don't think he wants us to treat him any differently than we do now."

"That's right. Lopmon wanted to keep this a secret, because he wanted to blend in," Jazz agreed. "And right now, he can't go into his Mega form, so he'll be vulnerable if ShadowSeraphimon decided to attack him."

Terriermon cringed at that.

Takuya gave a wince as well, but his was subtle. He remembered fighting ShadowSeraphimon before when Mercurymon stole Seraphismon's data. He also didn't like the idea of facing with the real ShadowSeraphimon again. _I hope we don't encounter another Digimon like that there..._

"Okay, everyone, let's calm down," Andy spoke up. "Takuya, Lopmon, since you two are most familiar with this symbol… the fact that Danny saw it on the computer, and the possible chance it might've happened because of Technus… what does that mean?"

Takuya frowned. "I don't like this, but it could mean that Technus went into Lopmon's world, the Digital World."

"The Digital World? Like Technus actually did go into Doomed?" Tucker asked.

"Not exactly," Terriermon spoke up.

"The Digital World is our world," Dorimon added. "That game, Doomed, likely was just a medium to create a doorway between here and the Digital World due to its similarities to our world."

Takuya looked back at the group. "If Technus _is_ in the Digital World, then getting there is the only way we can stop him." Then he frowned some more. "But…" _I can't exactly say I got there through a Trailmon..._

"None of us have been to the Digital World before," Sam spoke up.

"Is it even possible for humans to even go there?" Tucker asked.

Jazz looked at Lopmon, she remembered that Lopmon told her how 5 human children went into the Digital World via Trailmon. "Maybe we could go there by Trailmon?"

"Trailmon?" Danny asked.

"It's a train Digimon that's mostly used for transportation," Lopmon explained. "There are many different types, but they usually serve the same purpose. Those Digimon that were defeated here and turned back into an egg, Agunimon has been taking them to a subway station, calling in a Trailmon to take the eggs back to the Digital World."

Danny blinked. "So _that's_ how those Digimon were transported away. I was wondering about that."

"But how do you call a Trailmon? Would we have to look for Agunimon or something?" Sam asked.

"Um… I might be able to call a Trailmon on my D-Arc," Andy hesitantly volunteered.

Takuya looked at Andy, relief on his face. _Nice save, Andy! I wasn't sure how we would get a Trailmon here without exposing my secret..._

Andy took out his D-Arc and tried to call up a Trailmon, but when he tried to get in contact with the Digital World, he just got static. "... I'm not getting anything…"_ That's odd, that's never happened before._

Takuya saw that and immediately took out his D-Tector and messed with it himself, but he got the same signal issue. _Crap… I can't get a signal either..._

Jazz and Tucker decided to try with their own D-Arcs, but it was the same results.

"This is concerning. The fact you can't get a hold of the Digital World means either Technus's presence is causing some sort of interference, or something happened to Ophanimon, the last Celestial Digimon in the Digital World. Or… a combination of both," Lopmon said grimly.

Takuya looked back at Lopmon. "But then how will we get to the Digital World?! Lady Ophanimon may need help!"

That got Takuya some very curious, and very unwanted attention.

"Lady Ophanimon?" Sam asked.

"How did you know this Ophanimon is a lady?" Tucker asked.

"And… why do you say it like you know her?" Jazz added suspiciously.

Only Danny and Andy stayed quiet, already knowing Takuya's story.

"Um… From what Lopmon told me…" Takuya lied, turning a bit red from embarrassment. _Crap! Way to nearly give yourself away, Takuya!_

Lopmon groaned a little.

"Uh… anyways, that's not important right now," Andy spoke up, saving his cousin from his little slip up. "What is important is finding a way into the Digital World without a Trailmon."

Danny crossed his arms and started thinking. "The fact that Technus was able to go into the Digital World by phasing into the computer… do you think maybe… another ghost could phase into the computer and get the same results?"

"Doubtful, what happened with Technus was likely a freak accident," Terriermon stated. "Or Technus did something that caused a portal to open when he tried to go into the game."

Danny frowned at hearing that. "Then what can we do?"

"Wait, bro, you might be onto something there," Andy suddenly spoke up, getting an idea.

"You have an idea?" Jazz asked, perking up.

"Maybe," Andy said. "Technus was able to go into the Digital World by phasing into the computer, right? He seems to have power that manipulates data and technology, perhaps that's what caused the portal to the Digital World to open. And maybe we could do the same thing."

"How can we do that?" Sam asked as she scratched at her head.

"We could probably use our D-Arcs to open a portal," Andy answered, holding up his D-Arc. "It has similar properties to data and Digimon. Perhaps holding a D-Arc up to a computer may be what we need to open a portal to the Digital World."

Tucker blinked. "Well, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I suggest we try it at least. If it _does_ work, that would be awesome!"

Before anyone could do anything else, however, Mr. Lancer's voice boomed in the basketball court.

"Andy Fenton! My classroom! Now!" Mr. Lancer said sternly from the entrance of the gymnasium.

Andy jumped and quickly hid his D-Arc back into his pocket. "You guys go on ahead. I'll join you later as soon as I can."

Danny nodded. "Okay, bro. We'll see you when you get out."

"Good luck with your test, man," Tucker said.

"And be sure to pass this time," Jazz added.

"Don't worry, I've got this," Andy promised before he walked over to Takuya, as he was passing his cousin, he whispered to him. "Take care of them for me."

Takuya nodded. "I will." He whispered back. He then gave Andy a pat on his shoulder to reassure him.

Andy held onto Dorimon, determined to finish this test and get into the Digital World as soon as he could as he walked over to Mr. Lancer.

* * *

Tucker led the rest of the group to the computer room. Thankfully, because school was out for the day, most of the nerds left as well. Which left the computer room empty.

Danny looked at Tucker. "So, what do we do? Wait for Andy or just go to the Digital World ourselves?"

"Andy did say to go on ahead," Sam answered.

"But one of us should stay here and wait for him. I rather Andy wasn't alone when he got to the Digital World," Jazz spoke up.

"I mean… he has Dorimon…" Sam pointed out.

Takuya frowned a bit here. On one hand, he had promised to look after the group while they were in the Digital World. On the other, Andy would be alone if he got there and no one was there to wait for him. _What should I do? I could stay here, but then again, the group _does_ need my help… Not to mention they don't know my secret and only Andy knows..._

"Jazz and I can wait for him," Lopmon spoke up.

"Are you sure?" Tucker asked.

"I know the Digital World really well. I can guide Andy back to all of you if I have to," Lopmon answered.

Takuya gave a relieved look to Lopmon. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I mean, Lopmon _is_ one of the Celestial Digimon."

"I'm never going to get over that, could you, Terriermon?" Tucker asked.

Terriermon was a bit silent, but he humored Tucker. "Uh… yeah, sure."

Tucker noticed his partner's attitude, but he didn't press the issue.

"Maybe I should stay too…" Danny said hesitantly.

"No, go on ahead, Danny. They may need you," Jazz said. "Andy will be fine, we can meet up with you later. But you need to find Technus and stop him. The longer he's in the Digital World, the more damage he can do to it."

Danny sighed, but nodded. "Okay, I'll go."

Tucker smiled as he held up his D-Arc to the computer he turned on. "Well then, Digital World, here we come!"

"Everyone but Jazz, stay close," Takuya quickly instructed.

Jazz backed away, still holding Lopmon, while everyone else quickly bunched up together. The D-Arc's screen in Tucker's hand began to glow a white light. The computer monitor started to glow as well.

The group was sucked into the monitor, growing smaller before they vanished into it.

"Whoa… you don't see that every day," Jazz muttered in surprise when she watched her friends, cousin, and brother being sucked into the computer.

As the group went through a digital vortex, Tucker wound up gaining a new outfit, one that was a yellow jacket that had a red scarf, and his pants were now khaki with black boots. He had on his red beret still, and his glasses were still the same. Terriermon was flying through the vortex beside him.

Sam gained a purple shirt that had a black vest over it, and her skirt became pants that were black with a green line running down the sides, and her combat boots remained the same black color they were in the real world.

Danny gained a black T-shirt that had white ends for the sleeves, and his pants became black with white bottoms while his shoes turned white.

As for Takuya, his change was vastly different. His skin became tan as his shirt and shoes vanished, leaving his pants and a vest on him. His hair became red, long, and spiky, his eyes turned green, and a flame-orange tail sprouted from the bottom of his spine. Flame symbols appeared on his person as well.

Soon, the group came to the end of the vortex, and it spewed them out into what appeared to be a forest. They almost all piled up on each other.

"Oof!"

"Ow! Get off my leg!"

"You're the one crushing me!"

"MY FOOT!"

"Ow..."

The group was now in a pile, each of them complaining about the landing.

"What a way to land…" Tucker grumbled, peeking out from under one of Terriermon's large ears.

It took a minute for the group to finally get off each other, poor Takuya was completely smooshed under all of them. He was flat on the ground. However, the group themselves were surprised when they saw him.

"Uh… did we crush someone when we came through the portal?" Sam asked in concern, looking at the creature on the ground.

"Hey… I have new clothes on! Sweet!" Tucker smiled, looking down at himself. "So do you two!"

Danny looked down at his own clothes, and frowned. "This… looks a bit… like…"

The creature on the ground groaned. "Ow…"

"Is… that a Digimon?" Sam asked, eyeing the poor creature.

"It is," Terriermon confirmed.

Tucker's D-Arc suddenly beeped, which caused him to take it out and look at it. A holographic version of the creature appeared. "Let's see… Flamemon is a Demon Man Digimon. It was transformed into a half-beast, half-man form when Agunimon lost its power. It is missing the "Combat Instinct" that Digimon naturally possess, and moreover, it has lost power. However, it is a being that has inherited the Human Spirit of Flame of AncientGreymon, so although it has lost power, ordinary Champion-class Digimon aren't a match for it. If anything, it has kindness inappropriate for a Digimon and is similar to a Champion Digimon, counterbalancing its mischievous part. It says it's… level is Hybrid… huh, that's a new one, and it has a neutral type."

Sam blinked. "Wait… Are you saying this Digimon is Agunimon's weaker form?"

"Wait, Agunimon came with us?" Tucker questioned, letting that sink in.

Danny's eyes widened, realizing that this Flamemon was likely Takuya._ Uh-oh..._

"I… wouldn't put it past him to come back. This is his home, after all. Maybe he snuck along with us." Danny quickly explained, covering for his cousin's new form.

"But… wait, where is Takuya?" Sam asked as she looked around.

Flamemon coughed a little, finally regaining enough consciousness to push himself up from the ground. He didn't realize the form he had taken yet, however.

"Ouch… That was a rough landing…" Flamemon groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head.

Flamemon then looked up at Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, and Danny. "Are you all okay?"

"Uh… yeah…" Tucker awkwardly answered back.

"We… definitely weren't expecting you though," Sam admitted.

Terriermon looked like he was trying not to laugh, while Danny looked like he was trying not to sweat.

Flamemon blinked. "What's with the staring?"

Terriermon lost it at that question and began laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny?" Flamemon frowned.

Danny cleared his throat. "You… uh… might want to look at yourself."

Flamemon blinked before he did just that, only for his eyes to widen in shock. Things were silent for a moment before he screamed. "WAAAAHHHH!"

The poor Hybrid-level Digimon was panting heavily now, trying to calm himself down from his panic attack. _S-shit… _why_ did I end up in this form again?! Could it have something to do with how we got here?_

"Alright, calm down, calm down, we're not here to hurt you," Sam quickly said as if she was talking to a wild animal.

"What she means is that try to calm down, please, before you make all of us panic," Danny spoke up.

Flamemon nodded, taking in some deep breaths and letting them out. He felt a bit better with each breath he took in and let out, and soon, he was somewhat calmer. "Sorry about freaking out like that…"

"Are you Agunimon?" Tucker asked. "The D-Arc said you were a form of Agunimon when he lost power."

Flamemon blinked before he remembered the last time he had assumed this form; he had reverted back to his Human Spirit upon returning to the Digital World last time. Figuring that was the case, he nodded. "Yeah… You could say I am."

"So… why did you come with us? Or were you already here and we just happened to fall on top of you when we came here?" Sam questioned.

"And… have you seen another boy? He came with us, but he doesn't seem to be here right now," Tucker added.

Flamemon seemed to be a bit nervous. "Um… Well, the Digital World is my home so I had to come back. And no… I didn't see another boy…"

"That's… odd… where did Takuya go? We were all bunched up when we were sucked into that monitor," Sam questioned.

"I'm sure Takuya's fine," Danny spoke up. "Maybe something happened when we were going through that… vortex thing, and Takuya ended up somewhere else."

Sam blinked. "You mean we lost Takuya in that vortex? Now we have to go find him _and_ Technus?! This place is huge! It would be weeks before we find either of them, let alone both!"

"We have… a tour guide," Danny gestured to Flamemon. "This is his home, after all, he should be able to help us find Technus and Takuya. Right, uh, Flamemon?"

Flamemon blinked, a bit confused, but he decided to play along. "Uh… yeah." He then blinked, noticing their outfits were different. "Do you guys have new clothes?" Flamemon had to admit, the new outfits seemed to fit them nicely, but Danny's looked a bit _too_ much like Phantom's hazmat suit. _Maybe it has to do with the fact Phantom is living inside Danny… Oh gosh, please don't tell me that coming here fused them or something!_

"Yeah, it looks like coming here gave us new clothes for some reason. Not that I'm complaining, I look good~" Tucker smiled.

"Heh, I think it's the Digital World's way of welcoming you," Terriermon chuckled. "That or it's like having an avatar in a video game."

Tucker perked up. "So it's like we're in a video game?! Sweet!"

Flamemon paled a bit at hearing that. "No! It's not like that! You could actually get _hurt_ here!"

"So this is the Digital World, huh?" Sam noted, looking around at the forest they were in. "It certainly feels like real life to me."

Sam squatted down and touched a few flowers, they definitely felt too real to be made of data to her. "This feels like real fauna."

"Well, it _is_ real. You guys just became data." Flamemon replied with a shrug before getting to his feet. "Humans, when they cross the barrier between your world and this one, become data to fit in."_ At least, that's how I assume it works. I don't know exactly, and I have been here before._

"Wait, so I'm literally made of data right now?" Tucker asked, looking very intrigued. "But I feel like I'm still made of flesh and blood."

"Data, or rather, fractal code, takes physical form. It can easily replicate your own biology and nervous system, especially since higher evolved Digimon have much more complex systems than humans do," Terriermon explained.

Tucker looked at Terriermon. "Wow. You explained that perfectly without sounding too nerdy." The boy was grinning widely.

Terriermon gave a smile at that. "Well I do a lot of studying in the Digital World, they teach you this stuff in school after all."

"There's a school for Digimon?" Sam asked, surprised.

Flamemon remembered hearing about that from Zoe and JP when they had helped a group of Digimon students once. "Yeah, there is."

"Hmm…" Danny looked around for a moment, and Flamemon wondered what he was thinking, and whether or not he was still Danny or if he was a fusion between Danny and Phantom.

Unlike when Flamemon fused with his Spirits, Danny and Phantom both have their own minds, so he was worried how that would affect Danny.

Danny noticed Flamemon's concerned look, and Danny realized he was likely worried about the clothes he was wearing and what it could mean for him and his ghost half, since, according to Andy, Flamemon still thought Phantom is a separate entity.

"Uh… well, we're here now… maybe you could help us find a rogue ghost that got himself lost in this world?" Danny suggested, hoping to get Flamemon's attention off of him.

"Oh!" Flamemon perked up at hearing that. "You mean a ghost that is technology-based? I thought I sensed something like that when I was in the area."

"Oh? So you mean he's close?" Sam perked up.

"Uh, no. I mean…" Flamemon trailed off.

"You meant that you sensed a ghost coming into this world, right?" Danny helped out.

Flamemon nodded. "Yeah. That's what I meant. That's why I followed you guys, to get back here to help against that ghost when I sensed you were coming."

Danny wiped a small sweat bead from his eyebrows._ Jeez, how does Andy do it? Having to help out while making sure nobody suspects you of knowing? No wonder he'd rather Takuya and I told each other our secrets._

Sam frowned. "So you can't sense the ghost in the area?"

Flamemon shook his head. "No, at least, not that I know of anyway."

"It might not be too hard to find him. Technus isn't one to keep himself hidden when he feels powerful, so sooner or later, we're likely going to find him," Tucker stated.

"Until then…" Danny looked at Flamemon. "Uh… mind telling us where we are exactly?"

Flamemon nodded. "I can. You're at the Forest Terminal. It's one of the stations for the Trailmon here. And nearby is the castle of Seraphimon, one of the Celestial Digimon. But…" Flamemon looked down. "He's… not around right now due to… circumstances…"

"Where do we start looking?" Sam asked.

"Maybe we can start with that castle?" Danny suggested. "It might be something that would draw Technus in. And if he's not there, maybe we could take a Trailmon and go look at one of the cities."

Flamemon nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I would expect this… uh, Technus, to head to Seraphimon's Castle at the very least. The Celestial Digimon are considered the most powerful, and if there is one thing that would draw a powerful ghost in, it's power."

"Then we'll start there." Tucker smiled. "Maybe we'll even find some clues to what happened to that Celestial Digimon."

Flamemon blinked before he smiled. _I didn't even consider that. Maybe we could find some clues as to what made Seraphimon get corrupted as well!_ "Alright! Let's go look then!"

Danny smiled a bit, seeing that Flamemon was now eager, and no longer focused on him. And, if he remembered right, Seraphimon was the same ShadowSeraphimon who fused with Vlad. He would like to get some answers too.

Flamemon ran on ahead, waving for them to catch up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Andy was in the classroom with Mr. Lancer. While it had only been a few minutes, it felt like hours went by. The silence in the almost empty classroom, and the clock ticking on the wall really didn't help, and was grating on Andy's nerves. He could concentrate better if he wasn't thinking about how his friends and family were doing in an unknown world, searching for a dangerous ghost, who was pretty much in his element. Dorimon was lying on Andy's desk, though he looked like he was asleep, Andy could tell he was pretty tense as well.

Finally, not able to keep staring at the book and repeating the words he was reading, Andy stood up from his desk and walked over to Mr. Lancer, who looked like he had been writing on something.

"And where are you going, Andy?" Mr. Lancer asked.

Andy sighed before he stretched himself out. "Just stretching a bit… felt like I've been sitting too long."

Then Andy looked down at what Mr. Lancer was writing, he noticed that it was addressed to someone called Alice Lancer, and looking at a photo on Mr. Lancer's desk, the boy could see… Mr. Lancer in a dress and make-up, or he supposed that was supposed to be Alice._ Does a woman really have that much chest hair though…? Maybe she's trans?_

Andy decided it was in his best interest to not think about that and just speak up. "Alice Lancer… is that a relative of yours?"

"She is my sister. I haven't seen her in ages because I can't afford the plane fare." Mr. Lancer sighed as he looked at the photo again, before he looked at Andy. "You know, being a teacher is pretty difficult. You get paid barely enough to afford food on the table. You have ungrateful students to deal with. And you always have a lot of paperwork to do. But I became a teacher because I care about my students. I always felt that teaching children is perhaps one of the most important jobs in the world. Students are our future after all. People don't seem to realize how important a teacher's job really is, and many only see it as a way to get a paycheck until they can find a better job."

Andy frowned, but he nodded. There was a reason why he respected Mr. Lancer, even if he did get on his nerves sometimes. Mr. Lancer did show that he cared, especially during the Ember incident, when he went through such lengths to get the students back home to try to study for the big North Western Nine tests. There was, unfortunately, nothing Mr. Lancer could have done since Ember was using mind control, but it was the thought that counted.

"And I thank you for that, Mr. Lancer. I do appreciate everything you're trying to do to help us, really," Andy replied. "I didn't mean to be difficult or anything. It's just… I have a lot on my plate lately, and it's not just from the internet game I was playing."

"Oh? And what would it be then if the internet game was not the only thing that caused you to flunk the test?" Mr. Lancer asked.

Andy sighed, he couldn't really say anything that wouldn't sound like a ridiculous lie, even if he did tell the truth.

"Andy, if you really did have a lot to deal with, then it's okay to tell me that you have some issues. But don't try to hide it by playing video games all day." Mr. Lancer said gently.

The boy sighed again, though he wasn't talking to a school counselor, thank goodness since he wasn't sure if he was ready to trust another one after Spectra so soon, he did feel like he could let some things off his chest without blowing everybody's secrets.

"Say you had a close friend or relative… and something happened to them in a terrible accident… and they do actually recover from it, but… the accident did something that changed them. Something that… is still changing them, and you fear it could become worse as time goes on, but you're not sure, nor do you really understand it all that well. You don't want to worry them, and they don't want you to tell anyone because they're scared that people will hurt them if they find out," Andy stated. "What… do you do in that situation?"

Mr. Lancer frowned. "I can't really say, Andy. But if this relative or friend is really that scared, then I would talk to them about the situation they are in and how hiding it is not the right thing to do. At least, that is what I would do, but in your situation, it sounds like you're placing a burden on yourself. You can't hide it forever, and I think talking to those who you are scared to talk to about this will be the best way to resolve the issue."

"What?" Andy blinked. "No, it's not me I was talking about. I… ugh… never mind. I was just dealing with coping with a bad accident that happened a while back. And a lot of stuff happened since then, like the giant meat monster appearing, the dragon at the mall, school stuff flying all over the place, and all the weirdness that's been happening since then."

Mr. Lancer nodded. "Yes, that _would_ place a lot of stress on anyone your age."

"And I guess playing the game helps me get away from it all…" Andy admitted.

Mr. Lancer nodded again. _"That_ is the problem. You can't rely on a video game to cope with things all the time, as it becomes too much and then your grades slip."

"Yeah, I understand that. And I was trying to avoid it, but…" Andy sighed, he knew he had a good reason for why he stayed up all night, but he also knew he couldn't tell Mr. Lancer that, so instead… "I guess I overdid it the other night."

Andy then looked at Mr. Lancer. "You know I am good at literature. And… I know I'm ready. Let me take the test now, I can pass it this time."

Mr. Lancer looked at Andy. "If you feel you are ready, then we can do that."

Andy nodded before he walked back over to his desk and sat down, closing his book and putting it away in his backpack. He had his pencil out and waited. Mr. Lancer took out an exam paper from his desk and walked over to Andy before putting it down on his desk. Andy wasted no time to start the test. Dorimon opened his eyes, watching. He likely was never asleep to begin with, and was curious to see if Andy could pass the test this time.

Determination was on Andy's face as he focused on the test. Shaking off the thoughts of what could be happening to his friends and family in the Digital World, and if they found Technus yet. If he wanted to help them, he needed to buckle down and pass this with flying colors, and that was just what he intended to do.

After about half an hour, Andy finished the test. As soon as Andy was finished, he picked up the exam paper and walked over to Mr. Lancer. Dorimon silently wished Andy good luck.

Mr. Lancer took the test paper and began to grade it, taking out a red pen to do just that. He began to look over the answers, nodding in approval. Things looked good. He did mark a few answers wrong, but that was to be expected on a part of the test that usually used old English, only the nerdiest of nerds would be able to get those right. Mr. Lancer finally finished, and gave Andy his score on the test. A big fat 93% was marked in red.

Andy, while a little disappointed he didn't get a perfect score, was relieved to see he did actually pass with an A.

"A 93%. Not bad, Andy, not bad at all." Mr. Lancer said with pride. "You see? You can do better if you just apply yourself more."

Andy gave a small smile. "Thanks, Mr. Lancer. I appreciated the second chance you gave me for this test."

Mr. Lancer smiled back. "Well, I wouldn't be a very good teacher if I didn't give a student a second chance, now would I?" He then handed Andy his test. "This should be given to your parents, to show you did a good job."

The boy took the test and smiled again. "I will. Thanks again, Mr. Lancer! And… good luck with your sister."

Mr. Lancer smiled as he watched Andy pack up his stuff, picked up his 'stuffed animal, and left the classroom.

Mr. Lancer then looked at the photo of the 'woman' in the dress. "Why doesn't anyone realize that is me in a dress?"

* * *

Andy rushed into the computer room where Jazz was waiting. "Jazz? Lopmon? You two are still here?"

Jazz looked back and saw Andy. "Hey! Good to see you're here, Andy!"

"Yeah, we decided to leave someone behind so you and Dorimon wouldn't be completely alone," Lopmon informed.

"By the way, how did the test-" Jazz began to ask before Andy shoved the exam paper in her face.

"There, see? Not an idiot," Andy answered quickly, showing her the 93 mark.

Jazz grinned. "That's great, Andy! I knew you could pass!"

"Yeah, and while I'm glad I did pass, it's not that important right now," Andy said, putting the exam paper back in his backpack. "How long ago did the others leave? Did it actually work?"

Jazz nodded. "Yeah, your idea of using the D-Arc worked. The others all went to the Digital World about a half hour ago."

"Does time pass differently in the Digital World?" Andy asked, paling as he just realized that was possible.

Jazz frowned. "I don't know…" She looked to Lopmon for an explanation.

"It used to, but ever since the Legendary Warriors defeated Lucemon and restored balance to the Digital World, both of our worlds' time became in sync with each other. So don't worry, half an hour out here is half an hour in the Digital World," Lopmon reassured.

"Oh thank goodness, otherwise they would've been in the Digital World for half a year by now," Dorimon sighed in relief.

Jazz looked at Andy as she held up her D-Arc to the computer. "You'd better stick close to me, Andy, Dorimon. We're going to go into the Digital World now."

Andy nodded. "Ready when you are."

Dorimon climbed onto Andy's head as Andy held onto his sister's hand. Lopmon clutched onto Jazz's shoulder as Jazz held up her D-Arc to the computer. Just like with the group before them, the screen on the D-Arc and the monitor glowed before they were pulled inside.

Going through the Digital Vortex, the world scanned them. As they went through the vortex, Jazz gained a light blue jacket with a grey shirt under it, and dark grey pants while she also gained black shoes on her feet. Lopmon was at her side.

Andy's clothes changed to a dark blue T-shirt that had white on the sleeves and his pants turned a matching dark blue color with white bottoms and white sneakers. Dorimon had become Dorumon while they were going through the portal and was at Andy's side.

The four of them ended up landing out in a forest. Though due to the rough landing, Andy ended up sprawled on the ground on his stomach, while Jazz flipped on her backside. But thankfully since it was only the two of them and their Digimon, they didn't end up on top of each other. Dorumon and Lopmon were a little further away.

"Whoa, I digivolved," Dorumon noted, looking down at himself, then he looked at Andy and Jazz. "Hey, you two are wearing different clothes!"

Jazz groaned as she sat up, only to notice her outfit was different as well. "Wow…" She got up and looked herself over. "This is kinda cool."

"Huh…" Andy studied his outfit for a moment. "Mine kinda looks like my hazmat suit, but the colors are inverted."

"The Digital World scanned you when we came in here through the Digital Portal, since you didn't take a Trailmon to get here, the Digital World ended up creating new data around you that would accommodate you the best way possible," Lopmon explained. "I guess that would also explain why Dorimon digivolved when we got here."

Jazz smiled as she looked at her outfit again. "It's comfortable. I wonder if the same thing happened to the others."

"It probably did," Dorumon said. "Speaking of the others, I smell them already."

Dorumon sniffed the area. "They likely didn't go too far from here. I don't think they flew into the air or anything. So they must be travelling on foot."

Jazz looked at Dorumon. "That's good news for us. Can you lead us to their location?"

"I should be able to." Dorumon nodded.

"Then lead the way, buddy," Andy chuckled.

Dorumon smiled before he started following the scent of the others. While they were walking, Jazz and Andy looked around the forest curiously.

"So this is the Digital World?" Jazz asked in awe. "It looks like a real forest."

"The data here is given physical form, so it mimics the real world exactly save for the Digimon who live here." Lopmon explained. "This is also only part of the Digital World, so don't expect the entire world to be one big forest. This… I believe this is the Forest Terminal. So… my old friend Seraphimon's castle should be nearby."

Jazz looked back at Lopmon. "Isn't he that Digimon you told me about? The one you fought before you two got sent to the human world somehow?"

"Yeah… well, the one who fought with us isn't exactly the same Seraphimon. He's been… corrupted somehow." Lopmon frowned. "Seraphimon is actually a very good hearted Digimon, a bit rough around the edges, but he was pure, and he was a Celestial Digimon for a reason."

Jazz then had an idea. "Hey, if his castle is in the area, maybe we could go and check it out for any clues on what happened to make him become corrupted." She then paused. "Uh… And look for Technus too."

"I'm not sure what you'll find. I didn't get a chance to look before I confronted Seraphimon and we both ended up in the human world," Lopmon warned.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to look at least." Jazz pointed out. "And we have you, Dorumon, and Terriermon with us so if we run into trouble, you can digivolve and protect us."

"Let's just hope whatever we do find isn't too powerful for all of us combined," Dorumon whispered. "We did run into a few of those lately."

"Don't remind me," Andy grumbled.

* * *

"We should be getting close," Flamemon said as they were starting to walk up the stairs that would lead to Seraphimon's castle.

Danny sighed. "Good. I think I understand why there are Trailmon in the Digital World. Walking is a way to get tired easily." _Probably doesn't help that I had gotten used to flying to get somewhere faster._

"You have no idea," Flamemon groaned, remembering all those times he and his friends had to painfully _walk _everywhere.

Tucker looked back at Flamemon. "Can you sense Technus in the area?"

Flamemon was about to retort when he suddenly froze as his fur stood on end, and he shivered a bit. "There's a presence… But I can't tell what it is…"

"Your D-Arc may pick up on Technus since he's kind of a glitch in the Digital World," Terriermon informed.

Tucker took out his D-Arc and began to mess with it. "Aw man… I wish this thing came with a manual…"

"I wonder if there's one that comes in black…" Sam muttered to herself.

Tucker pressed a few buttons before a holographic map came up, showing their location as a blue dot while there was a green dot not too far away. "Okay…? That's new. I think the blue dot is our location."

"Wow, I didn't know those came with a map," Danny whistled.

"Neither did I," Tucker sheepishly chuckled.

"A map? It kinda looks more like a compass with the way it's moving," Sam noted, seeing a red arrow on the map pointing north.

Tucker looked at the map compass thing again. "Yeah, it does kinda look like a compass."

"But what is it pointing to?" Danny asked.

Flamemon and Terriermon both yelled when a sudden electric blast went by them. The area around them began to glitch up, the fractal code showing for a bit before returning to its normal form.

"What was that?" Tucker asked in concern.

"A glitch." Terriermon frowned. "A glitch that can only be caused by a ghost. There's a reason why non-Digimon ghosts aren't welcomed here."

Looking back, Flamemon's fur bristled as he began to growl slightly. "And don't look now, but the source is behind us."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker, despite what Flamemon said, did actually look back and were shocked when they saw Technus, or whom they believed was Technus.

The form that looked like Technus had a glass dome on his head showing the brain inside, Technus's face, metal armor that was grey with a green circuit-like pattern on it, and the letter N in a circle on the chest. The lower body was just tentacles that had gripper claws for feet, the color matching that of the armor.

"Technus…?" Danny questioned unsurely.

"Indeed, it is I! But also no, I'm no longer known as Technus. For I have fused with a Datamon and become a being superior than any ghost or Digimon! For I am Techatamon!" The being who called itself Techatamon announced in a very Technus-like voice.

"He fused with a Digimon!?" Sam frowned.

"Vlad did that too," Danny pointed out.

"But Vlad is… well… _special_!" Sam tried to say without blowing Danny's secret.

Terriermon frowned as he glared at Techatamon, Tucker looked at his D-Arc. "Not much data is known on this Digimon, just that he's a Hybrid level like Flamemon and is a Virus type."

Flamemon growled lowly. _Of all the times for me to be in this form… I wish I could digivolve like a real Digimon!_

Techatamon grinned as he looked at the group. "Now I will take over this world of data!"

"No you won't!" Terriermon shouted as he jumped at Techatamon.

"Terriermon!" Tucker called out in worry.

_"Bunny Blast!"_ Terriermon shot out green pellets of energy in rapid fire from his mouth at Techatamon's chest.

Flamemon clenched his fists before running at Techatamon himself. _"Noble Heart!"_ Fire enveloped his body as he ran at Techatamon, aiming for his left arm.

Surprisingly, their attacks did some damage on Techatamon. Techatamon hissed as he fell back a few feet. Despite being half Digimon, he had more attributes as a ghost than he did as a Digimon, so he was likely more vulnerable to Digimon attacks like most ghosts were.

Danny noticed that. "Hey, I think we may have the advantage here. It seems their attacks damaged Techatamon."

"That's great, but what can we do? You can't exactly… you know… not with Flamemon here," Sam hissed.

Danny frowned. "We can still fight back. Didn't you bring the Fenton Rod and the Fenton Thermos?"

Sam took out a Fenton Rod. "Yeah, I brought the Fenton Rods, but I only brought two, one for me and one for Tucker. Mostly because well… you know…"

Danny sighed. "Just give me the Thermos then. I'll find a way, don't worry."

Sam nodded and handed Danny the Fenton Thermos. Sam hurried over to Tucker and threw him a Fenton Rod. "Here, better use this to defend yourself."

Tucker caught the Fenton Rod. "Thanks."

"You think this will be enough to stop me!? I'll show you all how powerful I have now become as Techatamon!" Techatamon shouted before he shot out a powerful ecto blast that was warped with blue and purple electricity.

As soon as Terriermon and Flamemon were hit, they both let out a scream as their data was getting scrambled from the attack.

For Flamemon, the attack was extra painful as he felt his Spirits trying to protect his human fractal code, but given his form, it was not enough. Flamemon felt disoriented after the attack was over, he could hardly tell which way was up anymore.

A shadow came over him. Flamemon squinted his eyes to see it was Sam. Tucker was in front of Terriermon, who was lying on the ground, twitching. They both held their Fenton Rods, and used that to bat away more of Techatamon's attacks.

Sam was angry at Techatamon. "You won't get away with harming any of the inhabitants of this place!"

"I haven't harmed anybody yet. But this being the Digital World is perfect for someone like me to rule over!" Techatamon grinned. "And you are in my way!"

Techatamon then charged up a ball of purple energy. The energy had metallic drones crawling on it. "Say goodbye!"

Sam's eyes widened as Techatamon threw the attack at her.

"Sam!" Danny screamed when he saw she was about to get hit with an attack that would likely kill her. Tucker would fare no better. Terriermon and Flamemon were still too out of it to help.

Danny tried to run and transform to get to Sam, but he wouldn't be fast enough. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. Danny couldn't hear anything other than his heartbeat as he watched the ball of nanotechnology energy getting closer to Sam.

_"Sepharot Crystals!"_ A slew of glowing shards came out of nowhere and impacted against the glowing ball of nanotechnology, causing an explosion that pushed the ball away and detonated it safely away from the intended victims.

"Eh? What? Who did that!?" Techatamon snapped in irritation.

"I did. I don't appreciate a ghost fusing with one of the Digimon and using their power to kill innocent children," A voice of authority spoke up.

Despite his loopy state, Flamemon knew who that voice belonged to. "Lady… Ophanimon…"

Sure enough, the form of an angelic Digimon could be seen. She was clearly female, and wore aqua green armor that had silver and gold accents on it. Ten golden wings were shown extending from her back, and her helmet covered her eyes while exposing her lower face. Long hair drifted down her back, and her face had a frown on it. The angelic Digimon was not happy, and her hands were extended, showing she was the one who had launched the attack to cancel out Techatamon's attack.

"Who are you?" Techatamon demanded.

"I am Ophanimon, one of the Celestial Digimon that rules this world." The angel Digimon, Ophanimon, introduced, but she was not doing so to be kind and caring. No, her voice had a hard edge to it, one that was of a ruler who was pissed off. "And you, ghost, do not belong here."

"So what are you going to do about it? I am Techatamon! Ruler of all-"

_"Eden's Javelin!"_ Ophanimon's javelin radiated pure light energy, and she threw it at Techatamon.

Techatamon let out a scream as it pierced through his gut. It didn't hit his core, but it did cause enough damage for his body to start glitching out, showing bits of data. Though Techatamon was nothing if not as stubborn as a cockroach. Despite the pain, Techatamon managed to throw one of his energy balls with the nano tech at Ophanimon. It hit Ophanimon in the chest as she hadn't seen it coming. Despite being a powerful Mega level Digimon, she was vulnerable to Techatamon's attack, and this caused her to scream out and glitch out as well.

"NO!" Flamemon shouted as he saw that. "OPHANIMON!" He staggered to his feet, pushing his body to its limit before he felt a surge of energy as fractal coding surrounded him. _"Flamemon… Digivolve to…"_

His skin began to peel away from the chest and face first, followed by his feet and arms. Then, red armor began to form on his body as his hair turned blonde in color. A black body suit appeared on his arms and legs before the red and gold armor clasped onto his limbs. His chest had the same thing happen, but there was a white chest guard that formed as well. His skin turned tan and facial armor appeared on his face before his eyes opened to reveal their normal blue color. The coding vanished, revealing the Warrior of Flame once more. _"Agunimon!"_

Now as Agunimon, and having recovered from the disorientation, he jumped to catch the falling angelic Digimon. As soon as Agunimon caught her, he could tell that her data was messed up badly.

Concern flooded Agunimon's features as he landed, kneeling down and setting Ophanimon down gently. "Are you okay…?" The tone of his voice was tentative at best.

"Is she okay?" Sam and Danny came over in concern as well, but they didn't get too close in case Agunimon didn't want them to huddle around Ophanimon.

Tucker picked up Terriermon. His D-Arc glowed around Terriermon, helping the little Digimon recover from Techatamon's attack.

Before Agunimon could answer, there was a sudden earthquake. To Agunimon's horror, parts of the land turned into fractal code, just like how it did when two of the royal knights were scanning data for Lucemon. Just as he feared, the fractal code all vanished somewhere.

"Mmm, tasty! This will help me recover and get stronger in no time at all!" Agunimon could hear Techatamon's voice announcing in the distance.

Looking back, Agunimon growled to himself. He knew what his duty was. He looked back at Sam, Tucker, and Danny. "Can you three keep Ophanimon safe? I need to go deal with a certain ghost-Digimon hybrid."

"You can't face him alone, he nearly messed you up last time," Tucker pointed out, holding Terriermon.

Here Agunimon looked down, a somber look crossing his face. "I know… But as a Legendary Warrior, it is my duty to protect the Digital World, and I _will_ give my life to do that if I have to."

"But-" Sam began to argue when Danny spoke up.

"I understand. You go do what you have to do, Agunimon," Danny said, his eyes full of determination and understanding. Out of everyone, he knew what it felt like to have to defend his home even if the enemy was stronger than him.

Agunimon gave a smile to Danny. "Thank you." He then stood up. "I'm counting on you three." With that, he ran off to face Techatamon.

"Just so you know! You won't be without backup!" Danny called out to Agunimon before he turned to his friends.

"Will you guys be okay? I have to go help him. As a ghost, I have more resistance to Technus...well, Tecchatamon's attacks than Agunimon does," Danny said to his friends.

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, we will be. Just be careful."

Sam nodded as well. "Good luck Danny."

"I'll keep them safe, I promise," Terriermon assured.

Danny nodded to them before he stood up. "I'm going ghost!"

A ring of light sparked on Danny's torso before it split horizontally, changing him into his ghost form. His ghost form though looked a bit different. Danny wore what looked like his armor from Doomed, but it was inverted in color. He also had the visor of his avatar over his green eyes.

"Huh… this is new," Danny remarked, looking at his very cool black and light blue armor.

Tucker grinned. "You have armor here in the Digital World?! Cool!"

"Admire your armor later, hurry and go after Agunimon!" Sam spoke up.

"Right!" Danny looked up before he flew after Agunimon.

Sam looked down at Ophanimon, frowning in concern. "Do you think she's going to be alright?"

Tucker frowned. "I don't know, Sam. That attack hit her pretty hard…"

Terriermon studied Ophanimon for a moment. "Her data got scrambled pretty badly. I'm surprised she didn't explode into data by now."

Tucker paled at hearing that. "Um… That doesn't sound like a good thing…"

"It isn't. It's basically permanent death to us Digimon, no rebirth is going to fix that." Terriermon frowned.

"Isn't there something we can do?" Sam asked in concern.

"I don't know… maybe…" Terriermon hesitated. "If only she had her own human partner, they might be able to save her. But as of right now… I don't think there's anything we can do."

Tucker looked worried now. "So she might die for real?"

Sam then heard something was coming their way. "We need to get somewhere safe and hidden. There could be hostile Digimon around."

Tucker gave a look to Sam. "It's not like we can move Ophanimon on our own. She could become data if we try to move her!"

"We have to do _something_! If we get attacked, she'll die anyways!" Sam argued.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Ophanimon coughed, quickly getting the three's attention.

"Lady Ophanimon! You're awake!" Terriermon said in surprise.

"Are you okay, Ophanimon?" Tucker asked her.

"I… want to say… you have nothing to worry about, children… but… that would be… a lie…" Ophanimon said weakly before she turned her head to Sam. "I've… wanted to meet you… for a while, Sam Manson."

Sam felt her eyes widen in surprise. "You… wanted to meet _me?!"_ She, a mere human, was being addressed by one of the most powerful Digimon in the Digital World, so it was expected she would be surprised.

"Yes… I apologize… when I tried to… look into the human world… I have accessed the… computer at your home, Sam… and I have been… watching you ever since… I felt… sympathy toward you… whenever your parents would… lecture you over miniscule things… or try to control your life… I also heard how you… wanted to help your friend, Danny… the half ghost hero of Amity Park… I was shocked when… I learned about the existence… of half ghosts… and to put a burden… on one so young like that…" Ophanimon coughed. "I could… not help but… admire your own inner… strength and courage… it rivals to that… of the Legendary Warriors."

Sam was in shock. "I… don't know what to say…"

Terriermon was not thrilled about this though. "Please, Lady Ophanimon, save your strength."

"Sounds like you had your own guardian angel, Sam, literally," Tucker lightly joked.

Sam's glare she threw at Tucker was, literally, legendary.

"Please… tell Agunimon… I'm sorry… I couldn't talk to him… because things have been… chaotic here for a while… it needs at least one of… the Celestial Digimon… to look after it… but…" Ophanimon coughed again. "I… can't… last much longer here…"

Sam looked panicked at hearing that, as did Tucker and Terriermon. "Ophanimon! Don't go!" Sam pleaded. "Agunimon is here, so things will be fine! He went to take on that Techatamon, so he will be back soon!"

Ophanimon started to smile as her body began to blur. "I'm… glad to… have been able… to meet with you… I'm sorry… I couldn't have… helped you… Sam…"

"No!" Sam, without thinking, hugged Ophanimon.

Ophanimon's body glowed suddenly, showing her fractal code. Sam looked up in shock, before something in her pocket was beeping loudly. Sam reached in and took out her cell phone. When Sam held up her cell phone, it changed its shape, looking like a D-Arc. The body was black, but the screen was outlined in purple with matching buttons and a matching strap as well. Sam's eyes widened in shock as the fractal code of Ophanimon moved into the new D-Arc's screen.

"What's happening?" Sam asked.

"The same thing happened to me when Gargomon's fractal code suddenly appeared," Tucker realized.

Terriermon was watching in awe and shock.

As soon as Ophanimon's fractal code was absorbed into the D-Arc, her body shrunk down suddenly. This alarmed the two children, before seeing the angel had turned into a tiny, cream colored puppy-like creature with a golden ring around its neck like a collar.

Sam gaped in shock. "W-what just happened…?"

"Terriermon?" Tucker asked.

Terriermon nodded before he looked at the little puppy creature. Tucker looked at his D-Arc. "Salamon is a Mammal Digimon. It is a Holy-species Digimon child characterized by its lop ears. Because it is still very young, it is unable to manifest its holy powers, and isn't even aware of its own mission. For that reason, it is naturally insecure, so it can become either good or evil. It's a Rookie level, and a Vaccine type."

"This is Ophanimon's Rookie form?" Sam asked, surprised. "But she looks so… different."

"Digimon often have a completely different biology and species compared to their digivolution line," Terriermon explained. "Sometimes we follow similar paths, other times, we change drastically. Lady Ophanimon's line is one of those cases that changes drastically. Oh, and congratulations, you're now partners with Lady Ophanimon, Sam."

Sam looked at the black and purple D-Arc in her hand. "I'm her partner? But…" Sam was speechless, as she had imagined she would have a more fitting partner, not an angel-type Digimon.

Then the sounds Sam heard earlier got louder and closer.

"We'll talk about this later, we need to get Ophanimon out of here and somewhere safe," Sam quickly said, picking up the now much smaller Digimon, who fit comfortably in Sam's arms.

"Come on, this way," Terriermon gestured.

Tucker and Sam followed Terriermon into some bushes, trying to get away before the sounds they heard could catch up to them.

However, as Tucker, Sam, and Terriermon were running further away, the sounds they heard turned out to be Andy, Dorumon, Jazz, and Lopmon. They just came up to the area, looking around in worry.

"Look at this… it looks like a fight broke out here," Jazz noted in worry.

"And it looks like something just took big chunks of the land," Andy pointed out at the missing parts of the land that Techatamon had consumed earlier.

Tucker perked up at hearing the voices. "Wait… Is that Jazz and Andy?"

Sam looked back and smiled. "It is!"

They came running out of the bushes. "Hey, guys!"

Andy, Jazz, and their Digimon partners turned to the voices of their friends.

"Hey! There you guys are! I was worried something happened to you," Andy said in relief as Tucker, Terriermon, and Sam came running up to them.

"Hey, dude, how did you do on your test?" Tucker asked, wanting to keep things light hearted.

"That's really not important right now," Andy deadpanned. "... But if you must know, I got an A. Not a perfect score, but it's still a solid A."

Sam smiled. "That's great!"

Jazz then looked around. "Where're Danny and Takuya? I thought they were with you."

"And… who's that Digimon you have in your arms?" Dorumon asked, looking at the unconscious Salamon in Sam's arms. "She… smells familiar."

Lopmon frowned as he was looking at Salamon.

Tucker looked back at unconscious Salamon. "That would be… Ophanimon's Rookie form."

Jazz's eyes went wide upon hearing that.

"Come on, let's get somewhere safe, we'll explain everything," Sam urged.

"Wait, Seraphimon's castle is just ahead, let's head over there while you explain what happened," Lopmon spoke up.

Jazz looked back at Lopmon. "Hold on. I want to know where Danny and Takuya are first."

"I don't know where Takuya is… but Danny went ghost to fight with Technus along with Agunimon, who we somehow landed on when we came to this world," Tucker explained.

"But Technus fused with a Digimon called Datamon here, and now he's a Digimon-ghost hybrid called Techatamon. He… he was the one who did this to Ophanimon." Sam frowned.

Jazz looked at Salamon's limp form again. "She was hurt that badly?"

"In all rights… Lady Ophanimon's data should've been scattered and deleted by now…" Terriermon said grimly. "Sam… somehow Lady Ophanimon had grown attached to Sam, and they formed a bond that created a D-Arc for Sam, saving Lady Ophanimon's life."

Jazz looked at Sam, who held up the black and purple D-Arc. "Wow… That's amazing."

"Yeah. It's similar to what happened with me and Gargomon… err… Terriermon." Tucker added.

Lopmon frowned as he looked at Salamon. "Seems you almost sacrificed yourself again for the sake of children. You are truly a soft soul, Ophanimon."

Lopmon then started to walk ahead. "Come on, we're wasting time, we need to get to Seraphimon's castle. Danny and Agunimon can handle that glitch called Techatamon, we have our own roles to attend to while we're here."

"Wait… if Techatamon could do that much damage to a Celestial Digimon… what would he be able to do to Agunimon and Danny?" Andy asked worriedly.

"Do not fret," Lopmon said, stopping before turning to Andy. "Ghosts are more resistant to other ghosts' attacks. Agunimon is… protected with his own Spirits. They will not fall as easily as we pure Digimon would."

"That's for Technus as a ghost… what about Techatamon?" Andy pointed out. "Who uses the powers of both ghost and Digimon?"

Lopmon paused here before shaking his head. "Do not worry. I'm sure Danny and Agunimon can come up with a plan to beat Techatamon."

"It'll be fine, Andy," Jazz tried to reassure her brother, though she was also trying to convince herself. "We… we just need to figure out what happened to Seraphimon. And if Danny and Agunimon really need our help, then we will help them."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. And Danny is fast in his ghost form. He could get to us quickly if things get bad."

Andy still looked worried, but he nodded. "Then let's get to the castle."

"Should I try flying us there?" Dorumon asked.

"Would you be able to carry everyone?" Andy asked.

"Uh… maybe not all of you…" Dorumon sweatdropped.

"Then let's go on foot, we're not too far away anyways," Lopmon said. "We just… have a few stairs to climb."

Sam looked up at all the stairs. "_That's_ a few stairs? Talk about an understatement…"

Tucker looked dizzy just by looking at the stairs.

The group started climbing the stairs. Tucker was complaining, Sam was more concerned about Salamon, Jazz was telling Tucker to stop complaining. Andy was silent, but he wasn't exactly happy either.

_Oh my gosh, so many stairs. I'd like to find the guy who invented the stairs, then push him down_ these _stairs! And… oh my gosh, we're not even close to the top yet, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY STAIRS!? Hmph… Danny would have no reason to complain, he could just fly!_ Andy inwardly complained.

* * *

Danny sneezed as he was following Agunimon into the forest. "Why… do I suddenly feel angry towards stairs…?"

Deciding to shake it off for now, Danny continued to follow Agunimon, not letting the Legendary Warrior out of his sight.

Agunimon was angry and worried, angry at Technatamon for doing who-knows-what to Ophanimon, and worried if Ophanimon was even going to make it. It didn't help that Technatamon snacking on the fractal codes of the Digital World's land was bringing him flashbacks to two of the royal knights who almost destroyed the entire Digital World to bring back a corrupted Digimon.

_I swear that Technatamon isn't going to get away with this…_ Agunimon thought as he gritted his teeth in anger.

Danny could feel the intense heat Agunimon was giving off, and he wasn't even on fire yet. _Jeez… I can't even get near him without feeling like I would melt. I know Takuya's Digimon spirit thing is the element of fire, but I've never felt him this hot before. I wonder if it's because he's angry..._

Agunimon didn't even sense Danny, his mind was more focused on Technatamon. He could see where there was missing fractal code, and that also left a trail for him to follow.

Agunimon and Danny noticed that some of the landscape was blinking with data again. There were trees suddenly blurring at random. Digimon started running away, terrified.

Taking no chances, Agunimon increased his speed as he ran. He could see Technatamon's footprints in the dirt, and he sensed the ghost-Digimon hybrid ahead of him.

Danny noticed that the visor on his eyes started blinking. Danny noticed that numbers started to come on. He recognized that the numbers were usually for scanning an opponent's level and power in the game, or to find certain objects. The visor was scanning a large being that was growing larger. The numbers were getting higher as the being got bigger. Danny's eyes widened. "No way…"

Below him, Agunimon sensed a powerful Digimon ahead of them. Looking ahead, the Legendary Warrior saw the form of Technatamon, but it looked bigger, and had the legs of an insect, but mechanical, along with the rear end of an insect as well, but also mechanical.

"Looks like I have digivolved into a much stronger form! I am now MegaTechatamon!" The being laughed.

Danny sighed, he was _not _calling him 'MegaTechatamon', it was too much of a mouthful._ Okay, obviously we can't just go running in guns blazing, we need a calm, collected pla-_ "AGUNIMON!"

Danny shouted when Agunimon was already running recklessly towards the much more powerful Techatamon.

Agunimon didn't hear Danny's shout, as his mind was too focused on the drive and goal to defeat Techatamon. He ran in towards one of the new Digimon-ghost hybrid's legs, intending on melting it with a fire-based attack.

Agunimon, however, didn't get very close before he was suddenly blasted back by a powerful green and purple ray from Techatamon. Agunimon yelled in pain as he hit the ground. One of the mechanical spider legs pinned Agunimon down on his chest.

Danny, seeing that, flew down and fired off a green ecto-ray at Techatamon's leg, blasting it so the hybrid was forced to get off of Agunimon.

"Why must you always interfere, ghost child? I thought you wouldn't follow me into the Digital World. After all, this world is supposed to be a bane to ghosts!" Techatamon remarked. "In fact, I had to fuse with a Digimon just to survive out here!"

Danny didn't answer. Instead, he flew down and grabbed Agunimon's form before turning both of them invisible and getting the Legendary Warrior out of harm's way.

Agunimon hissed, seeing Phantom for the first time. "What are you doing here…? You're not supposed to be here."

"Hey, I'm trying to help you, you almost got yourself nuked by Technus," Danny stated.

Agunimon just looked away. "That still doesn't answer my question…"

"Why does it matter? I'm here now, so I might as well help you," Danny said.

"You can't!" Agunimon snapped. "If you want to 'help' me, stop using my cousin's body and putting him in danger!"

Danny frowned, he didn't expect Takuya to suddenly confront him about this. "But I'm-"

"I don't need your 'help'! Just leave my cousin out of this!" Agunimon growled out, his tone getting a bit harsher than Danny expected.

Before Danny could retort, Agunimon struggled out of Danny's hold and ran towards Techatamon again.

Danny frowned. "Takuya…"

Agunimon ran towards Techatamon, but he didn't get very far. Where he had been hit on his side seared with pain, making him stop and stagger towards a tree, his hand going to his right side.

Techatamon, however, noticed the weakened Legendary Warrior. "My, my, aren't you a nuisance? If you want to end this, then I will gladly end it for you!"

Techatamon then held up a hand, creating a similar ball of energy and nanotechnology like he did with Ophanimon, only this one was far stronger. Agunimon's eyes widened, he knew he would not survive if that hit him. Techatamon grinned before he dropped it to Agunimon, who couldn't even move.

"NO!" Agunimon heard someone shouting.

Then suddenly, a cold spirit entered his body. Agunimon let out a gasp. He could hear someone screaming in his head, the scream sounded like his cousin Danny.

Danny was experiencing whatever Tucker had experienced when he tried to overshadow Takuya. Danny could see it, the two spirits. They were trying to protect Takuya's soul from him by sending fire at him. Danny let out screams of pain, but his determination to save his cousin made him push through the wall of fire. His core let out a distressed signal to his body, making him shoot blue ecto rays at the flames, cooling them down enough for him to get to Takuya's spirit. Danny then pushed Takuya's spirit, making Agunimon just barely move out of the ball of energy's way. The ball of energy hit the ground instead, which caused the ground to turn into fractal code.

Danny, still in a bit of control of Agunimon's body, used his ghost powers to make him fly up and pushed him into the part of the land that wasn't about to be devoured by Techatamon. Techatamon hadn't noticed them, thinking they were gone, he consumed the land before moving on somewhere else.

Danny, weak and hurt, fell out of Agunimon's body and onto the ground. His armor was burnt and cracked, he had some ectoplasm leaking from his cheeks.

As for Agunimon himself, he was tired and disoriented from Phantom overshadowing him. But even in his disoriented state, Agunimon could clearly recall hearing _Danny's_ screams of pain.

There was a flash of light, Agunimon saw a ring of light around Phantom's torso, changing him into Danny Fenton, his cousin, who looked pretty injured. His face wasn't bleeding anymore, but it had scars of burns.

That broke through the disorientation, allowing the Legendary Warrior to come to a startling conclusion. _Did… Do Danny and Phantom _need_ each other to survive…?_ Agunimon lay there panting, but he knew what he had seen. _If that's the case, then… is that why Phantom was able to overshadow me? Because Danny is his host? Did Danny's body protect Phantom?_

Agunimon then realized that his cousin was hurt and unconscious, because of him. Because of his recklessness, Danny and Phantom overshadowed him to try to save him from what could have been his death back there, and that put both of them in danger.

The Warrior of Flame felt guilt creep up on him, sending a pang through his chest. It was his fault, and now someone close to him was hurt. _Danny..._

Agunimon wanted to chase MegaTechatamon down to make him pay, but Danny needed help right now. Agunimon gently picked up his cousin. He would have to chase down Techatamon later, he needed to get his cousin some medical attention right away. Then another horrified thought hit Agunimon. _How is this going to affect Andy?_

Shaking his head, Agunimon shoved that thought from his mind. Danny's condition was more important. He had to focus on that. If Agunimon remembered right, there were holy Digimon in Seraphimon's castle who specialized in healing techniques. He could only hope those would be able to help a human with a ghost inside him as well.

Not taking any more time to waste, Agunimon began to make his way towards Seraphimon's castle, still keeping a firm grip on Danny.

* * *

Dorugamon was currently carrying Andy on his back. He digivolved out of necessity for his partner. Andy suddenly collapsed when they were climbing the stairs, and nobody knew what happened. Andy may not be the most athletic student in his class, but he had gotten pretty athletic since he and Dorimon became partners, so it made no sense for him to just drop like that all of a sudden. Tucker, the one who was the least athletic person in the group, wasn't even close to passing out from walking up the stairs.

Sam looked back at Andy's form. "Is Andy going to be okay?"

"He should be… physically, he is healthy," Lopmon remarked, looking at Andy. "Something else must've happened that made him pass out."

Jazz paled. "Did… did something happen to Danny?"

"The last time something happened to Danny, Andy… passed out too," Tucker remembered, thinking back on the Poindexter incident.

Jazz looked back at Andy again. "Do you think… Danny is okay? I mean, he has Agunimon with him, right? So, shouldn't they be okay?"

"I don't know," Lopmon sighed. "Considering what that ghost did to Ophanimon, it's… hard to say."

"Hey, let's not worry too much," Terriermon spoke up. "If we keep worrying, we won't be able to focus on what we need to do."

"One of us should still go check on them…" Sam said, getting uneasy.

"Like who? Only Dorugamon can fly, and with his partner out cold, he's only at half strength right now," Lopmon pointed out.

Sam sighed. "I guess you're right. We'll just have to hope for the best, I suppose."

Despite this, Sam couldn't help but still worry. Jazz and Tucker were worried too. The group remained silent for a while as they kept climbing up the stairs.

"So are we… actually walking up a giant tree?" Sam asked, hoping to change the subject and lessen the tension a bit.

Tucker looked ahead of them. "It would appear so. I don't know why, but I'm getting a fairy tale vibe from this."

"We're actually lucky," Lopmon spoke up. "There used to be hidden pathways and a fog to keep the way to Seraphimon's castle hidden. Only the Legendary Warriors would be shown the way there. But there doesn't seem to be anything keeping the castle hidden this time."

Sam frowned. "Then… does that mean Seraphimon is still in his castle? Or is it because he is missing that we are now being shown the way?"

"I don't know," Lopmon answered. "That's why we're going there to find out."

"Hey… I think I see it," Jazz spoke up, seeing what looked like a castle made of prism and crystal ahead.

"Good, the castle is still intact," Lopmon noted.

Jazz looked down at Lopmon. "Were you expecting it to be destroyed or something?"

"I didn't know what to expect. When Seraphimon began acting strange, and when I confronted him, I had no idea what had happened to his castle. For all I knew, it was in digital dust by now," The Celestial Digimon answered.

Sam looked back. "Well, we don't have to worry about that. It's intact, so our mission will be much easier." She had a smile on her face as she said that.

Tucker looked down at the forest below. "I hope Danny and Agunimon are okay though…"

Dorugamon looked back at Andy on his back. "They may not be…"

"Hey, we're almost there, let's just focus on that for now," Terriermon spoke up.

The group soon came up to the castle, seeing a huge gate in front of them.

"Well… now what?" Sam asked.

Tucker frowned at seeing the gate. It looked to be shut. "So much for just walking in. It seems someone is probably still here, given how the gate is shut."

"I could try flying over it," Dorugamon suggested.

"Are you sure?" Jazz asked. "Andy is on your back still, and what if the Digimon inside, if there is one in there, thinks you're hostile?"

"I know, but… we can't just stand out here and do nothing." Dorugamon frowned.

"Let me ride on you. The other Digimon should recognize me, even in my Rookie state," Lopmon suggested.

Jazz looked down at her partner. "That is a good idea." However, she was having doubts about the idea anyway. "Just… be careful when you do. If you get attacked though, get out of there, please."

"Don't worry, we should be fine," Lopmon assured before he jumped out of Jazz's arms and climbed onto Dorugamon's back. "Be sure to fly slowly, okay? We don't want to alarm the other Digimon that you're hostile or anything. And we don't want Andy falling off your back."

Dorugamon nodded. "I will, don't worry."

The fox dragon Champion level Digimon stretched out his wings and began flying slowly, going over the gate to get to the other side. On the other side, Dorugamon was surprised to see a lot of Digimon there. They looked to be busy with something, as if whoever lived in the castle was still there and just recently ordered their subjects to prepare a big event. However, when they looked up, they were surprised to see Dorugamon coming towards them.

"Who are you!?"

"An intruder?"

"What kind of Digimon is that?"

Lopmon could hear the exclamations from the gathered Digimon. "I don't think they were expecting us…"

"Who's that Digimon on that bigger Digimon?"

"A Lopmon, I think?"

"Wait, that's not just any Lopmon. I think that's Cherubimon!"

"Cherubimon? The one who kidnapped Seraphimon and took him to the human world?"

"What's he doing back here with that Digimon!?"

"To invade?"

"Uh… Lopmon… I don't think they got their story straight with you." Dorugamon frowned.

Lopmon sweat-dropped. "That… doesn't sound good… Maybe we should turn back…" He was having doubts about this plan now. "Maybe we should try to find Agunimon. If we have him around, maybe they will be more inclined to let us in…"

"We can't turn back now, we're already here, if I turn back now and they decide to attack, Andy will be vulnerable," Dorugamon whispered before he landed quietly, hoping to appear less hostile if he was on the ground.

The other Digimon started to approach them. One Digimon was in front of the crowd. Lopmon recognized this Digimon to be Sorcermon. Sorcermon was, if Lopmon remembered right, one of the most loyal Digimon to Seraphimon and Ophanimon. He was the one who sacrificed himself to get Seraphimon's egg and the Legendary Warriors away from Lopmon's corrupted Legendary Warriors. If any Digimon had any reason to doubt or hate Lopmon, it was Sorcermon, which Lopmon now realized, this was a terrible idea.

For Dorugamon, this was making him uneasy, although he was trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

"Cherubimon, why have you come back here? Did you think you could bring in another Digimon you corrupt to invade Seraphimon's castle again?" Sorcermon growled.

"No, please, you don't understand. I didn't come here to invade anyone," Lopmon quickly said.

"It's true, we only came here to do some investigation," Dorugamon agreed.

Sorcermon was not willing to listen though. "I won't forget what you did, Cherubimon. So your words alone won't mean anything."

"Then listen to logic; why would I come here as a Lopmon if I wanted to invade this castle?" Lopmon questioned.

"Perhaps you just wanted to let us lower our guard so we'd let you in where you could strike at the heart," Socermon answered back, holding out his staff. "Well this time we're not letting you do what you want, Cherubimon!"

"No wait, I have an injured ch-" Dorugamon began to say.

_"Meteor Squall!"_ Sorcermon shouted as he aimed his staff at the two Digimon.

On the other side of the gate, the group heard an explosion.

"What's going on in there?" Tucker asked in worry.

"Lopmon! Andy!" Jazz shouted, banging against the gate. "You better be okay!"

Sam ran to the gate as well. "Don't do anything stupid!"

"Oh… Lopmon probably shouldn't have gone in there…" Terriermon realized.

"What? Why not?" Tucker asked.

"He was an enemy to the Digimon of this castle for a long time. Fear and hatred like that doesn't just go away so easily," Terriermon explained.

Jazz's face seemed to get pale. "Oh no…"

Sam looked at Terriermon. "What do we do then? Just sit out here, waiting for them to open the gate, which they most likely will not now that it is known Lopmon is back?!"

"They shouldn't be attacking if they saw an injured child with them though." Terriermon frowned.

"Well they are! We have to get in there!" Jazz yelled, really worried for her brother and partner now.

On the other side of the gate, Dorugamon had shielded Lopmon and Andy, who was still unconscious on his back, with his wings.

The other Digimon began to attack as well. Dorugamon didn't fight back, he just kept doing his best to try to protect his partner and the small Celestial Digimon. Lopmon was trying to get them to stop, but they wouldn't listen.

Andy stirred a little, likely sensing that his partner was in trouble. He struggled to open his eyes. _Why… why is it… so hot? Ugh… have to… do something… Dorumon… needs help…_

Andy pushed himself to try to move, however, ice crystals began to form around them. Andy weakly looked up.

_"Crystal Barrage!"_ A voice shouted.

The ice crystals slammed into Dorugamon who was trying his hardest to protect him. Andy hissed as he tried to move off of Dorugamon. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew Dorugamon was in pain trying to protect him. Andy then slipped off of Dorugamon's back, hitting the ground, and quickly catching the other Digimon's attention.

Sorcermon was shocked when he saw the human boy, as were the other Digimon in the area. He halted his next attack, lowering his staff hesitantly. The boy had black hair and green eyes, and he looked quite exhausted if not hurt.

"A human…?" Sorcermon murmured.

"A human child?"

"What was the human child doing on that Digimon's back?"

"Were they attempting to use that child as a hostage?"

Andy groaned as he attempted to push himself up, still feeling hot, but he knew he had to help his partner. "Don't… attack my… partner… anymore."

Sorcermon kept his staff at the ready, but he held off on attacking. "What are you doing here, child?" His question was tentative, but he was also curious too. "The Digital World is not safe for those who do not know what to expect of it."

"Andy…" Dorugamon looked at his partner in worry. "Don't get up, you need to rest."

"No… If we're under attack… there's no time to rest," Andy said as he pushed himself up to his knees, then he pushed himself to get up on his feet.

Worried about his partner, Dorugamon put his head under Andy to keep him from falling back down. Andy then pulled out his D-Arc.

"If these Digimon want a fight… we'll give them one," Andy stated.

"That device…"

"Is that a D-Tector?"

"No, it looks similar, but it's different."

Sorcermon, having heard of the legends from Seraphimon and Ophanimon, gasped. "Is that… a D-Arc?"

Lopmon quickly ran in front of Andy and Dorugamon. "Please, wait. We don't need to fight them."

Lopmon then turned to the Digimon, looking specifically at Sorcermon. "I know we have our history, Sorcermon, and that you had to fight alone here for the longest time to protect Serraphimon from me and my forces. But you need to get your head out of the past. Things are happening right now, and I'm not the cause of it. We need your help, not your hostility. You could've really hurt this human child and his partner Digimon, all because of a past grudge you have against me."

Sorcermon looked down a bit. "I'm sorry…" His hands clenched his staff tightly. "I didn't know. I was just reacting…"

"I understand. Please, call off your forces. My partner and her friends are on the other side of that gate. We just want to investigate the castle to find out what really happened to Seraphimon," Lopmon explained.

"You… have a partner?" A Floramon asked in surprise.

Sorcermon frowned a bit. It seemed the legends of the D-Arc were indeed true. "If this boy has a Digimon partner, I would not put it past other Digimon to gain a partner from the human world as well." He mused. "I will admit, I am a bit surprised you have a partner as well, Cherubimon, but if that is the case, then I do not doubt your claims, because partners do not just form bonds for no reason."

Sorcermon then turned to a couple of Togemon. "Open the gate for them. They likely saw the fighting and are worried sick for their friend."

"Yes, Sorcermon," The two Togemon answered before they hurried to the gate.

"Thank you, Sorcermon," Lopmon said in a grateful tone.

"What happened…?" Andy asked, still feeling pretty weak. "Did I pass out…? It felt like something was burning me back there. Did nobody else feel that?"

Lopmon frowned. "You did pass out, and no, no one else felt a burning sensation."

"You just suddenly passed out. I digivolved to carry you," Dorugamon said in concern.

"That's… odd…" Andy frowned.

"If you'd allow it, we can have the medically trained Digimon look at you to see what's wrong," Sorcermon suggested. "It's the least we could do for the hostile welcome."

Lopmon gave a grateful smile. "That would be appreciated very much. We don't know why he passed out, and it is concerning to say the least."

"But…" Dorugamon frowned. "We suspect it might be because of his twin brother…"

"Twin…?" Sorcermon asked, sounding surprised.

"It's not unsimilar to how Digimon have a subspecies," Lopmon explained. "Like how I am with Terriermon, or you with Wizardmon. Only, human twins are… much rarer in this case, and they're usually born together. They share a spiritual bond, a close link with each other. I can't say I know all the details though, but it seems that if something happens to one brother, the other feels it."

Sorcermon frowned a bit. "I see. Where is this brother anyway?"

Here was where Lopmon hesitated. He didn't know the exact details himself.

Andy groaned, rubbing his forehead. "He's fine, don't worry."

"Huh? How do you know?" Dorugamon asked.

"I felt it when Danny… almost died that day in the accident. It felt like half of my soul was suddenly cut out. I didn't feel the pain he felt, I just… suddenly felt numb and scared," Andy explained. "While I felt pain… I don't feel that numb feeling, that sudden cut out. So I know he's still alive… he's probably just unconscious."

Sorcermon frowned again. "It seems your connection with your twin is both a good and bad thing. Good in that you can sense what your brother is going through, but bad because it affects you as well, though not as badly as your twin."

"It didn't used to be this strong…" Andy admitted.

"It wasn't?" Lopmon asked, surprised himself.

"No…" Andy frowned a little. "I mean… we would sometimes feel the other's pain, but… never to this extent."

Sorcermon put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hmmm… I think this would warrant some investigating, but for now, we will hold off because you are in pain and need to be looked at by our medics."

"But I'm human… would your medics be able to help a human?" Andy asked.

"Don't worry. Some of them had experience with helping the humans who came here before. Humans aren't that much different than some of the more human-like Digimon," Sorcermon reassured.

Lopmon smiled with relief. "That's good to hear."

"You… the one called Dorugamon, right?" Sorcermon asked. "I apologize, we're not very familiar with your species."

Dorugamon nodded. "Yes, I'm Dorugamon."

"Follow the Floramon, she will take you to the medic," Sorcermon pointed with his snowflake wand to a Floramon who was waving her flowery hand at them.

Dorugamon nodded again. "Okay, thank you." He gave Andy a gentle nudge towards the Floramon. "C'mon, Andy, let's go."

Andy stumbled, having a bit of trouble walking. Dorugamon pushed Andy's body a bit to make him slide onto his back. Andy pouted a little, mumbling that he could walk while Dorugamon just rolled his eyes and carried him.

Lopmon and Sorcermon then looked back at the gates, which were now opening to let the others in. As soon as the gates were opened, Sam, Tucker, Terriermon, and Jazz came rushing in, Sam still holding onto Salamon.

Jazz hurried over to Lopmon. "I'm glad you're okay, we saw explosions back there and got worried."

"We had a bit of a mishap, but we're fine. A medic is going to help Andy out," Lopmon explained as Jazz quickly picked him up.

Sorcermon was surprised to see the once terrifying Cherubimon was being hugged like a stuffed animal by this human girl, and that Cherubimon was letting her.

Sam ran over to Lopmon as well. "It's good you weren't hurt, Lopmon. I don't think we could stand losing you the way we almost lost Ophanimon earlier."

"What? Ophanimon? What happened to Ophanimon?" Sorcermon questioned when Sam said what she said.

Sam frowned as she looked down at the still unconscious Salamon in her arms.

Sorcermon looked at the Salamon. "Oh no… Lady Ophanimon… Quick, we need to get her to the medics. You, human girl in black, follow me quickly."

Sam blinked, but nodded. "Sure, and just for the record, my name is Sam." She stood and followed Sorcermon as he began to make his way to the medics.

"Hey, wait up!" Tucker shouted with Terriermon on his shoulder.

"We should go too, Jazz, to make sure your brother's alright," Lopmon said to Jazz. "And… Andy said that Danny may be unconscious, but he's still alive. It would seem their… connection has become stronger than the average twin bond. And if I'm right, Agunimon should be taking Danny here soon."

Jazz looked at Lopmon with a small smile. "I hope you're right, Lopmon. Danny is strong, but against this Technus ghost or whatever he is calling himself here, he may have had some trouble. But if Agunimon is indeed the Legendary Warrior he is supposed to be, then his first priority would be to help Danny."

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** Well, what do you expect from a metal muncher~? X3

**GamingWithLisa****: DarkFoxKit:** Uh… hey, great, hope you get to this story soon, and I hope you enjoy We Are Phantom. :)

**ZAFT:** I know I have been enjoying it. :3

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, we thought it'd be refreshing if it was Andy who failed the test instead of Danny this time. And Dorimon is, more or less, a teenager mentally, though he does like to act childish.

**ZAFT:** Don't _most_ teens act a bit childish? XD

**DarkFoxKit:** I think the difference here is that Dorimon can get away with it since he can literally become a baby at any time.

**ZAFT:** That's what makes it so amusing! XD


	32. A Glitch in the Digital World

**DarkFoxKit:** Hey readers, hope you're all having a wonderful time. Despite 2020 being a crappy year to a lot of people, we should still try to make the most of it. I mean it's not very often we get a double number year after all.

**ZAFT:** Yeah, it only happens once every 101 years. :3

**Andy:** A rare year, yet that's when everything goes to hell.

**Takuya:** Come on, it hasn't been _that_ bad! … Has it?

**DarkFoxKit:** Don't ask that question.

**ZAFT:** Don't make me shove you into the chapter Takuya!

**Takuya:** ***flinches*** I'll shut up now...

**Andy:** Erm… anyways, we should get on to the chapter now.

* * *

**Chapter 32: A Glitch in the Digital World**

Agunimon was running up the stairs of the giant tree. He knew he was getting closer to the castle, he just hoped that there would be someone there to help them. He knew these Digimon could help humans, but he didn't know how well they would be able to help him with a ghost inside his cousin's body. And if Agunimon's guess was right, they couldn't remove Phantom or they risked killing Danny.

Looking down at his unconscious cousin, Agunimon felt guilt pierce his chest again. This was his fault, but he would do what he could to make it right by getting Danny the help he needed. Looking back up, the Warrior of Flame focused on the task at hand.

He kept running, only to feel his heart lift when he saw Seraphimon's castle coming up before him. Even better, the gates were open.

As soon as the Warrior of Flame ran through the gate, he saw a lot of Digimon around. The Digimon looked surprised to see Agunimon, even more surprised to see the unconscious human boy in his arms.

"Wait… wasn't that human just taken to the medics…?" A confused Gomamon asked.

Agunimon had come to a stop, looking for anyone familiar, but his eyes didn't see his friends or family. He turned to the Gomamon who had spoken. "Do you know if there were other humans here?"

Gomamon smiled at Agunimon. "Hey, I remember you. You were one of those nice human kids who helped us get our home back from that nasty Ranamon monster. Those other humans are friends of yours, I take it? Sure, I know where they are."

Agunimon gave a sigh of relief, glad to be around at least one familiar Digimon now. "Good. Can you take me to them?"

The other Digimon were looking in nervousness, likely not having interacted with Agunimon before and only knew him by stories that were told.

Gomamon, however, knew Agunimon personally, and had no such issues. "Yeah, sure. Follow me!"

The Legendary Warrior followed the Gomamon into the castle, still holding his unconscious cousin in his arms.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to that human you have there?" Gomamon asked as he was leading Agunimon through the castle's corridor.

Here Agunimon sighed a bit. "I was a complete idiot and charged into a battle without thinking first. He got hurt because he had to save me."

"Oh, I see. I saw a human looking just like him, so I was a little confused as to how he got in your arms," Gomamon remarked. "I guess they're twins then."

"Earlier you said that you thought that this human was taken to the medics," Agunimon noted.

"Yeah. He had troubled standing, and looked completely exhausted. He didn't look injured though, but something must've happened to him," Gomamon answered.

Agunimon looked down at Danny's still form again. "He does have a twin brother, so the human you saw must have felt when his twin got hurt." _Again, that was because of my idiotic actions..._

"That explains it then, I think," Gomamon remarked before he stopped at a door. "Here, this is the medical room for the castle."

Agunimon smiled. "Thanks." However, his own injury acted up, sending searing pain down his side, making him wince. "Ugh…"

Gomamon gave Agunimon a concerned look. "Looks like you got hurt too."

"It's just a burn…" Agunimon admitted, trying to play it down, but it wasn't working so well.

"Uh-huh. You're the Warrior of Flame, you don't get burns that easily," Gomamon muttered before he walked over to the door, using one of his big claws to open it. "Hey, got room for two more in here?"

"Gomamon?" Sorcermon asked before seeing who he brought with him. "Agunimon! It has been a long time, my old friend."

Agunimon looked up, surprised to see Sorcermon. Then, a relieved smile crossed his face. "It has. You don't know how good it is to see you as well, Sorcermon."

"Yes, I was reborn and digivolved like everyone else you were able to save," Sorcermon stated. "Who's that you have with you?"

Sorcermon looked at the unconscious boy in Agunimon's arms. "Oh… this must be… the other boy's twin brother."

Agunimon nodded. "He is. He got hurt trying to save me from a very powerful Digimon."

"I see. Alright, take him to the table," Sorcermon gestured.

Agunimon saw a few tables in the medical room. He already saw Andy sitting on one of them with a Lillymon looking over him. And a familiar small puppy dog-like Digimon lying unconscious on another table, being tended to by a MarineAngemon.

Andy looked over at Agunimon, and gave him a weak looking smile. "Hey… glad to see you're finally here with Danny."

Agunimon walked over and set Danny down on the table next to Andy. He then turned to Andy with a weak smile of his own. "It wasn't exactly easy, you know." Then, his own injury acted up again, sending that searing pain down his side once more. Agunimon actually fell to the ground this time, groaning as his hand went to his side.

"Oh dear, looks like you got hurt too," Lillymon noted before she picked up Agunimon and put him on another table. "You stay there and lay down."

"Agunimon? What happened?" Tucker asked, seeing Agunimon.

"Danny!" Both Jazz and Sam called out when they saw the boy.

"It's okay, just let the medic handle them," Lillymon spoke up before she turned to Sorcermon. "Sorcermon, I can handle Agunimon's wound, but you might want to take a look at the human boy… the one who's awake. He doesn't have any physical wounds that I can heal."

Sorcermon nodded. "That's reasonable." He then made his way over to Andy before sitting down next to him. "Let's check you out, shall we?"

Andy nervously nodded while Lillymon went to attend to Agunimon.

"Who's going to look after my brother?" Andy asked.

"Don't worry, the medic for your brother will be here soon," Sorcermon reassured. "Now, I'm going to need you to hold still and relax. Since what ails you isn't physical, I need to check your spiritual energy."

Jazz looked at Sorcermon. "You can do that?"

Sorcermon nodded and replied without looking at Jazz. "It is possible to do, but it takes a skilled individual trained in the art to do it."

Sorcermon closed his eyes as the snowflake of his wand began to glow. Andy found himself closing his own eyes. Dorumon, who had degenerated back to his Rookie form, was watching in anticipation. He was still worried for his partner.

Then something else caught Dorumon's attention, something that caused his forehead gem to glow. He turned his head for a moment, before seeing something small and white flying over to Danny.

"I'm here!" The small Digimon exclaimed. The Digimon had green eyes, purple edges to its ears, and a red upside down triangle on his forehead while three upright triangles surrounded the red one. His body was otherwise white all over, and he had black claws on his hands. He had little toeless feet with purple at the tip, and a small stubby tail.

"What the?" Lopmon looked surprised to see the Digimon.

"What's wrong?" Jazz asked.

"That Digimon…" Lopmon frowned.

"Calumon, you're late," MarineAngemon spoke up, looking up from Salamon. "You should get to work on that unconscious human boy."

"R-right, sorry about that!" Calumon sheepishly chuckled.

Tucker frowned at seeing Danny's state. "He looks pretty bad."

"Of course he looks bad, that's why he was brought here," Terriermon muttered.

"Are you sure that little Digimon will be able to help him?" Tucker asked.

"Of course. MarineAngemon looks small, but she's one of our best healers," Lillymon spoke up. "Calumon may surprise you."

"That Digimon…" Lopmon frowned. "Isn't he…?"

"That's… something you'll have to bring up with Lady Ophanimon when she wakes up, Lord Cherubimon," Lillymon said with a bow of her head.

"But what happened to make Danny so hurt?" Tucker asked. "That's what I want to know."

"I want to know that too," Sam agreed, putting her hands on her hips.

"And me, he's my little brother," Jazz added.

"I don't know. You'll have to ask Agunimon about that one," Lillymon shrugged.

Feeling the eyes of the others on him, Agunimon sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "I was the reason. I was reckless and charged right at the enemy without a plan. He had to save me because I could have died as a result of my stupidity and reckless actions."

"Hey… it's okay, don't worry T- Agunimon, I'll heal him right up in no time!" Calumon spoke up, almost slipping something.

Sam perked up upon hearing that. "Huh?"

Calumon floated over Danny before landing beside the boy. Jazz and Sam backed away a bit to give the little Digimon some space. Calumon studied the unconscious boy, seeing the bits of burns on Danny. He then hopped around Danny for a moment, then he stopped when he was near Danny's chest. The red upside down triangle on his forehead glowed slightly. Dorumon's forehead gem glowed as well. Dorumon gave a curious look at the Calumon.

"Ah…" Calumon frowned a little as his ears suddenly retracted, getting smaller.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, worried when the 'doctor' suddenly frowned like that.

"Your friend here…" Calumon hesitated before he turned to them. "May I ask… is he… a ghost?"

Sam froze. "Um…" _Oh crap… How do we explain this?!_

Jazz was looking just as distressed as Sam was. Agunimon frowned, knowing this was a possible scenario. Tucker bit his lip.

Calumon turned to Danny for a moment before he put one of his little black claws on Danny's chest. "I ask, because I feel he has a ghost core inside him. If he's just human, then there's something really wrong with him, or a ghost has permanently taken up residence in his body."

Sam was unsure of how to respond. "That…" She trailed off, unsure of how to respond. Luckily for her, Agunimon had a passable explanation.

"He does." Agunimon replied. "I saw the ghost revert to this boy."

Everyone, except Sorcermon and Andy, all looked at Agunimon.

"Is that true? There's a real ghost inside that human boy?" Gomamon asked in shock.

"But a ghost can't be here, they would cause all sorts of glitches," Lillymon said worriedly.

Agunimon grunted at the pain in his side. "Well, that's the thing… There _is_ one here… And it fused with a Datamon…"

"We know," MarineAngemon spoke up as she was using her powers to heal Salamon, the heart on her chest glowing. "Lady Ophanimon was in this castle, looking out over the Forest Terminal. She went to go stop him. But… it looks like he got the better of her…"

"Just as he got the better of me…" Agunimon hissed, the pain evident in his voice.

"Don't blame yourself, Agunimon. A Digimon fused with a ghost is a very deadly enemy, they could easily obliterate and delete our data," Lillymon stated.

"That almost happened to Lady Ophanimon…" Terriermon frowned. "If Sam hadn't bonded with her when she did… Lady Ophanimon would have been no more."

Hearing that, Agunimon's head turned to Sam, surprise evident on his face. "What?"

Sam gave a sheepish grin before she showed Agunimon her D-Arc. "Yeah… it… well… Ophanimon said she had been watching me for a while. And… sometimes when I was alone, feeling upset, it did feel like someone was watching me, in a comforting way. Sometimes I pretend it's Danny watching me while invisible."

Agunimon blinked before he looked at the unconscious Salamon again, a small smile crossing his face. "Lady Ophanimon doesn't usually take to observing humans like that. The fact she was interested in you… She must have seen something in you."

"Probably. I didn't get a chance to ask her," Sam sighed, looking at Salamon.

Calumon was studying Danny a bit more. "Okay, this is a bit unusual, but I should be able to heal your friend. His name is Danny, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, that's his name."

Agunimon just noticed, Calumon's voice sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he heard that voice before. He racked his brains trying to remember where he heard the voice before, but nothing came to his mind.

Calumon nodded before he put his two little claws together and the triangle on his forehead started glow. Dorumon lifted up his head, feeling a strange power.

_"__Culu Prayer, the Prayer of Healing. Ice, ectoplasm, energy, come into this boy named Danny. His core needs you,"_ Calumon prayed.

The room suddenly got colder, so much so that Agunimon could see his breath. There was also that feeling of a ghost being near, but not quite, and he could sense the energy in the air.

The Warrior of Flame watched this going on with worry on his face. _Please… please be okay, Danny..._

Meanwhile, Sorcermon was looking into Andy's soul. He was a bit surprised to see the boy's soul looked different from how his body did. Human souls normally looked like how their bodies did. The soul did look like its body, but the hair was white, and his eyes were purple.

"How unusual…" Sorcermon noted.

Sorcermon did notice a ring of data around the soul, he could see how it moved around protectively. "That must be Dorumon's data…"

Sorcermon waved his wand a bit, before noticing a glowing silver string attached to the soul's chest. The string was connected to the code that circled around the soul.

Sorcermon frowned at seeing that. "Hmmm… Interesting… I've never seen code connected to a soul like that before…"

The Digimon looked to see where the string was connected to. He did notice that a part of it looked stronger and brighter. "He said that he felt a loss of connection when he felt his brother almost died. Perhaps that lost connection damaged this link, but they reforged it to become stronger somehow."

Sorcermon could see the string lead to another soul. But that soul was too powerful for Sorcermon to get too close. The soul was emitting such power, such coldness, and such ectoplasm that it hurt Sorcermon to get any closer than 20 feet from it.

Sorcermon was forced to back away due to the sheer cold, and he was a Digimon who was used to the cold. Of course, the ectoplasm was the real reason he had to back away though, lest he get badly hurt from it. Deciding to observe the soul from his current distance, he watched to see what would happen next. It seemed the soul this boy's soul was bonded to was somehow protecting the soul. "Interesting…"

Andy was watching curiously. When Sorcermon used his wand earlier, he ended up closing his eyes, and he suddenly found himself here, with Sorcermon studying him curiously and the ring of data around him. Andy noticed that Sorcermon was now looking at something else. Andy turned to look, though he noticed a silver string that was attached to his chest.

When Andy looked at what Sorcermon was looking at, he could see it was Danny, but also Phantom. It was half and half. Danny's hair was white like his Phantom form, but it turned black at random. His eyes would change from green to blue as well. His clothes would go from his hazmat suit to his normal clothes. His soul was both Danny and Phantom. His soul was also strong, very strong. But it was weakened. Something was healing it, however, Andy could tell somehow.

Sorcermon watched the healing connection with interest in his eyes. "Interesting… I've never seen such a thing before in my life…"

"He's not human, that other soul…" Sorcermon noted. "That kind of power and ectoplasm… he's a ghost. Or at least… he has the powers of a ghost. How did such a thing happen?"

Andy frowned, he didn't know how it was possible either, and he still wondered what this would do to Danny in the future.

Sorcermon was clearly intrigued, but not in a bad way. "That boy's soul… the other soul… He is quite special."

Sorcermon then turned back to Andy before waving his wand. "Do not worry, you will heal soon. Just rest now."

Andy closed his eyes again.

* * *

By the time Andy woke up again, the room was quieter now. He sat up, blinking. He felt fine again. Dorumon looked up at his table and smiled.

"You're awake!" Dorumon jumped onto Andy.

"Wah! Dorumon, you're a lot heavier when you're a Rookie then when you are In-Training!" Andy groaned, having his partner pinning him down to nuzzle him.

Jazz chuckled at seeing Dorumon nuzzling Andy. "He's like a happy dog the way he is nuzzling you."

"Jazz?" Andy looked at his sister.

"Yeah, it's me," Jazz chuckled.

"Did I fall asleep? How long was I out?" Andy frowned.

"Long enough for me to recover," Someone said.

Andy turned to the voice, and saw a Digimon he didn't recognize. The Digimon had tan skin, the symbol of flame on his belt, and fire-like designs on his skin as well. His hair was tan like his skin, and he wore a vest and pants. A fire-orange tail was seen, and he had green eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Andy answered, pushing Dorumon off him. "Um… who are you?"

"I'm Flamemon." The Digimon introduced. "I guess you could say I'm the Rookie form of Agunimon."

Andy stared at Flamemon, his jaw nearly dropping at hearing that. "W-what? What _happened_ to you!?"

"The Digital World has strange properties that could change a digital being's body according to what the world would believe is the best accommodation for the being's body," Calumon spoke up.

Flamemon looked sheepish at that. "Ehehe… Yeah. Imagine my surprise when I found out I was like this." Again_, I might add..._

"Okay…" Andy frowned, still finding it strange that Flamemon was his cousin, before he turned to the other table. "How's Danny?"

"Still asleep I'm afraid," Calumon answered. "He and Salamon will be out for a little while. Danny exhausted his core while trying to help Agunimon. Salamon's data came close to being deleted."

Flamemon looked back at Danny. "I was such an idiot. I charged in without a plan, and Danny had to save me." He clenched his fists as he said that, feeling the frustration at his own recklessness getting his cousin hurt. "He overshadowed me to get me out of harm's way when I couldn't move. But… my Spirits attacked him…"

Andy frowned. "Danny… overshadowed you… and succeeded?"

"Yeah… barely… but…" Flamemon hissed at himself. "I hurt him pretty bad…"

"Hey…" Calumon spoke up. "Flamemon, right? Why don't you come with me for a moment? There's something I need to talk to you about in private."

Flamemon looked back before nodding. 'Sure…?" He was confused, but followed Calumon out of the room.

Andy noticed that the other medical Digimon weren't around anymore. Sorcermon was sleeping at a corner, looking exhausted. Tucker, Sam, and Jazz were sitting on some chairs. Lopmon and Terriermon were sitting on their partner's lap, though neither one would look at each other. There was still some tension between the two rabbit Digimon.

"Hey, Andy, glad to have you back in the land of the living," Tucker joked.

Dorumon helped Andy down from the table before he nuzzled against Andy's side. Andy sheepishly chuckled. "So… how about that investigation?"

"You want to start now?" Jazz asked.

"Well, we might as well. Danny and Salamon may not wake up for a while, but they're in good hands here. We shouldn't waste too much time," Andy answered.

Jazz looked at Andy before smiling. "Sure. I think we can have Sam remain here to let us know when they wake up, and Tucker and Terriermon can join us."

"Yeah, I rather stay here anyways. I want to make sure Danny and Salamon are okay when they wake up," Sam agreed.

"That's fine," Andy replied. "It's better someone they're familiar with is here when they wake up."

Jazz nodded. "Okay, Tucker, you coming with us?"

Tucker stood up with a grin. "Sure."

Meanwhile, Calumon walked out into the corridor with Flamemon following him. Calumon stopped after a little bit before turning around to look at Flamemon.

"Hey, so…" Calumon hesitated. "After hearing about how your Spirits burned your friend… I wanted to give you some advice."

"What kind of advice?" Flamemon asked, raising an eyebrow.

Calumon extended his ears again before he floated up to Flamemon. "You need to communicate with your Spirits. You have to let them know the difference between a friend or foe whenever they go into your body. Being friends with someone who has a ghost living inside them, it was only a matter of time before they tried to go into your body to protect you. You don't want to burn them if such a scenario were to happen again, right?"

Flamemon gave a wince at that. "Yeah… I guess I should do that…" He admitted. _When we get back to the human world I will make sure to do that._ Then a frown crossed his face. "Wait… How did you know about my Spirits since I never met you before?"

Calumon gave a thoughtful look, seeming to be contemplating about something, before he flew closer to Flamemon's face. Flamemon blinked, wondering what the little Digimon was doing. Calumon suddenly tapped Flamemon's chest.

"First… tell me… do you know how to turn human here?" Calumon questioned.

Flamemon raised an eyebrow. "No… Not like this. I normally just let my evolutions go and then…" He trailed off, wondering why he was explaining this to an unknown Digimon. "Wait… Why do you want to know?"

Calumon gave a chuckle. "Because I'm a doctor, I wanted to know if you figured it out yet, Takuya."

Flamemon's eyes widened, he never told this Digimon his human name.

"In this form, your Spirits fused in a way. But instead of turning you into Aldamon, they made it so your human body will turn into a Digimon instead," Calumon explained. "Have you tried unfusing your Spirits while in that form?"

Flamemon shook his head. "No."

"Then go ahead and try it now," Calumon replied as he flew back a bit.

Closing his eyes, Flamemon focused hard on his connection to his Spirits. He could sense his Human Spirit, followed by his Beast Spirit. Flamemon focused in on the connection shared between the two, and found the link. Like with his real fusion form of Aldamon, he focused on that link, and breaking it. The link broke, allowing fractal code to surround him before he reverted back to his human form.

Opening his eyes, Flamemon was surprised to see he was back as Takuya. "Holy… Wow! It worked!" He had a grin on his face as he looked at his now human hands.

"Glad I could 'cure' you, Takuya." Calumon grinned. "Now if there's nothing else, you should get back with the others-"

"Hold it," Takuya spoke up, looking at the little Digimon. "While I'm grateful for your help, how the heck did you know all of that?"

Calumon frowned a little. "Lots of research on Spirits and the Legendary Warriors."

Takuya frowned. "Okay…" He wasn't sure he bought it, but that explanation seemed plausible to explain how that was known. _But wait, that doesn't explain one thing._ "How did you know my name? Not a lot of Digimon knew my human name."

"I likely heard it from someone else who did know your human name," Calumon answered before he flew around Takuya.

Takuya frowned again. _But only the Celestials, Bokomon, and Neemon know my human name…_ "Okay…"

"Heh, you know, you are more famous than you realize, Takuya. Your human name was spread among the Digital World just as much as your Legendary Warrior's name," Calumon chuckled. "Didn't Bokomon tell you before you all left? That he planned to document your adventures in a book? Well, that book has been published and is one of the best selling books in the Digital World."

Takuya _did_ remember that, although he hadn't really heard the whole thing, just that Bokomon had planned to document the adventures. "Yeah… As we left, I heard him shout something like that, but I didn't hear it fully."

Calumon had a far away look in his green eyes. "Yeah… Well, anyways… do you have any more questions for me, Takuya?"

"Um… No, I don't." Takuya replied. But something niggled at him for some reason, like his Spirits were trying to tell him something, but what that was, he didn't know._ I guess Calumon is right, I do need to communicate with my Spirits…_

"Okay. Then we should get back with the others before they worry," Calumon suggested.

"Oh? Are you coming with me? Don't you have other patients to take care of or something?" Takuya asked.

"Nah. They usually only call me for the strange or severe cases. My Culu Prayer is very powerful, but it also exhausts me when I use it," Calumon explained.

Takuya nodded. "Okay, then come on. You can ride on my head." He smiled when he said that.

Calumon blinked, looking surprised at the suggestion, though he did blush a little. "Really? A-are you sure?"

Takuya shrugged. "It's fine. I mean, my cousin Andy has his partner so that in his In-Training form, so why not?"

That was when Takuya became curious, he had never seen this Digimon before. He gave a quick scan at the Calumon, before the voice in his head spoke up.

**"****Calumon is an Animal Digimon. This is "digi-entelecheia" (the power of digivolution) given Digimon form. It is said to have the power to help other Digimon digivolve. Not much else is known about this Digimon. Its level and type is unknown."**

Takuya frowned at the explanation that most likely came from his Spirits. _Huh… So this Digimon is unknown save for its name and what it is capable of. Err… well, at least, some of its capabilities._

"You can make other Digimon digivolve?" Takuya asked, intrigued.

"Kind of, in a sense. I can trigger someone's digivolution, but it leaves me completely exhausted and vulnerable," Calumon answered.

Takuya frowned. "So it's a help, but at the cost of you being left vulnerable. Sounds like a double-edged sword…"

"Heh, you see… my Shining Digivolution is powerful, I don't have a lot of control over it. It makes any Digimon I choose to use it digivolve straight into their Mega forms," Calumon explained. "You remember that MarineAngemon who was healing Salamon? Err… Lady Ophanimon?

Takuya nodded. "I do."

"She used to be a Pichimon," Calumon explained.

Takuya's eyes went wide. A Pichimon was a fresh, newly hatched Digimon, lower than even In-Training level. MarineAngemon was a Mega level, the highest level of the digivolution chart.

"Wow…" Takuya murmured, not sure of what else to say. His mind was almost blown, literally, with that revelation.

"I can't fight on my own though," Calumon sighed. "I mean… I have… uh… ways to defend myself if necessary, but I'm strictly a healer and supporter."

Takuya shook his head as he snapped out of his staring. "Well, whatever you use to defend yourself, I'm sure it's pretty effective."

Calumon sheepishly grinned before he flew over onto Takuya's head. "You sure you're okay with this? I'm not too heavy, am I?"

Takuya shook his head gently, so as to not throw Calumon off. "Nope. You're fine." _But I _definitely_ feel like I have heard this Calumon's voice before..._

Just before Takuya could make the connection, he heard footsteps running his way. Turning, Takuya saw Andy and Dorumon.

"Takuya? Well… huh, I'm glad to see you're not stuck as Flamemon anymore," Andy said before he slowed down to a stop, Dorumon doing the same. "Oh, I see, you're now picking up your own Digimon partner, is that it?"

Dorumon was snickering.

"No. He's not my Digimon partner!" Takuya huffed. "He's just the one who helped you guys out. Besides, I have my Spirits, which are like my partners in a sense."

"I know, but it's just kind of… amusing to see Calumon on your head like that. It reminds me of Dorimon when he gets on my head," Andy chuckled.

"Though Calumon looks fitting on you," Dorumon added.

Calumon blushed, though he was grinning a little. "You really think so?"

Takuya gave a fake glare at Dorumon. "Okay, I get it. Calumon is fitting when he sits on my head. Now, why did you come down here?"

"Right. Well, we've decided to go investigate around the castle, since we're here and all. Jazz, Lopmon, Tucker, and Terriermon are looking around the castle as well. We decided to split up to cover more ground. Though if we have to call each other, we have our D-Arcs with us," Andy explained. "Sam is staying with Danny and Salamon."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. So, where are we going to start our search?"

"I don't really know. Dorumon and I are new to this place, we don't know where much of anything is," Andy answered.

"And there's too many Digimon here for me to pick up any suspicious scents," Dorumon sighed.

"Oh, are you trying to find out what happened to Seraphimon?" Calumon asked.

Takuya looked up at Calumon. "Yeah. He apparently appeared in the human world, but as a corrupted Digimon. We actually had to fight him at one point, and he is also the reason Cherubimon appeared in the human world as well."

"I see…" Calumon frowned. "Well, if you're going to find any clues about that, it would be in the room Seraphimon usually resided in. O… erm… Lady Ophanimon was investigating there herself for a while."

Takuya frowned. "Well, it seems as good as any place to start. Do you know where that room is?"

"Yeah. I guess it has been a while since you've been there, Takuya," Calumon noted. "Just follow me."

Calumon floated off of Takuya's head and flew in front of the group.

"You know…" Dorumon spoke up as they were walking. "I couldn't help but feel an odd… yet familiar power from Calumon when he was healing Danny."

Takuya looked back. "Familiar how?"

"I'm not really sure… but… I guess in a way, he felt a little bit similar to you, Takuya," Dorumon answered. "Except colder… much colder."

Takuya frowned when he heard that. "Is… that so? That's odd…"

"It's also odd that there seems to be little to no data on the little guy," Andy muttered, looking at the hologram of Calumon on his D-Arc. "Although, Sorcermon claims to not know about Dorumon either, so, I guess it's not impossible for there to be Digimon that not everyone had seen before."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. The Digital World _is_ a big place, and when I was here last time with my friends, we didn't explore the whole thing either."

"The Digital World is always expanding, new data, and thus, new Digimon are always being made," Calumon spoke up. "And these ears aren't just for flying you know."

Takuya flinched when he realized that their conversation had been overheard. _Crap… Not what I expected..._

"We're sorry, we didn't mean to talk about you behind your back," Andy apologized.

"No, it's okay. I'd be curious about me too if I were in your shoes," Calumon sighed. "I guess you could say… I'm somewhat of an anomaly."

Takuya frowned. "I see…"

_Not the first anomaly we've dealt with._ Andy silently mused.

Calumon led the three of them into a large room. It was the same room Takuya was in four years ago, when he and the others unfroze Seraphimon from his crystal prison, and again when they were trying to defend the fractal code from the royal knights. It looked almost untouched, only cleaner and more decorative.

"I see we had the same idea," A familiar voice spoke up.

Takuya looked over, only to see the speaker. It was Lopmon. "Lopmon! Jazz!"

"Hey Takuya, glad to see you could join us for the investigation," Jazz greeted before she walked over to the boy with an innocent smile on her face. "Now then…"

Jazz suddenly grabbed Takuya and shook him. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN WE DIDN'T SEE YOU WITH US IN THE DIGITAL WORLD!?"

Takuya winced at the loudness of Jazz's voice. "Jazz, calm down! I just got separated from the others before I found my way here!"

"You couldn't have used your D-Arc or whatever to call us!? I know you have one, Takuya Kanbara!" Jazz snapped.

Takuya froze at her words. _She saw my D-Tector?! Shit…_

"Jazz, calm down. He's here and he's safe, that's all that matters now," Lopmon spoke up, calming the overprotective girl down.

Jazz sighed before letting Takuya go. "You're right… I'm sorry, after both of my brothers were brought in unconscious, and my cousin was missing… I sort of lost my head there."

Takuya shrugged off Jazz's hands. "It happens. I know I would lose my own cool if any one of you guys were in the same situation or something similar."

Andy couldn't help but wince in guilt. Although it wasn't his fault that he fainted back there, he still couldn't help but feel guilty for worrying Jazz and the others as much as he did. _I really need to look into this whole soul link thing before something else happens again._

"Cherubimon…? Is that you?" Calumon asked, looking at Lopmon as though it was the first time he saw the rabbit.

Lopmon looked at Calumon. "Yes… and you're…"

Calumon frowned awkwardly. "I'm… Calumon, nice to meet you, Cherubimon."

"... Please… just call me Lopmon," Lopmon sighed.

Takuya coughed a bit. "So… where do we start the search? This room could hold anything from traps to clues."

Dorumon began to sniff around the place. Andy let his partner do so, Dorumon always seemed to have a reliable nose.

"I heard that Ophanimon was here earlier, investigating herself, is that right?" Lopmon asked, looking at Calumon.

"Yes, that's right," Calumon answered. "Though she had been really busy maintaining the Digital World lately, she hardly had time to really investigate herself."

Takuya looked around. "Well, even if that is the case, I would think she might have found something."

"Isn't there anything here that could help us find a clue to something?" Andy asked.

"We could look around the statues," Lopmon said, pointing at the statue of the three Celestial Digimon in their Mega forms. "It holds this area's fractal code."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. Let's start looking." He made his way over to the statue, hoping to find anything that could be a clue.

Everyone in the area was spread out, hoping to find something, anything. Dorumon and Andy were in one section of the room, Jazz and Lopmon were on the other. Takuya and Calumon were in the center.

"Takuya, can I ask you something?" Calumon suddenly spoke up, and for a split second, Takuya felt like one of his old friends was there, talking to him.

"Uh… Sure. What's on your mind?" Takuya asked, confused now.

"What caused that boy with the ghost inside him to be so injured like that? You said how it was your fault, that he had to overshadow you. But why? What were you fighting?" Calumon asked.

Takuya sighed as he looked down, a hand on the statue. "I was fighting a ghost fused with a Digimon. I charged at him without a plan, and got hurt. If not for my cousin doing what he did, I would have died."

"A ghost fused with a Digimon…" Calumon frowned. "Is that ghost still here?"

"Yeah… he is…" Takuya sighed. "I had to get my cousin to safety because he was hurt. Fighting that ghost-Digimon hybrid would have only put him in more danger."

"That's… not good. The fact that ghost-Digimon hybrid is still out there…" Calumon hesitated. "If a ghost fuses with a Digimon in the Digital World, they'll get stronger. They'll keep eating the Digital World. There's a reason why they're known as glitches in the Digital World. A glitch that will eventually turn into a deadly virus."

"That is why we came here, to stop him." Takuya admitted. "But… at his rate of power… I don't know if we can."

"Then if you do plan on going after this ghost-Digimon hybrid again, allow me to go with you. With my healing powers, I should be able to keep you all from becoming too injured to fight," Calumon suggested. "But if that's still not enough… there is an ace in a hole I can use."

"What kind of ace-in-the-hole?" Takuya asked, intrigued a bit.

"Remember what I said? About my Shining Digivolution ability?" Calumon asked. "I should be able to use it on you, and you might become… strong enough to take the hybrid down. I could use it on the others, but I can only use it one at a time, and only once per half day. I would need a 12 hour recharge once I use it. And the others might not be as experienced to take it down. Lopmon, maybe, but… well… I sort of trust you more than Cherubimon to be honest."

Takuya blinked. _Calumon could help me reach EmperorGreymon? Or is that the level he is talking about? I mean, I can reach my Fusion form on my own so…_ "If… that's what it takes, we may have to."

Calumon nodded.

"Hmm?" Dorumon seemed to have noticed something.

"What is it, Dorumon?" Andy asked, walking over to his partner.

"Look at this," Dorumon reached down and picked up what looked like a golden feather. "Either there was a golden bird here not too long ago, or this might be…"

"Hang on…" Andy looked at his D-Arc, bringing up a hologram of Seraphimon, the normal one. "I see… normal, non-shadow Seraphimon had about 10 golden wings. So this could be a feather from one of his wings then, before he was corrupted."

Takuya looked over. "Did you guys find something?"

"Maybe," Andy said, picking up the golden feather. "Dorumon found this."

Jazz and Lopmon went over to them as well. Lopmon looked at the feather.

"What do you think? Was this one of Seraphimon's feathers?" Andy asked.

Takuya looked at the feather. It definitely looked familiar. "Yeah… It could be. It looks similar enough."

Lopmon gave a nod. "Yes, it is one of his feathers. It may look similar to Ophanimon's golden feathers, but she has different types of feathers than Seraphimon did. That is definitely Seraphimon's feather."

"Okay, so we found a feather of Seraphimon's… but that doesn't really tell us much," Jazz remarked.

"No, it does tell us something," Lopmon spoke up, looking at the feather. "It meant that Seraphimon wasn't corrupted yet when he was last here. He must've gotten corrupted while he was outside. So… none of the Digimon here ever saw him become ShadowSeraphimon."

Takuya gave a bit of a smile. "Well, that's something at least." His grin then faded. "But it doesn't tell us _how_ or _when_ he became corrupted."

Dorumon's forehead gem gave a slight glow. "There's more on the feather."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

"It's… really difficult to pinpoint it, but I do sense… some kind of extra… yet familiar… data on that feather. I don't think it's Seraphimon's data either," Dorumon explained.

"W-what kind of data…?" Takuya asked, not really wanting to hear the answer due to a feeling of heat coming from his Spirits, like they were warning him of something.

Andy, who was still holding the feather, frowned. "Is it dangerous? Because I am_ holding_ it."

"Uh…" Dorumon looked at the feather before he took it from his partner. "No, it shouldn't be. It's too small to really be of any problem to anyone. Maybe…? I'm not sure exactly."

"Then stop holding it!" Andy groaned. "I need to wash my hands…"

Dorumon chuckled slightly. "I will admit, it does feel familiar somehow, like… I don't know… like I sensed it before, I guess?"

"We need to take that feather somewhere and have someone analyze it so we can tell what kind of data is on that feather." Lopmon frowned.

"But where can we do that?" Takuya asked. As far as he knew, there was no place like that in the Digital World, and in the human world, it would be almost impossible to identify the data.

"Tucker… he might be able to…" Jazz realized.

"Oh, he probably can, knowing him," Andy agreed. "Where is he and Terriermon now?"

"Last I checked, they were going upstairs to check the balcony," Jazz answered.

Takuya looked at the group. "Well, let's go find him. He may be our best bet and finding out what this data on Seraphimon's feather is."

Calumon flew over to Takuya before landing on his head. "I'm ready when you are!"

The others tried not to laugh at how adorable Calumon and Takuya looked right now.

Takuya groaned at their looks. "Okay… I get it. Calumon looks cute on me! I don't need to be reminded of it!"

* * *

Tucker and Terriermon were looking out on the balcony, and they were both frowning.

"How long is he going to keep this up?" Tucker asked.

"He might keep going until he consumed the whole Digital World… power like that is… hard to resist, and makes you crave more. I've seen it happen with Cherubimon after all," Terriermon answered back.

They could see holes in the lands ahead. Techatamon was getting bigger and stronger as he continued to consume the fractal codes in the land.

"To make matters worse, because he's a ghost, he doesn't even need to find where the fractal codes are hidden. Just being here causes the entire code to glitch out, and he could consume them wherever and whenever he wants," Terriermon hissed.

Tucker nodded. "Yeah. But what can we do? I mean, you saw what happened to Danny, Ophanimon and Agunimon. Techatamon wiped the floor with all of them. And Ophanimon is a Mega-level Digimon, not to mention one of the rulers of your world. And Agunimon is one of the protectors, so if he lost, that is saying something about Techatamon's strength."

"The 10 Legendary Warriors, if they combined their strength, their powers, their minds, their souls into one... they should be able to take him out. The problem is… only one of them is here…" Terriermon frowned. "He can't face something like this alone. And… that's what almost got him killed…"

Tucker blinked. "Wait… The Legendary Warriors can do that? That's amazing!"

"Yeah, it was how they took out Lucemon, who was the ultimate Digimon," Terriermon answered. "But… with the Legendary Warriors scattered… I'm not sure what we can do…"

"We can still fight," Someone spoke up from behind them.

Tucker and Terriermon turned around, surprised to see Takuya. "Takuya! You're here! I was getting worried man, and… uh… dude, you know you have a cute Digimon on your head, right?"

Takuya pouted. "Yes… I know…" _Maybe asking Calumon to ride on my head was a bad idea after all..._

"Nothing wrong with that," Calumon remarked.

"Hey, Tuck, good to see you're here," Andy greeted, coming up from behind Takuya.

"Yeah…" Tucker sighed.

"But we may not be here for much longer if Techatamon decides to come over here," Terriermon warned. "He's already eaten a good portion of the land out there. He's gotten pretty strong."

Takuya looked out at the land and frowned. _My Fusion form won't be enough it looks like…_ "I can see that."

"Do you think we still stand a chance against him? Look at what's done to Ophanimon, to Danny!" Jazz paled.

"Not by ourselves…" Lopmon frowned before he looked at Calumon for a moment. "But… we might still have a chance."

Jazz looked at Lopmon. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know… I guess we will see soon," Lopmon muttered. "Andy, for now, you and Dorumon keep that feather safe. I don't know what kind of data is on that feather, but it doesn't seem to be affecting you two, so it might be safe to keep it with you for now."

"Uh… are you sure? It might just be a thing that would affect us later. Like it might affect me when I'm sleeping or something," Andy remarked with an uneasy frown.

"We don't have much of a choice." Lopmon pointed out. "And we have a rampaging ghost-Digimon to deal with first."

"Fine…" Andy sighed before he put the feather into his backpack, that he still had with him.

"But how are we going to fight? Danny, our local ghost hunter, is still unconscious," Dorumon pointed out.

Takuya gripped his D-Tector, knowing that if anyone was to fight, it would most likely be him. _I won't let Jazz, Andy, or Tucker fight. This isn't something they can handle, especially since only two of them can reach Champion level, and they have no experience at the Mega-level._

"Takuya, don't be stupid," Calumon suddenly spoke up, surprising Takuya.

"Huh?" Takuya looked up at Calumon.

"I know how you think. You're planning to take on Techatamon by yourself," Calumon stated.

"What else can we do?" Takuya countered. "I mean… How else can we beat him? Using strategy? Techatamon might see through our plans. Can't you just use your Shining Digivolution on me and I go take care of him right now?"

"No, I can't," Calumon answered.

"Why?" Takuya asked.

"Because I used Culu Prayer earlier on Danny. I am drained, I can't use it right now," Calumon replied.

Takuya groaned. "Great…"_ So much for that plan..._

"I technically can use it still," Calumon sighed. "But… if I were to use it now…"

"You would not be Calumon anymore, right?" Lopmon finished.

Takuya perked up at hearing that. "What do you mean, Lopmon?"

"The Shining Digivolution is something of an ancient artifact the Digital World used to have would use on Digimon in desperate times. It used to be here to keep regulation on digivolution. Basically it allowed Digimon to hatch, grow, become stronger, then are reborn again and the cycle continues," Lopmon explained. "But without it… no Digimon can ever grow, they can't be reborn either. Calumon is… sort of… our… I guess you could say, replacement for that artifact."

Takuya blinked before looking up at Calumon again. "No wonder you said you were a bit of an anomaly."

"But that still doesn't quite answer what you meant," Andy pointed out. "About Calumon not being Calumon anymore."

"If Calumon uses the Shining Digivolution while he's already tired, his digital form will… have to cease for a while," Lopmon answered.

Takuya frowned. "So we won't use it then, it looks like. But if that's the case, then how will we beat Techatamon?"

"There's always a way to defeat a strong opponent," Andy said. "If power isn't the way to go, then we need another way. A weakness maybe, some way to weaken him, whatever it takes."

"Is it possible to reverse the consumption of the data he's been eating?" Jazz asked.

Lopmon winced a little, likely getting bad memories from Jazz's suggestion.

Takuya frowned at that suggestion. "There should be… but…" He trailed off, remembering his ability to purify Digimon and restore fractal codes when he was evolved as Agunimon. _I don't know how to explain it without giving myself away..._

"One way to do it is to try to knock the fractal code out of them," Lopmon answered, not looking at anyone in the eyes. "Another way is to cut their bodies to get the codes out. Or aim directly at where they've consumed the code, and hope they spit it out."

Lopmon shivered, looking pretty guilty and disgusted, mostly at himself.

Jazz frowned and put a hand on Lopmon's head. "Don't worry about what you did in the past, Lopmon. Right now, we need to focus on the present issue."

"I'm trying not to… but my past always seems to haunt me one way or another…" Lopmon said softly.

Terriermon looked down at that.

"The Digi-Core…" Dorumon spoke up.

"What?" Andy asked.

Perking up, Takuya recalled that from when he fought DexDorugamon. "A Digi-Core… Wait! If Techatamon is a Digimon, he should have a Digi-Core, right?"

"He might have a Digi-Core mixed with a ghost core," Calumon answered. "I would say it's kind of like with that boy, Danny, only his core was more ghost than digital."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Even if that is the case, we still have another option."

"What option is that?" Tucker asked.

Takuya looked down. "I'm not sure… but if he has a Digi-Core, then we could somehow use that to beat him."

"A Digi-Core is basically a Digimon's heart," Dorumon explained. "I've… always had the ability to sense where a Digimon's Digi-Core is. Though it was never something I usually paid much attention to. But usually when a Digimon consumed the fractal code, they would fuse it into their Digi-Core to make it a part of them, and become stronger. If we could, somehow, reach Techatamon's Digi-Core, and disrupt it, we might be able to either free the fractal code he had consumed, or at the very least, weaken him enough for us to be able to fight him."

Takuya looked at Dorumon. "That may be our best bet to beat him."_ I was almost on the receiving end of that myself with DexDorugamon..._

"Be warned though, if you mess with the Digi-Core too much, there's a chance you might accidentally absorb it yourself," Dorumon warned. "You do not want to do that, especially with a ghost Digi-Core, that could damage or mess you up entirely."

"I'll keep that in mind." Takuya said absent-mindedly. _If we are to have a chance, my Fusion form may be our best bet to give us the greatest fighting chance since it is my strongest form aside from EmperorGreymon..._

"Are we going into battle without Danny though?" Tucker asked. "I mean… he is our best bet to taking on Techatamon."

"Well, maybe. He may not be able to help much…" Terriermon frowned.

"No… he would be an immense help…" Andy sighed. "Danny could go into Techatamon's body and get to the Digi-Core directly. Without that, we'll have to try to get to it by going through his armored body ourselves."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Yeah… That is a good point…"

"Perhaps we should wait then, until Danny wakes up," Jazz suggested.

"That is wise. Even if you are worried about the land being consumed, don't be. He has a long way to go before he comes anywhere close to consuming the entire Digital World," Lopmon assured them.

"Besides, we do have Digimon out there who are trained to battle against Digimon trying to consume the world again, after that incident with the royal knights, nobody is taking any chances," Calumon added.

Takuya frowned a bit more, but he didn't argue with Calumon and Lopmon's reasoning. He let out a sigh. "Fine, we'll wait."

"In the meantime, maybe we can keep trying to investigate the castle, find more clues and whatnot," Jazz suggested.

Tucker nodded. "Sure. That's a good idea to pass the time."

However, as everyone was starting to head back, a sudden image came to Andy's mind. He suddenly saw the castle being attacked by MegaTechatamon, and he was laughing as the castle was turning into code.

"Wha?" Andy blinked, coming out of whatever it was he saw.

"What's wrong?" Dorumon asked, sensing the sudden worry in his partner.

Andy quickly turned around from the balcony to look out. He hurried over to the edge of it, and to his horror, he saw the now colossal MegaTechatamon was making his way over to them.

"That castle looks yummy!" Techatamon noted.

Andy quickly ran back to the others. "Techatamon is on his way here! And he's HUGE!"

Takuya turned pale at hearing that. "Oh crap…" _He's coming here, _now_?!_

"Hurry, get to the entrance! We need to get everyone in battle mode, _now_!" Lopmon commanded with the authority of a Celestial Digimon.

With Seraphimon gone, and Ophanimon unconscious, Lopmon would have to step up and take over as the castle's leader to defend it from an incoming powerful entity.

Takuya looked down at his D-Tector, hoping he would be able to do his part and aid in the defense of the castle. He gripped the device tightly. _Please… wake up soon, Danny… We need you..._

Andy was thinking the same thing, if they ever really needed Danny Phantom, it was now. _But he's out cold. We'll have to try to hold Techatamon without him._

"Don't worry, I know we can do it," Dorumon assured.

"I'm with you all the way," Calumon agreed.

Jazz, still holding Lopmon, began hurrying down the corridor. Tucker held out his D-Arc and ran after her. Everyone else quickly followed.

* * *

The castle was shaking. All the Digimon in the castle were ready for battle. Sorcermon, Jazz, and Lopmon were in the front.

"Are you sure we'll be able to handle someone who took down Lady Ophanimon and Agunimon, Cherubimon?" Sorcermon questioned.

"I have faith that we can defend this castle, and Lady Ophanimon," Lopmon answered. "But we have to be careful. This Digimon is a ghost hybrid. Do_ not_ let his attacks hit you directly, or you'll never be reborn again."

Sorcermon frowned. "That _does_ sound bad…"

Jazz looked at Sorcermon. "We have an idea on how to beat him, but it _is_ tricky with how it has to be pulled off."

"Can you not digivolve into your Mega form, Cherubimon?" Sorcermon asked.

"I'm afraid not," Lopmon answered.

Jazz frowned. "It is hard to explain, but it has to do with how Lopmon came to the human world."

The castle shook again.

"We'll have to explain later," Lopmon said. "We need to prepare ourselves."

"Right," Jazz held up the D-Arc.

_"__Lopmon, digivolve to…"_ Lopmon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Lopmon's legs gained shoes and yellow pants with a belt and yellow top that matched, two blades appeared as his hands regained their skin and red gloves, grasping the blades in both hands. The skin on Lopmon's head and face came back, just as a blue bandanna appeared around his neck as well. _"Turuiemon!"_

The Digimon around them were surprised to see Lopmon had digivolved, though it wasn't Cherubimon, they were still surprised to see he was at Champion at the very least.

Tucker was in the back with Terriermon. He was more on support and analysis, to try to find a weak spot in Techatamon's armor so they could get to his Digi-Core.

"Terriermon…" Tucker said.

"Yeah…" Terriermon hopped down from Tucker's shoulder. "Do it."

Tucker smiled before holding up his D-Arc to Terriermon.

"_Terriermon, digivolve to…"_ Terriermon began to lose his own skin, on his face, and then his legs lost their skin as well. His ears also lost their skin before his skin began to come back, but on his legs and feet first. Terriermon's legs gained green pants with a belt and bullets around his chest. Two large gauntlets that were guns appeared on his hands. The skin on Terriermon's head and face came back, just as a green mask appeared around his upper face as well. _"Gargomon!"_

"It's good to have you back, Gargomon." Tucker smiled.

"It feels good to be back." Gargomon grinned.

Andy, Dorumon, and Takuya were a little further away from everyone else.

"Well, Takuya, if you're going to spirit evolve now, you better do it. Techatamon is getting closer," Andy stated.

Takuya looked down at his D-Tector.

"While you do that, Dorumon and I will get into position," Andy said. "We… want to protect Danny, as well as Sam and Salamon. Don't get too reckless out there… I'd rather not have a ghost cousin as well."

Takuya winced a little, what Andy said made him realize that he was still taking the accident that happened to Danny pretty hard. Andy looked at Dorumon. "Ready?"

Dorumon nodded. "Of course I am."

_"__Dorumon, digivolve to…"_ Dorumon was surrounded by fractal code as he felt the energy of Andy's will fill him. His skin began to peel away from his face and head, then his stomach and his tail was last to lose the skin. But as he regained his skin, his claws and legs came back first, then his wings came back with skin, flaring open to reveal their larger size, his tail swung around once as it regained the skin, and then his head and face were last to regain their skin. _"Dorugamon!"_

As soon as Dorugamon had digivolved, Andy hopped onto his back. Dorugamon flew up to the higher level of the castle and waited.

"Hey, Takuya…" Calumon spoke up, who was floating beside Takuya.

"What is it, Calumon?" Takuya asked as he looked up.

"Are you… going to…" Calumon hesitated. "Of course… you can't access EmperorGreymon right now… so I'm guessing you'll go for Aldamon?"

Takuya looked down. "That's my strongest form right now." He replied.

"Okay. I'll try my best to back you up," Calumon stated. "Just… please, don't… don't get yourself killed, okay?"

Takuya frowned a bit. _Why is it that Calumon sounds so familiar? I can't place it, but the voice is so… it just sounds familiar to me..._

The castle was trembling heavily now, it was hard to stay standing. Takuya could hear Techatamon's voice just outside.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?~" Techatamon purred. "So much data, so much power! I want it all!"

Takuya gripped his D-Tector before he looked up. He knew what he had to do. Takuya grabbed his D-Tector and held it up, forming the familiar ball of fractal code around his left hand. He scanned it through the D-Tector's light, swiping his hand up as he did so. "_EXECUTE NOW! FUSION EVOLUTION!"_ he cried. The fractal code surrounded him, transforming into a blue-white cocoon of light. Within it, he felt the familiar transformation sweep over him. His body grew in height and became more muscular as a tugging sensation near the bottom of his spine transformed into a tail. A slight pain accompanied the growth of his wings and a sharp pain filled his mouth as his teeth elongated. Armor formed on his body and his hair turned yellow, becoming long and wild as his eyes turned a sharp, icy blue color. The light finally shattered and he flared his wings, landing and shouting out his name as he did so. _"ALDAMON!"_

Now in his Fusion form of Aldamon, Takuya was at his strongest. Aldamon flexed his wings before heading out himself.

Andy and Dorugamon were surprised when they saw an unfamiliar Digimon, yet he was familiar at the same time. They were the only ones to have witnessed the evolution, aside from Calumon.

"Huh… so Takuya could do _that_…" Andy noted. "But that evolution looked…_ painful_."

"Yeah… whenever a human turns into a beast, or fuses with a beast spirit, it's likely painful to them because it changes their bodies completely. Human spirits are more controllable, less primal, and it's more similar to their original bodies," Dorugamon explained.

Andy frowned. "Does Takuya feel that pain whenever he becomes BurningGreymon?"

Unfortunately, now wasn't the time for questions. The castle was shaking again, and the roof suddenly came off. Techatamon grinned as he looked down at all the Digimon.

"Crap…" Dorugamon swore as he looked up at Techatamon.

Techatamon's grin grew bigger. "This castle's power will be mine!"

"We will stop you before then!" Sorcermon shouted.

With that, everyone attacked. Dorugamon and Aldamon flew up from their positions, going up to Techatamon's chest and face. The Digimon down below were supposed to keep Techatamon distracted while they tried to find a weak spot or the area of his Digi-Core. Tucker was keeping track of them with his D-Arc. Surprisingly, his PDA functions were still in his D-Arc.

"Okay… let's see if either of them can find Techatamon's Digi-Core…" Tucker muttered.

Aldamon flew around, keeping his distance for the time being. He was looking for any weak spots on Techatamon's chest armor, but his efforts were yielding little so far. He frowned to himself. "Where could it be…?"

There were other flying Digimon as well, they didn't want Techatamon to get suspicious after all. There were Birdramon, Saberdramon, Snimon, Kabuterimon, Kuwagamon, Airdramon, Unimon and more surrounding Techatamon.

"You are all such annoying pests!" Techatamon snapped before he began to create several balls of energy with nano-tech. "_Nano Energy Ball!_ You like it? I just named it myself!"

Aldamon saw the attack, but he knew how to counter it. "You think you're the only one who can do that?!" He then cupped his hands together, gathering energy into his hands. The fireball began to grow larger with the energy still gathering. "_RAAAAH! Solar Wind Destroyer!"_ The fireball now complete, Aldamon then threw it right at Techatamon's energy balls.

The fireball destroyed several of the Nano Energy Balls, but there were still more. The other Digimon then used their own attacks to try to cancel out as many of the Nano Energy Balls as possible. Dorugamon used his Cannonball attack as well. Only about three Nano Energy Balls hit the ground. Thankfully, none of the Digimon were hit, but the shockwave caused several of them to fall down. The Rookie levels were already showing their fractal code from the shockwave alone.

Seeing that, Aldamon looked back at Techatamon with a glare. "You want a fight, you'll get one!" He then flew at Techatamon again, weaving around any Nano Energy Balls that were still in the air and firing at him.

Techatamon, getting frustrated with Aldamon's attacks, turned himself intangible, making Aldamon's attacks go through him.

"He turned intangible!"

"That wasn't even a Digimon move!"

"No… it's a ghost move." Andy frowned.

Aldamon wound up going right through Techatamon's intangible form, turning around in shock and surprise. "Okay… that was _not_ what I expected…"

"Of course not, you could never hope to defeat MegaTechatamon!" Techatamon laughed before he swiped at Aldamon, making him fall several feet.

"Aldamon!" A very, _very_ familiar voice shouted in concern.

As he fell, Aldamon was _sure_ he knew whose voice that was. _T-Tommy?_

When Aldamon opened his eyes, however, he didn't see Tommy, or Kumamon, or Korikkakumon, instead, he just saw Calumon frantically flying towards him. "Get up! Fly up! He's coming!"

Realizing he was in danger, Aldamon flared his wings and managed to right himself before adjusting his body so he glided away from the area, narrowly avoiding a sharp mechanical spider leg from piercing through his back.

Looking back, Aldamon felt his face pale at seeing how close he came to getting seriously hurt if not worse. _Thank you, Calumon… That could have ended me… Though I could've sworn I heard Tommy's voice._

_"__Cannonball!"_ Dorugamon shot out a large iron ball at Techatamon's container brain, hoping to break the glass, unfortunately his Cannonball bounced right off, not even leaving a crack.

"He's too powerful!" Andy hissed. "If only we could get to the Digi-Core…"

Dorugamon frowned. "Yes, but finding it is the hard part. I can sense it, but I can't pinpoint its exact location. I think his ghost core might be shielding it from my senses."

"Even if we knew where it was, how are we going to get to it? His body is too tough, our attacks are bouncing right off his armor." Andy frowned. "We need another ghost, we need Danny."

"But he's unconscious, remember?" Dorugamon pointed out.

"I know that," Andy hissed. "I… just don't know how long we can keep this up. Someone's going to get hit from those Nano Energy Balls if this keeps up."

Tucker was working frantically on his D-Arc, Gargomon was joining in the fight, but he was mostly there to keep Tucker safe. "Come on, come on, where are you…"

Aldamon looked down, wondering what was taking Tucker so long. He couldn't blame Tucker for taking a while though. The stress would no doubt make anyone nervous enough to panic and take a long while. Turuiemon jumped up from the crowd, using his gauntlets to try to beat back Techatamon's legs. Techatamon moved his giant mechanical leg before kicking Turuiemon away.

Andy tried using his notepads to make Dorugamon's Cannonball explode, he even tried making them into liquid to try to slow Techatamon down. But Techatamon was too powerful, he was able to withstand the Meta Explosions like they were nothing, and he easily broke out of the hardened metal liquid. Aldamon flew back into action, he was currently their strongest Digimon powerhouse, he had to do something.

An idea came to Aldamon's mind as he realized Techatamon had not yet been attacked from behind. _Maybe…_ He had a plan racing through his mind as he flew up as high as he could before circling around behind Techatamon. He flew down in a glide, hoping to get the jump on Techatamon. Techatamon wasn't even paying him any attention, he was too busy having fun with the other Digimon trying desperately to push him back.

Seeing that he was completely ignored, Aldamon couldn't help but smirk. _Let's see if he can counter this!_ The Fusion-evolved Warrior of Flame flew in and came to a hover as his arm cannons turned and opened to firing mode. The charge built up before Aldamon then unleashed his attack _"Atomic Inferno!"_ His cannons let loose a barrage of fiery bullets, impacting Techatamon's back directly.

Techatamon let out an annoyed hissed. "Hey! What are you doing!? Don't you know it's rude to attack your opponent from behind? I guess I should have to teach you a lesson."

Before Aldamon could move, he was suddenly wrapped up by wires that came out of Techatamon's back. Aldamon let out a scream as he was being electrocuted by the wires. He felt his energy and Spirit draining and glitching out since the electricity had ghostly properties.

"Aldamon! No!" Andy yelled, seeing his cousin turned Digimon being electrocuted.

As Aldamon was screaming in pain, a part of him wondered if this was how Danny felt when he accidentally turned on the portal.

"That will teach you, you annoying little gnat!" Techatamon gloated. "For I, Techatamon, am too strong for even you! I will wipe your data, and claim this world's fractal code to take over the world!"

Having had enough, and determined to save his cousin from the same fate as Danny, Andy grabbed out his cards. "Dorugamon, fly in close to those wires, hurry!"

Dorugamon didn't even answer, he just started flying to where Andy wanted him to. Andy swiped a card on his D-Arc. _"Digi-Modify! Etemon's Dark Network activate!"_

Dorugamon summoned black wires around Techatamon's wires around Aldamon. Andy quickly got out another card. _"Digi-Modify! Phantomon's Shadow Scythe activate!"_

A large dark purple and black scythe appeared in Dorugamon's claws. Etemon's Dark Network was weakening the wires that held Aldamon. Dorugamon was coming in to try to cut the wires with the Shadow Scythe. Techatamon made another wire that grabbed Dorugamon's arms. Andy didn't hesitate to swipe another card in his D-Arc.

_"__Digi-Modify! Devimon's Laser Wings activate!"_ Andy was panting, and he was starting to feel a little dizzy.

Dorugamon's wings turned sharp before it blasted out lasers at the wires on Dorugamon's arms. Now free, Dorugamon swung his Shadow Scythe at the wires around Aldamon, freeing him. But Aldamon was weakened and hurt from the ecto electricity. Dorguamon grabbed onto him before he floated down away from Techatamon.

Aldamon groaned as he regained his senses after that 'shocking' experience. Burns covered his armor here and there, and while he did feel a bit disoriented from the experience, he was still relatively uninjured, mostly due to his higher level. "Ugh… _That_ was quite the experience…"

Dorugamon put Aldamon down after they landed. "Are you okay?"

Andy was breathing a little heavily and was sweating. "Hey… don't… go doing… that again… okay?"

Aldamon looked back at Andy, noticing how the boy looked quite tired. "I… Are you okay?" Worry was in his voice as he slowly made his way to Andy's side.

Andy was still on Dorugamon's back, and although it could be a bit taxing to have to hold on while Dorugamon was in a battle, Andy should not be this wiped out.

"I'm fine… just…" Andy panted.

"He did a lot of Digi-Modifies, that takes energy from him," Dorugamon explained.

Aldamon frowned when he heard that. "Andy…" He then felt a pang of guilt rush through him. _Is it because I attacked Techatamon from behind? Was that why Andy had to save me…?_

"Heh… sorry… I should have… tried to conserve… those modify cards… but you know… I didn't… want you to end up… like Danny…" Andy said, still panting.

Dorugamon looked back at Andy in worry. "Don't use anymore modify cards for this battle, Andy. We should focus on finding a weakness in Techatamon's armor, or where his Digi-Core is located."

Aldamon frowned. "But where would we find his Digi-Core? His ghost core is most likely masking it, making it difficult to find."

"There are two likely spots right now," Dorugamon spoke up. "The Digi-Core is either that brain in that glass jar in his head. Or it's in his chest somewhere. Ghosts usually need their core to be somewhere where it can distribute their ectoplasmic energy through their body quickly. And a Digi-Core is like a Digimon's heart and brain. They need it to think, to feel, to use their attacks."

Hearing that, Aldamon looked back at Techatamon. "So we have two possible locations…" _It wouldn't be the brain… too obvious._

Techatamon grinned as he suddenly summoned hundreds of the Nano Energy Balls. Everyone's eyes widened in horror. "Let's see you dodge all of this!"

"Move!" Andy yelled.

Dorugamon and Aldamon quickly flew in different directions just as Techatamon had his Nano Energy Balls scatter at the Digimon and the castle. Turuiemon and Gargomon grabbed their human partners and moved away quickly. The other Digimon that were unfortunate enough to be hit were quickly deleted or dispersed into data.

Seeing this, Aldamon felt anger rising in his chest as he gritted his teeth. This wasn't how this was supposed to go! _When did such a simple mission to track down Technus become this battle for survival?!_

Aldamon was so focused on dodging the Nano Energy Balls and his anger on how they were losing Digimon that he didn't notice Techatamon's leg until it was too late. Aldamon heard a sickening crunch, and felt unbelievable pain. Looking down, he saw his torso was pierced through by the leg. It wasn't in very deep, but it definitely went through his armor. Thankfully, it was more on his left side than in his gut, but it was still hurting like hell.

"Shouldn't have left your guard down," Techatamon sneered before kicking Aldamon away. "Now, who's next? That is, if you think you can handle me, MegaTechatamon!"

Aldamon laid there on the ground, dizzy, weakened. He began to close his eyes, his memories starting to go back to when he was in the Digital World with his old friends.

"Listen Takuya…" A familiar voice spoke to him, or it could just be someone from his memories. "Remember that feeling when you and Koji fought with Cherubimon? Everyone's Spirit united into you two. And now… they're going to do it again."

_Am I… hearing things…?_ Aldamon thought in the mental haze that clouded his mind. _Is it… because I'm… dying…?_

_"__Wind into Flame!"_ Aldamon remembered hearing Zoey's voice shout.

_"__Ice into Flame!"_ Aldamon could hear Tommy's voice announce.

_"__Shining Digivolution!"_

Suddenly, Aldamon felt it, the Spirits were uniting with him again.

Aldamon groaned as he got to his feet, feeling energy surging through his weakened body, restoring his strength. Fractal code surrounded his form before he felt the familiar words slip from his mouth. _"Unity Execute! Unified Spirit Evolution!"_ As soon as he said those words, the Warrior of Flame felt the Spirits granting him their power, and a new form began to take shape. It was one he was familiar with. His body gained red and gold armor, and his wings came data that then became more armor. His tail disappeared into his spine as his head became more like BurningGreymon's but with orange armor on it and a white lower mouth guard. His hands wound up grabbing a familiar sword as blue eyes opened, swinging the sword twice before announcing his name. _"EmperorGreymon!"_

Now as EmperorGreymon, the Warrior of Flame was ready to take on Techatamon again. His blue eyes flashed as he glared, pointing his sword at the ghost-Digimon Hybrid. "Techatamon! Your reign of terror in this world is over!"

"Who's that?" Jazz asked when she saw the sudden 'new' Digimon.

"It's EmperorGreymon!" Turuiemon recognized immediately. "But how? There needed to be at least 4 other Legendary Warriors around to be able to summon _him_." _Did Calumon do this?_

"Oh please, no matter how many times you come back, you're still no match for me," Techatamon gloated.

EmperorGreymon twirled his sword twice in his left hand before the blade began to glow and he shoved the tip into the ground. "This is for Lady Ophanimon! _Pyro Dragons!"_ As soon as he said that, the ground began to glow with nine lines that then lanced up in the form of dragon heads that were made of flame. The flaming dragon heads launched towards Techatamon, making direct contact.

To Techatamon's shock, it actually hurt, and pushed him back. "Waaah!? How did you damage me!?"

"What happened?" Andy asked, seeing EmperorGreymon able to damage and push back Techatamon.

"Takuya got buff!" Dorugamon answered, looking in admiration.

Seeing he now had the advantage, EmperorGreymon was prepared to pull off the final blow. He aimed his sword and the blade began to glow again, but the edges of the sword opened up, making it look more like a launcher for a ranged attack than a blade. EmperorGreymon narrowed his eyes as he locked on target. _I only have a 50% chance to get this right. If I hit the wrong area, we may never hit his Digi-Core. It's either that brain jar, or his chest. I have to aim right…_ He adjusted his aim, trying to find the right area. After a few seconds of indecision, the Warrior of Flame decided to just wing it and hope for the best. He aimed at Techatamon's chest. "Time to end this! _Dragonfire Crossbow!"_

"Wait! Stop!" Someone shouted, it was Tucker. "His Digi-Core isn't in his chest!"

But it was too late. The sword became the projectile and launched, streaking towards Techatamon's chest. It wound up hitting, but it didn't pierce through. It _did_ however, leave a large impact dent. While Techatamon's Digi-Core wasn't in his chest, the attack did hurt him quite a bit, enough that it caused some fractal code to leave his chest and shrink him down a little.

"Wait… that's it!" Andy realized. "Keep hitting him! That'll weaken Techatamon and make it easier to locate his Digi-Core!"

EmperorGreymon heard that and gave a bit of a mental smirk. "That should be no problem." Then his smirk faded from his voice. "But that attack takes time to charge. I can't spam it over and over again instantly."

"That's fine, he now has a gaping weak spot for us to aim now!" Jazz called out.

Techatamon gulped. "Oh… this is going to hurt…"

_"__Cannonball!"_

_"__Gargo Pellets!"_

_"__Gauntlet Claw!"_

The three partnered Digimon, as well as the Digimon who were still left to fight, all used their attacks at Techatamon's hole. Techatamon did summon an ecto shield around the hole in an attempt to hold off the attacks, but the stronger ones were able to break through the shield. Techatamon let out a cry of pain as more fractal code came out of his body and he began to shrink some more.

"You are all forgetting that I am a ghost!" Techatamon shouted before turning himself invisible.

"Oh crap! Can anyone see or sense him at all!?" Andy called out.

EmperorGreymon remained absolutely still. He was focusing on something. Then, he whirled around, swinging his sword at seemingly empty air. The blade made contact with something metal. "You can't hide from a Digimon's senses!"

Techatamon returned to visibility, revealing that EmperorGreymon just sliced off one of Techatamon's legs.

"How did you find me?!" Techatamon demanded.

"A Digimon's senses allow us to sense other Digimon and/or ghosts. Since you are fused with a Datamon, that means you are now a Digimon too." EmperorGreymon replied with malice in his voice.

Dorugamon flew next to EmperorGreymon, while Turuiemon and Gargomon jumped on some of the platforms left of the castle to stand closer to the two of them. Techatamon frowned, seeing that the Digimon were starting to overwhelm him now. He hissed before he grinned, turning himself intangible.

"I should warn you that by taking me out, you're also hurting that poor, innocent Datamon who had nothing to do with any of this," Techatamon stated.

EmperorGreymon remained impassive at hearing that. "Innocent or not, there _will_ be casualties. That Datamon _will_ be reborn once purged of your ectoplasmic influence, but that will only happen if you are defeated!"

"You can't be serious! Aren't you always one of those do-gooders who would never hurt someone innocent in battle?" Techatamon snapped.

"Maybe if it wasn't a Digimon, I would be more hesitant," EmperorGreymon admitted, he may not be perfect, but he wasn't heartless by any means. "Too bad for you, I don't use ecto energy that would glitch and erase a Digimon's data."

Techatamon seemed to become fearful at hearing that. EmperorGreymon meant business it sounded like. "You're bluffing!"

"I found it!" Tucker called out, running over to Gargomon and climbing onto the gun bunny's shoulders. "His Digi-Core is in his head! Not the brain, but his forehead!"

EmperorGreymon, upon hearing that, knew what to do. He hefted his sword and aimed it again, the sides of the blade opening to launcher mode again. "I can take it out with one shot, but it will take time to charge the attack."

"Which will be time I won't give you," Techatamon announced before the sky suddenly became dark. "This is my ultimate attack. You might survive it, but can you say the same for your friends?"

The clouds began to rain down ectoplasmic water filled with nano technology. It was easily eating away the castle's walls like powerful acid. Dorugamon let out a scream of pain as some of the rain hit him. Gargomon and Turuiemon were in pain as well, their bodies starting to glitch out.

"Dorugamon! Get to a shelter and degenerate, hurry! I suggest the rest of you do the same!" Andy quickly instructed.

"Hurry, Turuiemon!" Jazz held up her D-Arc, degenerating Turuiemon before his body could glitch out anymore.

Tucker did the same with Gargomon.

Once Lopmon and Terriermon were in their Rookie forms, Jazz and Tucker carried them in their arms, attempting to shield them from the rain. Dorugamon degenerated into Dorumon as he fell.

"You're going to be okay, Dorumon, just hang on!" Andy frowned, trying to push the weakened Rookie out of the dangerous rain.

EmperorGreymon could feel the rain trying to eat away at his armor, but his higher level was holding it off for the time being. His blade glowed brightly, signaling it was fully charged. However, he could not attack, due to Techatamon being intangible. Instead, he let the attack dissipate before putting his sword on his back and rushing to help get the other Digimon to safety. Many of them were too injured to be able to run away from the ecto rain.

"Heh, your attack would've worked on a normal Digimon, but not one who is also a ghost!" Techatamon laughed before he turned to Andy and Dorumon. They were currently the ones closest to Techatamon since Dorumon was too big for Andy to carry away with him, and Dorumon was too weakened to move much. "I'm going to need some of my strength back. Looks like you two are the perfect sacrifices!"

Andy and Dorumon gasped, seeing that Techatamon was now reaching down for them. "Stay away!"

"Metal-" Dorumon coughed, unable to get his attack through.

Seeing Andy was in trouble, EmperorGreymon ran for Andy and Dorumon. "ANDY! DORUMON!"

_"__Puppy Howling!"_ A sudden sound wave of what sounded like small dogs howling, hit Techatamon's arm. It wasn't enough to cause damage, but it did take Techatamon off guard.

Techatamon stopped, caught by surprise. "What was that?!"

"Heads up!" A familiar voice suddenly spoke up before a black and white blur flew by Andy, taking Andy with it.

"Whoa!" Andy yelped when he was suddenly in the air. "Waaah!? What's happening!?"

"Whoa, easy there, calm down! You okay, bro?" That familiar voice asked Andy.

Andy stopped flailing around, recognizing that voice, before he looked up to see who grabbed him. "Danny? You're awake?"

"Heh… Sorry I worried you, bro." Danny said with a sheepish grin on his face.

It wasn't just Danny either, Sam and Salamon came running over to Dorumon. Sam was checking on Dorumon. "Are you okay? Sorry we're late. It took a while for Danny and Salamon to wake up."

"Everyone has been fighting hard," Salamon said as she looked over at EmperorGreymon. "But now it's time to finish this."

Danny looked over at the 'new' Digimon. "Whoa… What Digimon is that?"

"It's still Techatamon, Danny, he just… evolved," Andy answered. "Listen, he's intangible so we can't hit him. But since you're a ghost, you can go intangible too, and get into his forehead!"

"His forehead!? Why would I want to do that?" Danny asked, shocked and disgusted by the idea.

"To get his Digi-Core! If we can take that out, then Techatamon should either revert to normal or… I don't know, just be defeated or something," Andy answered. "Look, you're the only here who's able to go through Techatamon's armor and intangibility. So suck it up and go through his forehead!"

Danny gave a wince before sighing. "Okay… I'll give it a shot." He then gave a bit of a mischievous grin before he flew at Techatamon, still holding onto Andy. "Let's go!"

As soon as he said that, Danny turned intangible as he flew at Techatamon, Andy still in his grasp.

"Whoa, wait a second! Aren't you going to put me down first!?" Andy yelled.

"Nope. If I gotta do this, you gotta do this too!" Danny answered.

The ghost boy then entered Techatamon's forehead while intangible. As soon as Danny entered Techatamon's forehead, he began to look for anything that looked like a Digi-Core, but he had no idea what one looked like, so Danny was just winging it.

"What's this Digi-Core supposed to look like?" Danny asked as he was flying around.

The inside of Techatamon's head was different than both brothers were expecting. It was green, that was no shocker, but it was also black, there was electricity flowing through like they were inside some kind of machine rather than a living being. It was also a maze, there were too many different paths to take.

Andy looked into his D-Arc, having pulled it out from his pocket. "Seems you pulling me in here was a blessing in disguise. Dorumon should be able to sense it, even if he isn't with me right now. I think we weakened Techatamon to the point that his Digi-Core is more exposed."

Danny gave a blink of surprise. "Well… I just brought you with as a bit of revenge, but I guess it _did_ work out, since I have _no_ idea on where this Digi-Core is or what it looks like."

"Dorumon, can you hear me? Can you help us look for the Digi-Core?" Andy requested.

Dorumon, who was outside, closed his eyes and his forehead gem gave a glow. "You're near it, Andy."

A holographic compass appeared in Andy's D-Arc, a red arrow pointing in a certain direction. The boy smiled. "Go left from here, Danny!"

Danny nodded as he flew in that direction. "Okay, how far do I have to fly?"

"Just keep going until I tell you to change direction," The younger twin answered, looking at his compass.

Danny yelped as a mini ghost tried to tackle them, he moved out of the way. "Okay, we also gotta watch out for those… ghost… blood cells…?"

"Don't… don't think too hard on that," Andy groaned. "Turn right, and go north!"

Danny kept following Andy's instructions while also avoiding the small ghosts that were trying to latch onto them. Danny had to use his ghost rays on a few because they were trying to surround them.

Then, Danny stopped in front of what looked like a green, blue, and purple meld of colors in the form of a sphere. It was huge, and it looked to be made of both data and ectoplasm. The data looked to be corrupted, however, like it couldn't properly meld with the ectoplasm. Andy could see the compas's arrow was pointing at it.

"That's it… I see… Techatamon isn't a true Digimon, he's more ghost than Digimon," Andy noted. "I have a feeling that he wouldn't exist for very long until the data gets completely eroded from the poor Datamon that was caught up in all of this."

Danny frowned. "So… what do we do now? We found his Digi-Core, but now how do we get rid of it? I don't think I could handle taking a Digimon's life."

"You won't have to bro." Andy gave a small smile. "I think… I know someone who can purify this Digi-Core. But we have to get it out first. Do you think you can do that?"

Danny blinked, but nodded. "Yeah, I believe I can. But not while I'm holding you. I would need my two hands for this."

"If that's the case, then the way I see it, you have two options. I doubt you'll be able to find this again on your own, so… you either leave me behind…" Andy started. "Or you overshadow me and use my body to take the Digi-Core out."

Danny blinked before shaking his head. "Option one is out, bro. So that means option two is our best bet." He then paused. "I… uh… are you okay with me using your body like that?"

"It's not like it would be the first time I've been overshadowed," Andy sighed. "But at least I trust you to not turn me or Dorumon into murdering machines. I know you're hesitant, bro, but there's not much time. That rain Techatamon summoned is going to eat away the castle and the Digimon soon. Please, just hurry and do it."

Danny sighed and nodded. "Okay, bro. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it before I did so." He then turned himself intangible before he flew into Andy's body.

Andy didn't put up much of a fight as he let his brother take him over. When Andy's eyes opened, they were glowing neon green rather than their normal green color. With Danny Phantom now in control, he made Andy's body fly over to the Digi-Core. "Alright, you big sucker, let's get you out of here!"

The ectoplasm was dense and strong. Danny had to put his own ghost ray around his brother's hands to keep them protected like gloves as he grabbed onto the giant Digi-Core and ripped it out from the area. He then struggled a bit as he turned himself and the Digi-Core intangible in order to phase it out of Techatamon's head.

The Digi-Core turned intangible, allowing Danny, in Andy's body, to move it out of Techatamon's forehead. Because Danny was stronger as a ghost, moving the Digi-Core was somewhat easier, and he got it out of Techatamon's forehead with almost no difficulty once it was moving.

Still in Andy's body, Danny looked around, wondering who this person Andy was talking about purifying the Digi-Core.

_"__Over there. That big one. EmperorGreymon,"_ Andy's voice said in Danny's head, which surprised the older twin.

_"__Andy? You can talk to me in my head?"_ Danny thought back to Andy.

_"__I'm just glad you can hear me. I was worried you wouldn't have been able to,"_ Andy chuckled.

_"__Wait, how are you conscious?"_ Danny questioned.

_"__I'm not really sure. It might have something to do with our souls being linked the way they are…"_ Andy muttered.

_"__What?"_ Danny blinked.

_"__I'll explain later, just get EmperorGreymon's attention!"_ Andy spoke up.

Danny looked down at EmperorGreymon, who was currently trying to get the Digimon to safety. "HEY! EMPERORGREYMON! I have something for you!"

EmperorGreymon stopped and looked up at 'Andy', but he could sense that there was a familiar ghost currently in Andy's body.

"This is Techatamon's Digi-Core! You can purify it, right!?" Danny called out.

EmperorGreymon was surprised to see the Digi-Core, but he figured things could be explained regarding that later. He knew what needed to be done upon seeing the state of the Digi-Core.

"Yes, I believe I can, toss it over here!" EmperorGreymon instructed.

"W-what? NO! NOOOOO! I need that!" Techatamon shouted, seeing that the Digimon he fused with was taken out of him. He attempted to reach out at Danny to grab him.

Danny shot Techatamon's face with his ghost ray, which did more damage to Techatamon due to his Digimon's body. Then Danny threw the Digi-Core at EmperorGreymon. "HERE YOU GO BIG GUY!"

EmperorGreymon reached up and caught the Digi-Core in his hand before he then let it go and let it hover in front of him. He then reached and took out his red and black D-Tector. "Time to send this ghost to the flames!" He pressed the button on the side as the screen lit up with the symbol of Flame before swinging his arm and running the scanner along the fractal code that showed itself. _"Fractal code, Digitize!"_

The Digi-Core, now purified of the ectoplasm corroding it, turned into the Datamon that Technus had fused with. Datamon gave a peaceful smile at EmperorGreymon. "Th-thank you…"

With that said, the Datamon turned into a Digi-Egg and floated into the sky, heading for Primary Village likely to be reborn.

"NOOOOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Techatamon cried as he shrunk down, all the fractal code he had in his body dispersing and spreading out, going back to where they came from before he had consumed them.

Techatamon was now back to being Technus once more. Technus was incredibly weak as he was now. Danny, still in his brother's body, floated down until he landed. Then Danny came out of Andy's body. He expected Andy's body to fall to the ground, so he was prepared to catch him, but Andy only stumbled a little bit before regaining his composure.

"That was a weird experience, but it was cool to fly like that," Andy commented.

Danny looked at Andy with a sheepish chuckle. "Heh… Sorry about that, bro."

Andy shook his head. "It was the best way to go about things."

The two brothers then looked at the pitiful state Technus was in. The ghost could hardly move.

"Hey, listen here, you… young hipsters, this isn't over yet! I can still fight!" Technus said, trying to look intimidating.

EmperorGreymon stood over them, towering over the troublesome ghost.

"You won't last long in that state." EmperorGreymon pointed out. "And against a Digimon of my level, what does that say? I can easily wipe the floor with you without wasting any of my attacks on you at this point."

Technus shrunk down in fear. "Ah… heh… so you can… even I, Technus, know when to back down!"

Technus was about to make a break for it when Danny pulled out his Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost right into it. "What a troublesome ghost…"

"Finally…" Andy groaned, relaxing now that the ghost was captured.

Someone who was watching them from not so far away gave a small sigh of relief, before holding up a green and blue D-Tector. EmperorGreymon felt the other Spirits leave him all of a sudden, fractal codes surrounded him, changing him back to Flamemon again.

Looking himself over, Flamemon panicked. "WHAAA?! NOT AGAIN!"

* * *

**Titanic X****: DarkFoxKit:** The new outfits came with the idea of the Digimon 02 anime, whenever the characters went through the Digi-Port, they got a change of clothes, so we decided to go with that idea. With Takuya, we decided he'll become Flamemon again. XD

**ZAFT:** That was a riot to write out! XD

**GirlFish****: ZAFT:** Don't worry, we have a plan on what to do with Patamon. ;3

**DarkFoxKit:** Flamon? Oh, you're using the Japanese name for Flamemon I see. I always thought 'Flamon' sounded a bit dumb though in Digimon Rumble Arena 2, it sounded like you're filaing him. So I usually prefer to call him Flamemon myself. As for if we'll do it again, it's gonna happen every time he goes into the Digital World via Digi-Portal instead of a Trailmon, so yeah, we'll be doing it again.

**ZAFT:** It will be fun! I love doing that. XD

**DarkFoxKit:** As for Koji being Starbimon, he does actually become Starbimon if he goes through the Digi-Port himself, but it's usually off screen as we're not following Koji. But we'll see if we could one day show it.

**Mystery889****: ZAFT: **Tamers is one of my favorites too. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Tamers is probably a lot of Digimon's fans favorite season of the anime, and it's what inspired the Digimon partner system in the story. Originally, we weren't going to have Digimon partners in the story.

**ZAFT:** But I think it worked out well to include the Digimon partners. :3 Dorimon seems to be a fan favorite here. XD

**Lunal Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit: **Well, Andy has a lot of self esteem issues. He's also terrified of the idea of having the ability to see into the future. It would mean _he's_ not normal, despite his family not being very normal to begin with.

**ZAFT:** And the idea of Andy rejecting being a seer is kinda ironic. :3 But it makes for some good humor at the moment. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** As for Dorimon… yeah, he could be seen as a 13 year old, but I like to think since he's pretty much linked to Andy due to becoming his partner, he's about the same mental age as Andy is, which is 14, so you're pretty close.


	33. Fate of the Digital World

**ZAFT:** Another update, another week. :3

**Takuya:** ***Peeks out nervously*** Is Andy around?

**DarkFoxKit:** Uh… why do you want to know?

**Takuya:** I don't want to be jumped by him or Danny. I… may have pranked Andy with a teddy bear again… Not Bearbert though!

**DarkFoxKit:** Why would you prank him with a teddy bear, Takuya? You know Andy can be… _creative_ with revenge if motivated enough.

**ZAFT:** I need to keep Takuya on a leash… literally…

**Takuya:** I was bored, okay?! Ack! ***Hides***

**DarkFoxKit:** … Okay, well then, remind me to get a picture when Andy decides to get him back.

**ZAFT:** Let's get onto the chapter while I try to find a leash...

* * *

**Chapter 33: Fate of the Digital World**

With Technus captured and secured, things were able to settle down. The ecto rain was gone, though the castle was still half in ruins due to the battle.

"I apologize, Lady Ophanimon, we weren't able to keep the castle safe…" Sorcermon apologized to Salamon, bowing his head to the much smaller Digimon.

"Do not beat yourself up about it," Salamon stated in her young, immature voice, yet the intent behind it was still full of authority. "It could not be helped. I was not conscious to help you all in our time of need, and for that, I should be the one apologizing to all of you."

Flamemon looked at Salamon. "Don't worry about it. You didn't know what Techatamon, or Technus, was capable of when you first took him on. So it wasn't your fault."

"I was still too careless and let his deadly attack get to me," Salamon sighed.

"It doesn't matter now, Technus is defeated, the Datamon will be reborn, the Digital World is safe from that glitch," Lopmon said, hoping to try to comfort the other Celestial Digimon.

"What about that ghost?" A Kyuubimon asked, looking at Danny, who was currently still in his Phantom form.

"He is a friend and ally, you don't need to worry about him," Salamon assured.

"Besides, we have another problem presented to us now," Lopmon spoke up. "Ophanimon, or rather… Salamon, am I right to assume you can't digivolve to your Mega form anymore now?"

Salamon gave a sad nod. "That would be correct." She admitted. "My data was damaged badly, so it may be awhile before I can reach my Mega Form again."

"That's a problem then. At least one Celestial Digimon needs to handle the Digital World and maintain its order during these trying times, otherwise it might fall into chaos again, and create another Lucemon scenario," Lopmon informed. "But as you are now, you are in no condition to take your seat as Ophanimon. I myself can't become Cherubimon anymore either. And Seraphimon is… not with us right now."

Danny frowned at that. "That _is_ a problem. Who can we leave to protect the Digital World if none of the Celestial Digimon can reach their most powerful forms?"

"Perhaps the Legendary Warriors might be able to watch over the Digital World for the time being," Salamon suggested. "They are a symbol of hope in the Digital World, and with all the Celestial Digimon recovering right now, they need them now more than ever."

"But… it's a lot to ask for," Andy spoke up. "Especially since they're… not exactly adults yet…"

"Not adults?" Sam spoke up, sounding confused. "How would you know these Legendary Warriors aren't adults?"

"Never mind that now," Flamemon spoke up. "We have more pressing issues, like who will keep an eye on the Digital World."

Sam looked confused still, but let it go.

"Regardless of what age the Legendary Warriors are, we don't even know who they are, or where they are right now," Tucker noted.

"Besides, if they are human, living in our world right now, they may not have the time to really look after the Digital World," Jazz added.

Flamemon gave a cringe at that, not that it was noticed. _That is a good point. We might be Legendary Warriors, but we still have human lives to live._

"So what do you suggest we do?" Terriermon asked. "No Celestial Digimon, and no Legendary Warriors…"

"Maybe… you can use those second in command?" Dorumon suggested. "Like how Sorcermon seems to be here when Salamon was out of commission?"

Danny blinked. "Actually, that may be a good idea. It seems like that would be the best way to go about it. I mean, they are second in command for a reason, right?"

"I wouldn't say we're second in command exactly," Sorcermon remarked. "We're more like assistance. I was Lord Seraphimon's assistant. Kyuubimon was Lady Ophanimon's assistant."

Kyuubimon nodded. "I was brought here when Lady Ophanimon decided to investigate Lord Seraphimon's disappearance."

"Oh… then who was Lopmon's assistant?" Jazz asked.

Sorcermon looked at the Terriermon on Tucker's shoulder. Terriermon looked away, Lopmon didn't look at Terriermon. There was still an obvious air of unease between the two rabbit Digimon.

Sam smacked her face with her hand. "Oh brother… Terriermon was Cherubimon's assistant, and now _he_ is Tucker's partner… Who do we leave in charge in _his_ place now?"

"It… may be a bit difficult, and unorthodox, but we can use a temporary replacement Digimon as Cherubimon's assistant," Kyuubimon suggested.

"Yeah, but who?" Jazz asked as she looked down at Lopmon.

Lopmon sighed, and scratched his ear a little, finding what he was about to say next to be difficult. "Do you remember those other 5 Legendary Warriors who attacked Seraphimon here before?"

Flamemon frowned. "You are talking about Duskmon, who is now gone, Mercurymon, Ranamon, Grumblemon, and Arbormon, right? Arbormon's Spirits found a host already, and Duskmon is no more, remember? So that leaves Mercurymon, Ranamon, and Grumblemon, the Warriors of Steel, Water, and Earth."

"That's a lot of warriors," Andy noted.

"Yes, I know of their fate, Flamemon," Lopmon sighed. "But, do you remember on that day, when you and your friends were at Primary Village? When you were fighting against the two Royal Knights, you had help on that day from those eggs of the Legendary Warriors, didn't you?"

Flamemon's green eyes went wide as he remembered that. "I do. You mean they are reborn? The last three Warriors have been reborn?"

"They've all been reborn, they're just no longer the Legendary Warriors," Lopmon explained.

Flamemon frowned. "How? What about the Spirits of those Warriors?"

"The other Spirits? I would assume they're currently with the human Legendary Warriors right now, are they not?" Lopmon raised an eyebrow.

Flamemon frowned again. "Err… only Arbormon's Spirits found a host."

"Well, regardless, two of them did actually retain the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors, and that would be Grumblemon and Mercurymon," Lopmon explained. "One of them can be my replacement for the time being. I would suggest Mercurymon though… he is the more intelligent out of the two of them."

Flamemon gave a wince, remembering Grumblemon's antics. "Yeah… That would be a good choice." _Especially since Mercurymon gave me and my friends a run for our money when we last fought him… In a way, his tactics reminded me of Andy's._

"Very well, we will go find Mercurymon and inform him of the situation," Sorcermon stated.

"This is the best hope we've got until the Celestial Digimon recover or one of them is able to take their seat again," Kyuubimon remarked.

Flamemon sighed. "Well, at least this time he should be on our side again…"

"He better be," Lopmon said before Flamemon gulped, seeing fire coming off of the little Rookie. "Because if he's not, he_ will _regret the day he was born again as a Legendary Warrior!"

"Jeez, cool off a bit, I thought Flamemon was supposed to be the hotheaded one," Andy sweatdropped.

Flamemon looked on with a sweat-drop as well. "Jeez… Just stay calm, Lopmon…"

Jazz couldn't help but chuckle, but she was also somber. She knew Lopmon was reacting that way because he was worried about Mercurymon possibly still retaining his malice from when Lopmon was corrupted.

"Well…" Danny coughed. "Now that we have that issue sorted out, we should get back to the real world. We have a ghost to drop off at the Ghost Zone after all." He shook the Fenton Thermos as he said that.

"We also have a lot to rebuild as well," Kyuubimon noted. "We thank you, young warriors, for helping us fend off against that ghostly threat."

"Yes, we must take measures to make sure something like that doesn't happen again," Sorcermon agreed.

"But how did he get into this world in the first place?" Dorumon asked.

"I would like to know that too," Salamon added.

Flamemon sighed here. He had to tell them. "Someone is messing with the barriers between our world and the human world. Ghosts have been appearing in the town of Amity Park, and that is where the portal to the Digital World opened." He then looked up. "At least, as far as I can tell anyway."

"So do you think that when Technus tried to go into that computer game, he ended up opening a portal to the Digital World instead by accident?" Andy asked.

"That was our theory…" Danny sighed.

"And it seems that is what happened, based on what happened today." Flamemon added.

"So I guess that means we better safeguard our technology from now on," Tucker said, before kissing his D-Arc. "I won't let any mean ghost take over you, no I won't."

"Cut that out! You're embarrassing the rest of us!" Sam hissed.

Terriermon laughed at Tucker's antics. "He does that to most of his technology in his room!"

Tucker blushed at Terriermon's exclamation. "Terriermon! That's supposed to be private!"

"I'm not surprised," Andy chuckled.

Danny rolled his eyes. "We'll try to do something about the person messing with the barriers between the worlds, but until then, we really should get going. It's getting late."

"Yeah," Andy agreed. "Mom and Dad will be calling for us soon if we don't get home, and will think ghosts kidnapped us or something."

"Wait, we can't leave without Takuya, where is he?" Jazz asked.

"Oh! Uh… I'll go find him!" Flamemon volunteered, before anyone could say anything, he quickly ran off.

"Uh… should we follow him?" Tucker asked.

Danny and Andy shook their heads.

"Just let him go, I'm sure he'll bring Takuya out before long," Danny assured.

Dorumon was chuckling, stuffing his mouth with some rocks to keep from saying anything. It made Andy wonder if Dorumon could eat rocks too since he could eat metal, though Dorumon didn't seem all too keen to actually chew the rocks in his mouth.

While Flamemon was running, he recalled something. _That voice… I _know_ I heard it before. And then I Unified Spirit Evolved. It was… familiar… But _how_ was I able to become EmperorGreymon when I don't have the Spirits of Ice and Wind, let alone the Spirits of Earth and Wood? Dash has the Spirits of Wood, and he wasn't with us so… how did that happen?_

Flamemon recalled hearing the words, "Shining Digivolution" just before he felt those Spirits flooding into his being. And he remembered how Calumon told him about his ability to be able to digivolve Digimon into their highest level. He hadn't seen Calumon since he had Unified Spirit Evolved.

_Did Calumon use his Shining Digivolution on me?_ Flamemon wondered as he came to a stop. _That could be the only reason why I became EmperorGreymon. Nothing else makes sense as the reason._

Then Flamemon remembered what Calumon said, that if he used his Shining Digivolution while he was tired after helping Danny, he would cease to be for a time. But if Calumon was to suddenly cease to be, then what would happen to his fractal code?

Flamemon shook his head. He couldn't worry about that now. He had to return to his human form and return to the others. Focusing on the link between his two Spirits, Flamemon broke it and fractal code surrounded him, returning him to his human form.

Now as Takuya, he made his way back to the others. _I can worry about the exact circumstances surrounding becoming EmperorGreymon later. I need to get home..._

Takuya made his way back to the others. "Hey guys! I guess you were able to defeat that big ghost Digimon, right?"

"Yeah, we were," Tucker called back.

"Where were you!?" Sam shouted. "We were worried about you! And why didn't you come out and try to help us if you were here?"

Before Takuya could answer, the Gomamon who helped Takuya earlier spoke up. "Hey, what do you mean he wasn't helping you? He was that big-"

Takuya slapped Gomamon upside the head lightly. "Hey, don't go saying things that aren't true. I was hiding from sight and helping what Digimon I could when they came by my hiding spot." He then leaned in towards Gomamon and whispered. "They don't exactly know I am Agunimon. Don't reveal, please."

Gomamon blinked, surprised to hear about that. "Why not?"

"I have my reasons," Takuya whispered before giving Sam a nervous laugh.

Sam sweatdropped. "You're being weird."

Takuya sweatdropped himself. "I guess I am…"

"Hey, let's not worry about it. Takuya's here, so that means we can go back home now," Andy spoke up happily.

"So uh… does anyone know how we're going to get back?" Dorumon asked.

Which was a good question, everyone went silent from that.

"... Nobody knows, huh?" Dorumon groaned.

Takuya blinked. "Can't we take a Trailmon home?"

"With how we got here? That would be dangerous," Lopmon spoke up. "Right now, you are all digital beings. If you were to try to go back on a Trailmon now, there's a chance you could damage your bodies. If you want to go back safely, I would suggest going back the way we came."

Takuya sighed. "So much for that idea…"

Danny looked around. "But _how_ do we get home? It's not like we can use an old TV here, is there? Where would we find something like that in the Digital World?"

"Oh, well there are many things like monitors or TV sets lying around the Digital World," Sorcermon spoke up. "You're free to use them if you think they'll help you get back home."

"I told you technology was awesome!" Tucker grinned.

Danny blinked. "You're kidding me… We can do that?!"

Takuya blinked as well. This was the first time he had heard of that. _Huh… And my friends and I came here via Trailmon? Well… It's… interesting to hear of a new way to get to the Digital World..._

"Sam, would it be alright if I go back with you?" Salamon asked her new partner. "You and I are now partners, it would be best if we stuck together for now."

Sam blinked as she looked at Salamon. "Are you sure? My parents may not accept you if you pretend to be a puppy."

"What if I pretend to be a stuffed puppy?" Salamon asked.

That got Sam thinking. If her parents saw her holding a cute stuffed animal, they would definitely approve, especially since Salamon wasn't all black and gloomy, according to her parents.

Sam then gave a nod. "That would work. My parents wouldn't say no to you if you were a 'stuffed puppy'."

Salamon gave a smile at the response.

"Alright, so we have one more Digimon on our team!" Tucker announced happily. "Hey, we should come up with a team name!"

"Oooh, I like that idea!" Jazz immediately agreed. "What should we call ourselves?"

"Can you two think about that after we get back home?" Andy groaned. "I'm tired, and I'm pretty sure we missed dinner."

"No! I want my dinner! … I wonder if computers taste any good," Dorumon muttered.

"You're not eating my computer, Dorumon!" Andy snapped.

Takuya nodded. "Andy needs that computer." His stomach then growled. "Ugh… I could use something to eat myself…" _It doesn't help my evolutions take so much energy..._

Danny was trying not to laugh, before his own treacherous stomach started growling.

"I didn't know ghosts could get hungry," Kyuubimon said in interest.

"I get the feeling this ghost boy is a… special case," Sorcermon stated.

"Uh… are there any monitors or TVs around here we could use to get back to our world?" Danny asked, trying not to appear _too_ embarrassed, but his cheeks were definitely flushing green, if Andy didn't know it was ectoplasm, he would think Danny looked sick.

Sorcermon looked back and smiled. "There is one over there." He pointed at what was a hidden monitor behind some brush. "It looks like it's intact too."

"Great, let's try it out and hope it works!" Jazz smiled.

The group went over to the monitor. "Okay, so D-Arc up…" Tucker held up his D-Arc to the monitor.

Just for good measure, Jazz, Andy, and Sam held up their D-Arcs to the monitor as well. The monitor flashed brightly before it sucked in all the people and Digimon beside them into it.

"Huh, so that's how that works…" Gomamon muttered.

As the team went through the vortex, Jazz went back to her normal black shirt with blue pants, Lopmon beside her. Sam went back to her black tank top with the purple circle and green and black skirt with black tights and matching combat boots, Salamon beside her. Tucker went back to his usual yellow shirt and khaki pants, Terriermon beside him. Andy went back to his regular black shirt with dark blue triangle and dark red pants, Dorimon beside him. Danny went back to his usual white T-shirt with red circle and blue pants with red and white sneakers. And Takuya went back to his usual outfit of a black shirt with the red kanji for fire on it, dark green pants and gloves, red and white sneakers, and his goggles around his neck.

They all came crashing out into what appeared to be someone's bedroom.

"You're on my back!"

"Well you're on my butt!"

"Someone please get their shoe off my head!"

"I can't see anything! Who has their shirt on my eyes!?"

"Stop pulling my foot!"

"You're pulling on my tail!"

"Those are my ears, you idiot! That hurt!"

"All of you get off me! I'm completely smooshed!"

"What's going on in here?" The bedroom's door suddenly opened.

"Oh my… what…?"

The people in the pile stopped moving and turned their heads over to see two african american people, a man and a woman. The man had green eyes, a black moustache and wore glasses, along with a white polo shirt, a red tie, and a light blue vest while the woman had dark blue, almost violet, eyes and wore a purple dress that had white sleeve ends, a white color and matching belt area. She also wore white earrings as well. These were Tucker's parents, Maurice and Angela Foley.

"Uh… hi Mom, hi Dad… I uh… invited some friends over," Tucker awkwardly greeted from the middle of the pile.

"What kind of game were you playing that involved all of you piling onto each other like that?" Maurice questioned.

"And where did you get those adorable stuffed toys?" Angela asked, looking at the Digimon, who were all still and quiet.

Sam looked a bit nervous. "Uh, we bought them. They were… the last ones in the toy store at the mall."

"And we were playing… Twister?" Danny said, although it came out like a question instead of a statement.

"Where's that mat you use for the game then? And… who's the needle flicker?" Maurice questioned.

"We were playing a different kind of Twister that involved all of us, and… these stuffed animals," Andy added.

Takuya gave a bit of a grin. The twins really came up with good ideas together, and this was one of them.

"Well… you should untangle yourselves, it's already dinner time, and I'm sure your parents want you all to be home for that," Angela stated.

"Yes… we will do that," Jazz grumbled, she was nearly at the bottom of the pile. "Thank you for the consideration, Mr. and Mrs. Foley."

The group were still trying to untangle themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Foley left to get dinner set.

"Are we going to end up like this every time we go through the Digital Portal?" Sam groaned.

"Let's hope not, my body can only take so much abuse," Tucker whined.

"Okay, just… everybody hold still, I think I have an easier solution to this," Danny grumbled, getting tired of all this struggling.

Everyone's bodies were suddenly intangible. It was a strange feeling, going intangible for Takuya, it was like he felt something cold going through his body. Then everyone easily rolled off of each other after that. Takuya wondered how Danny, or rather, Phantom, was able to control the intangibility enough for them to not just fall through the floor.

_Maybe it has to do with the fact that Danny is Phantom's host?_ Takuya wondered as he stood up as well, still feeling funny from being intangible.

Takuya was the last one in the pile, Danny released his intangibility on everyone. Takuya then realized with annoyance that he had been at the bottom of the pile _again_.

"Why is it that _I_ end up at the _bottom_ of the pile?" Takuya groaned.

"Maybe because you're the strongest one?" Andy shrugged.

Takuya was not sure if that was a jab at his Spirit Evolving ability or if it was the truth. "I… guess that could be it…"

"I'm just glad to be out of that pile. As an In-Training, I'm more squishy than most of you," Dorimon shook his fur.

"Someone nearly pulled my ear off," Lopmon grumbled.

"That was me…" Terriermon mumbled. "I didn't mean to…"

"The important thing is we're all here and safe," Salamon spoke up. "Hmm… so this is the human world, huh?"

"Well, this is Tucker's room actually," Sam spoke up before she picked up Salamon. "If you want to see what the human world is like, I'll have to take you out of here first. I should head home anyways before my parents call the SWAT team or something. And no, I'm not overexaggerating that."

Takuya sweatdropped at Sam's comment. "I don't doubt it…"

Danny then spoke up. "Sam's right. We need to get home. I'm sure all of us are hungry and tired."

As if on cue, Takuya's stomach let out a loud rumble.

"Sounds like someone is the most hungry one of all of us," Andy chuckled.

"Does someone need food or did you eat a lion on our way back?" Jazz laughed.

_I swear my Spirits are probably laughing at me right now!_ Takuya thought as he went red in the cheeks. "No… I'm just… really hungry…"

"I'm pretty hungry too. Let's go, I wanna eat! … Well, this place looks like it has some nice food though," Dorimon remarked, looking around at Tucker's tech stuff hungrily.

Tucker yelped. "No! You're not eating my babies!" He then looked at Andy. "Get Dorimon out of here before he eats my stuff!"

Andy groaned. _That's the problem with having a metal eater… you have to guard your metal stuff at all times._

Takuya reached down and picked up Dorimon. "I'm sure we can find you a metal tray or some scrap metal to munch. Tucker needs this stuff."

"Aww, I was just going to have a little nibble," Dorimon pouted.

"Dorimon, with your mouth being the size of your body, that'd be one big nibble," Andy sighed.

"And try explaining why Tucker's computer has a large bite mark out of it. That would be hard to explain to his parents." Takuya pointed out.

Dorimon grumbled.

* * *

"Where have you four been!?" Maddie snapped at Jazz, Takuya, Danny, and Andy when they walked into the house. "It's already past dinner time!"

"Yeah, we actually got groceries this time, but none of you were here to eat!" Jack pouted.

"The one time you two aren't super involved with your work, it had to be tonight?" Jazz groaned.

Takuya sighed. "We were at Tucker's house and lost track of time."

Maddie frowned before she looked at Andy. "And why were _you_ at Tucker's house? You weren't given permission to go anywhere. You were supposed to study after school with Mr. Lancer for your make-up test, then come straight home."

"I'm sorry Mom, something came up and I had to be there. But if it makes you feel any better…" Andy dug out his exam paper, which was thankfully still intact, and showed her the grade he got. "I took the make-up test and passed it."

Jack smiled at seeing that. "Well, it looks like Andy did well after all, Mads! He got a solid A!"

Maddie did calm down a bit at seeing that, and let out a sigh. "I'm happy that you passed the make up test, Andy, but you really should've come home and showed us before galvantalling to Tucker's house."

"Don't blame this all on Andy, I did sort of pressure him to come with us," Danny admitted, hoping for their parents to ease up on his brother.

Maddie frowned before she sighed. "Well, I can't say I blame you, Danny. But next time, at least let Andy show us his test before you two go off to Tucker's house."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, we didn't think about that," Danny sighed.

"It was a case of 'he passed, so he can show you at any time, so let's go have fun now' way of thinking. Very common in teenagers their age," Jazz stated, hoping to help in her own way.

"Well, at least you're all home now. I already have dinner ready, so if you're hungry, you could-" Maddie didn't get a chance to finish when all of the kids rushed into the kitchen and began eating the food on the table like ravenous wolves. "... Looks like they're starting to inherit your appetite, Jack, even Takuya."

Jack gave a booming chuckle. "Well, he does have the Fenton genes, even if they come from your side of the family."

Maddie smiled at that. "That is true… I should make more dinner, the kids are eating it all up rather quickly."

"Great, the more food the better~" Jack grinned.

Though while the kids were indeed hungry, the main reason why the food was running out so fast was because Jazz and Andy were feeding their Digimon as well, Danny and Takuya both needed to eat more than the average human due to their powers and how it eats up their calories faster.

Maddie went back into the kitchen to prepare more food, Jack following her as he smiled. Maddie couldn't help but smile as well. It was nice for them to step away from work and just make dinner, and have their kids enjoy it. _Maybe I'm not such a bad mother after all._

* * *

A few days had passed since their adventure in the Digital World and stopping Technus from completely destroying it. Takuya had been checking back on Sorcermon each day to make sure nothing was going awry with his D-Tector. So far, the Digimon were still rebuilding Seraphimon's castle. Koji and Koichi were checking in as well when they heard about the incident. Takuya called JP, Zoe, and Tommy to tell them about what had happened, though Tommy sounded a little weird. Like he had a cold or something. Takuya hoped the little guy was alright, he couldn't help but see Tommy as another little brother sometimes.

However, he knew he couldn't dwell on it for long, so he let the thought fade from his mind as he wondered if he would be allowed to get a break or something from all the ghost and Digimon attacks. Takuya sighed to himself. _At best, we may get a week free from ghosts, at worst, maybe two days. I need a vacation..._

Andy and Dorimon put the feather they got from Seraphimon's castle into a small glass container and put it in a drawer in their room. They figured the feather would be safe there, and whatever mystery data that was on it, until they could get something or someone to analyze it for more clues.

Takuya sighed, figuring it a good time to just relax for once. He was already feeling the urge to just forget everything and let his mind wander. He laid in bed for a moment, before there was a knock on his door.

Letting out another sigh, Takuya looked at the door. "Come in."

Andy came in with Dorimon on his head like a hat. "Hey, so Danny and I saw a flyer that a carnival is going to be in town at the pier tonight. Do you want to join us? It'll be fun, and a good way to unwind from everything."

Takuya grinned. "You had me at 'good way to unwind'." He sat up and got up from the bed, making sure he had his D-Tector on his person. It was a habit that he could not break, even if it was just to go out and have some fun. He then joined Andy. "I could use a break anyway."

"From what? Your thoughts?" Dorimon asked. "Or your bedroom?"

"From what went on a few days ago." Takuya replied as he stretched. "I still feel sore from that battle." He winced as his side where he had been stabbed as Aldamon twinged slightly. _Not to mention my side hurts still, not that Andy needs to know what happened..._

"That reminds me…" Andy suddenly said, making Takuya freeze and wondering if Andy somehow heard his thoughts. "You still haven't told me how you became those two Digimon… Aldamon and EmperorGreymon."

Takuya sighed here. "Aldamon is my Fusion form. It combines both my Human and Beast Spirit forms to become a more powerful Digimon. In that form, I am on par with a Mega level Digimon. But as EmperorGreymon, my last form, well… that one is hard to explain, since that form is usually accessed when the Spirits of Flame, Wind, Ice, Wood, and Earth are together." He then frowned himself. "And yet I was able to become my last form somehow, without those Spirits."

"How interesting…" Andy noted.

"I think that Calumon had something to do with it," Dorimon spoke up. "I sensed his power before he suddenly disappeared in that battle."

Takuya sighed. "I remember that he mentioned something like that to me. But… I don't want to think about what happened to him right now, as it just confuses me for some reason. I'm sure the little guy is okay, though."

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll see him again soon," Andy agreed.

"Did you see him in a vision?" Takuya asked.

Andy winced. "I told you that I'm not a seer! I just meant I have faith we'll see him again."

Takuya chuckled. "I'm just messing with you, cuz~" He grabbed Andy in a hug, making sure to avoid knocking Dorimon off Andy's head.

Andy was surprised by the sudden hug, then Takuya let go and started running. "Come on, I'll beat you to the pier."

"H-hey! Wait! You got a head start!" Andy called out and started running after Takuya.

Danny was already waiting outside for his cousin and brother to get a move on. He saw Takuya running out, laughing, and Andy not too far behind with Dorimon giggling on his head.

Danny chuckled at seeing the way the two were chasing each other. "Hey! Wait for me, bro, Takuya!" He exclaimed as he chased after them as well.

"Hey, bro, isn't Jazz coming with us?" Andy asked as Danny caught up to them.

"She said she'll catch up to us later," Danny answered back. "Tucker and Sam will meet us along the way."

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay, Lopmon? You've been pretty quiet since we got back from the Digital World," Jazz asked the little rabbit Digimon.

Lopmon was looking out the window. "A lot of things have been happening lately. I'm sure… a lot of Digimon are blaming me for it. Not that I could blame them, considering the things I did in the past… When we first arrived at Seraphimon's castle, I could see it in their eyes. Nobody trusted me, they were all accusing me of causing Seraphimon's disappearance, and causing the barrier between our worlds to weaken."

Jazz frowned. "Well, it wasn't your fault. From what you told me, Lucemon corrupted your data and made you do those things."

"Yeah, but Lucemon wouldn't have corrupted my data in the first place had I not allowed him to do so," Lopmon sighed, looking at his reflection in the window, all he could see was the evil Cherubimon that he was back then.

Jazz sighed. "What happened in the past you can't change. But what you _can_ change is how you feel about it. If you don't want to be associated with that time you were evil, then focus on doing good and letting your actions in doing such deeds speak for you."

"I don't know if I ever could make up for what I did back then," Lopmon sighed.

"Well, you've already gained back the trust of those Digimon who attacked you, didn't you?" Jazz pointed out. "Yeah they were distrusting of you at first, but when they realized their mistake, you were able to take charge after that. With Salamon unconscious, and Seraphimon missing, you had to. Everyone was able to fight back against Technus because you were able to unite them all to fight back and defend their home. What you did in the past was bad, yes, but you can't let that define you now. You're you now, and you've learned your lesson. All you can do now is keep moving forward."

Lopmon gave a smile. "You're right Jazz. I can't let it hold me back. I won't forget what I did, but I will use that to make sure I don't do it again."

Lopmon turned around to face Jazz. "Thank you, Jazz… you have no idea how much I needed to hear that."

Jazz smiled. "It was my pleasure." She then had a thought. "This could be a good experience for me too. I could help Digimon if they have trouble and need to talk it out."

"Didn't you say you were aspiring to be a psychologist?" Lopmon asked.

Jazz nodded. "I did, and I still am aspiring to become one." She then smiled again. "It would be interesting if I could get Digimon patients. I mean, your thought processes are probably similar to a human's, but there have to be some differences as well."

Lopmon couldn't help but laugh. "You truly are a Fenton, Jazz. Always so curious and interested to learn about new things and new species. I like that. Oh, and… didn't you say there was a carnival you wanted to go to tonight?"

Jazz's eyes widened. "Oh! That's right! There is, isn't there? Yes, I do want to go." She then looked at Lopmon. "Do you want to come with?"

"If they're anything like the Digital World's carnival, I would like to join, yes. They appear to be quite fun. I haven't been able to go to one since I became a Celestial Digimon. Just don't lose me in a pile of other stuffed toys," Lopmon replied.

Jazz laughed. "I won't, not if you ride on my head or if I carry you in a backpack."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." Lopmon smiled.

* * *

Danny was not feeling too happy right now. They were supposed to be at the carnival right now, having a good time with their friends, and unwind from their big battle against Technus. _So why aren't we at the carnival right now? Because there is a sudden surplus of ghosts, that's why!_

Danny, who was currently Phantom, was duking it out with some kind of squid ghost. He narrowly dodged some ink squirts from it. "Hey! Easy on the ghost ink, I just had this suit cleaned!"

"You never took it off!" Andy's voice called out.

"Exactly! I had to shower with it on to clean it!" Danny yelled back at his brother before he sucked the ghost squid into the Fenton Thermos.

Once the squid ghost was in the Thermos, Danny's cell-phone rang and he took it out of his hazmat suit pocket. It was Sam. _"Wolf thing, large wolf-ghost, down at the Nasty Burger!"_

"Ugh! Andy! Can't you and Dorumon handle the wolf ghost at the Nasty Burger?" Danny called out.

"A little busy right now!" Andy called back, fighting against a big grizzly bear ghost with his Fenton Rod and Dorumon was biting at its arms.

"For the love of- Agunimon! Can't you-" Danny turned to Agunimon.

A cry came from the Digimon as he slammed into a nearby building, leaving an imprint of his body in the wall. The reason? He was fighting a gorilla ghost. "Ugh… If I could I'd so do, but there's a large gorilla ghost that's keeping me busy right now!" Agunimon snapped. He didn't mean to snap, but he was tired of all the ghosts coming out tonight, and he had been looking forward to having a break from all the fighting recently. _Whoever is letting the ghosts out is _really_ getting on my nerves!_

Danny wanted to help them, but he had to go save Sam. He quickly flew to the Nasty Burger, arriving just in time to see the white and green ghost wolf was about to eat Sam's face off. Danny got on the wolf's back, holding up the Fenton Thermos.

"Down boy, don't eat that! It's a vegetarian!" Danny wittily said before sucking the wolf up with the Fenton Thermos head first.

Once that was done, Danny sighed. "Ugh… what a night. There's a ghost wherever I turn." He sighed. Then his phone rang again. Danny took it out. It was Tucker. _"Danny, ghost snake at the park! It's knocked out Terriermon already!"_

"I apologize, these ghosts are too strong for me currently, I can't even reach Champion level yet…" Salamon frowned in Sam's arms.

"Don't blame yourself for this, these ghosts are pretty strong," Sam reassured Salamon.

Danny sighed. "I'm going to go save Tucker now."

Danny flew off to the park, and saw a big white and green cobra snake about to eat Tucker, who was on his knees holding an injured Terriermon. Danny quickly tackled the ghost snake away. "Where are all these ghosts coming from!?"

Meanwhile, back at Fenton Works, Jazz was just going to leave for the carnival with Lopmon, but Jack decided to call her down. Jazz sighed, wishing she had left earlier with her brothers and cousin when she had the chance, but she went down to the lab to see what all the fuss was about.

"Hey, Jazzypants! Come on down here!" Jack called out. "I've installed the Fenton Genetic Lock on the Ghost Portal!"

"The… what now?" Jazz asked as she came closer to a control panel that Jack and Maddie had installed recently.

"It's a genetic scanner so that no one else other than the Fenton family can unlock the Ghost Portal." Jack said, beaming with pride at the new invention. "Let me show you how it works!"

Maddie just gave Jazz a smile that said 'play along'. Jazz rolled her eyes but watched as Jack took off his glove, then put his thumb on a red dot that turned green as soon as it scanned his thumb print.

The Ghost Portal opened its doors suddenly, letting out a ghost. Jazz blinked, before she looked back at her parents. Jack did it again, and again, and again. The Ghost Portal's doors kept opening up each time Jack put his thumb on the genetic lock thing, and every time the doors opened, a ghost would come out and immediately fly out of the house. Jazz's jaw dropped as she looked at her parents, neither of them were even looking at the Ghost Portal.

_How can they not notice what is going on behind them?!_ Jazz thought in amazement. _I thought for sure Dad would notice the ghosts coming through the portal! Maybe even mom!_

Lopmon was frowning himself, then started sweating as Jack just kept going, oblivious to the ghosts he was unleashing into the world. _Why isn't he even looking at the portal while he's doing this to see if it was actually opening up when he's putting his thumb print on the genetic lock!?_

Jazz could only wonder if Danny, Sam, Tucker, Takuya, and Andy were doing okay with this amount of ghosts coming out of the woodwork. Andy, Sam, and Tucker all had Digimon partners, so they were most likely safe, and Danny had his ghost powers, but it was Takuya she was worried about. _Is Takuya okay? Oh, I hope he is at least sticking by Andy or Danny during this..._

"So from now on, the only way to open up the Ghost Portal is if someone in the family does _this_!" Jack smiled, putting his thumb on the red dot again.

"Dad, maybe you should stop. You don't want to wear it out or something, do you?" Jazz quickly intervened, hoping to stop Jack from overflowing Amity Park with ghosts.

A motorcycle noise went right by them, but it was so fast that nobody saw what made that noise, or rather, Jazz and Lopmon didn't. Jack and Maddie didn't seem to have heard or noticed it.

Jack paused, considering Jazz's words. Then, he smiled. "Yeah, that is a good point, Jazz. If it gets worn out, then anyone could use it to unlock the Ghost Portal if they get it working."

"Let's go upstairs for a break, Jack, I can make you some fudge," Maddie offered, which made Jack grin happily.

"Your fudge is always the best, Maddie." Jack grinned as he and Maddie headed upstairs.

"Well, Lopmon… good thing that carnival will be here all weekend, because something tells me we won't be going to it tonight," Jazz sighed. "I better get the Fenton Thermos ready."

"Make sure you bring the Fenton Rod and wrist ray while you're at it," Lopmon sighed as well. "Maybe have Tucker or Terriermon put a lock on that genetic lock so your dad can't use it all willy nilly."

Jazz laughed. "Yeah, that may be a good idea. I bet Danny and the others are all tired from fighting the ghosts being let loose."

With that said, Jazz ran out of the house with Lopmon to go join her brothers, cousin, and friends on their ghost hunting, they would need all the help they could get tonight. However, Jazz didn't notice a certain ghost was hiding, and watching her. The ghost gave a grin as he watched Jazz run out of the house.

* * *

"There's more over here!" Dorumon called out.

"I got them!" Andy spoke up, throwing some grenades that exploded with a sticky substance that kept the ghosts in place.

Danny came in, sucking in the ghosts with the Fenton Thermos. "I really need to get you guys Fenton Thermoses…"

Dorumon groaned. "That would be a good treat…"

Hearing that, Agunimon smacked his own face with his hand. "Not to eat, you metal muncher…"

Agunimon heard something trying to sneak up on him, it was a large ghost moose, which he backhanded in the face, making it go down quickly, and Danny sucked it into the Fenton Thermos.

"What happened to all the extra Fenton Thermoses?" Andy asked.

"M- err…" Danny looked at Agunimon for a moment. "The Fentons only made three. Tucker and Sam have Fenton Thermoses, but there wasn't enough for all of us."

Agunimon raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in Phantom's speech, but he didn't question it.

Dorumon pouted. "Aww…"

"Dorumon, please do not eat the Fenton Thermos," Andy suddenly said.

Danny blinked before he looked down and yelped when he saw Dorumon was already teething on the thermos.

"If you're hungry, you should munch on the chocolate bars I brought with me for a snack," Andy sighed. "I thought we'd be eating at the carnival by now, but well, things don't usually go as planned."

Dorumon saw the chocolate and began to bounce on his feet. "I want one!"

Danny chuckled. "You'd better give him a bar, bro, or he will munch on the thermos."

"Yeah, yeah," Andy sighed, tossing a few bars at Dorumon. _I was saving those…_

Dorumon happily munched on the chocolate.

"I've been meaning to ask, why haven't you digivolved Dorumon?" Danny asked. "With all these ghosts running around, it might be better to have Dorugamon take them out quicker, or fly to look for more."

"We used up a lot of energy when battling against Techatamon," Andy answered. "Not only that, digivolution takes a lot out of Dorumon. If this is going to be a long battle, it would be best to keep him at the Rookie state and only digivolve him when it's necessary."

Danny sighed. "Right. I forgot about how much energy it can take for that."

"How are Sam and Tucker holding up? Last I heard, Terriermon was wounded, and Salamon is still weakened from when Technus nearly killed her," Agunimon asked.

"So far, they're holding up pretty well," Danny answered. "They have Fenton Thermoses, so they can catch the ghosts pretty easily when they need to. Tucker helped heal Terriermon with his D-Arc, and Salamon's doing a pretty good job. The snake and the wolf just took them by surprise earlier."

Agunimon nodded as he took in this information. He was mostly worried about Salamon, but the others he had concerns about too. "Good. I don't think I could handle seeing Salamon get hurt again…" He looked down as he said that last sentence.

The two brothers looked at each other for a moment.

"Don't worry," Dorumon spoke up, having some chocolate stain on his mouth. "Lady Ophanimon may have been weakened, but she can still handle herself. And she has Sam with her, Sam is a really tough girl, that's for sure. I feel sorry for any ghosts who try to mess with her."

Agunimon had to chuckle at that. "Yeah, she can be, can't she?"

Suddenly, there were more growls. The boys looked around to see more ghost animals coming towards them.

"Break's over, time to get back to work," Andy sighed before extending his Fenton Rod again.

Agunimon groaned. "_Who_ is letting all these ghosts out?!"

"I don't know, but whoever they are, I'm about ready to kick their butts," Danny growled.

The group split off to take care of the ghosts.

Agunimon managed to take down several with his Pyro Darts, it was just a good thing these animal ghosts weren't too intelligent or powerful. They were just like normal animals, only bigger, more aggressive, and had ghost powers, but otherwise they were easy to deal with. Agunimon figured that was another reason why Andy kept Dorumon in his Rookie state, no need to waste energy on small pickings.

Then suddenly, a ghost jaguar jumped and pounced on Agunimon while he was distracted. It tried to bite at his face.

_"__Blazing Ice!"_ An ice ball slammed into the ghost jaguar, causing it to roll on the ground and off of Agunimon.

Looking back as he got to his feet, Agunimon saw Jazz and Lopmon coming their way. "Thanks! That could have been messy for me."

"Don't mention it," Jazz chuckled sheepishly. "Lopmon and I had been looking for our friends when Dad started letting all those ghosts out."

Agunimon's eyes widened a bit at hearing that. "What?!"

Jazz gave a sheepish grin. "Uh… so… my dad may have installed this new fingerprint recognition thing with the portal, making it so anyone of the family could open the portal with a fingerprint scan… and he may have gotten carried away with showing it off… and apparently there were ghosts lined up at the portal to go out whenever Dad opened the portal with the scanner."

At hearing that, Agunimon felt anger rush through him, but he didn't show it. Instead, his fists clenched slightly, but that was it. "So _that's_ what's behind the ghosts coming out…"

"We're lucky that most of what came out are just feral ghosts," Lopmon remarked. "If there had been any intelligent ghosts like with Technus or Ember, we would be in big trouble right now."

Agunimon growled. "If that Technus shows up, he is getting a serious beat-down from me for what he did to the Digital World and Lady Ophanimon!"

A large giraffe ghost and a ghost elephant began to stomp around the city.

"We'll have to talk later, we've got some clean up to do," Jazz remarked before she grinned. "Hey! I am getting better at the witty banter stuff! I should write that down."

Agunimon sighed at hearing that. "Later. Let's just focus on these ghosts first." But he had a smile on his face nonetheless. _Heh… Jazz is certainly a Fenton if she makes witty banter._

Jazz took out a Fenton Rod and extended it. "Okay, let's see if all that practicing has paid off! Go for it, Lopmon!"

Lopmon jumped from Jazz's head, using his ears to glide forward. _"Tiny Twister!"_

Agunimon watched as Lopmon's 'tiny' twister just engulfed the entire ghost elephant, making it very dizzy, then Jazz twirled her Fenton Rod before smashing the rod into its leg. The elephant let out a cry of pain before Jazz grabbed onto its trunk. Lopmon fired a Blazing Ice at the elephant's left eye, which caused the elephant to throw its trunk, and Jazz. Jazz did some fancy acrobatics in the air, and as she was coming down, she stabbed the rod into the elephant's other eye. Agunimon flinched from watching.

"Take that, you ghost fiend! Your trunking days are over!" Jazz announced dramatically as she landed on her feet and did a very silly pose.

Agunimon wasn't sure of what to make of that witty remark as he stared, a sweat-drop running down the side of his head. _Okay… That remark was a bit… weird. And… she can be a bit scary too… Just like the rest of the family..._

"Come on, we still have the giraffe to deal with, this is no time to be standing there gawking, Agunimon," Lopmon spoke up, clapping his hands a bit.

Agunimon snapped out of his staring. "Oh. Sorry. Okay. Let's go take care of that thing."

* * *

"That's good, Dorumon, we took down another one," Andy said when Dorumon just knocked out a giant ghost spider.

"This thing is gross though, too many webs," Dorumon grumbled, shaking off the strings that got stuck to his fur.

Andy rubbed his head for a moment, feeling a little dizzy. For a second, he saw Danny's Fenton Thermos getting smashed by a falling street light, which caused all the ghosts he captured in that thermos to get set free.

"You okay?" Dorumon asked.

Andy frowned. "Yeah… we might need to go find Danny though…"

Suddenly, Andy jumped away from a ghost squirrel's claws. While it was a squirrel, it was actually pretty huge, about the size of a tree.

"Jeez, did someone let out an entire zoo of ghosts or something? How are the townspeople not screaming out in panic right now?" Andy groaned.

"I'm not sure, but it's kind of similar to when a Digimon comes into this world. They create fog, a Digital Field. It keeps them hidden from other humans," Dorumon remarked. "It might be similar here, perhaps the ghosts are keeping themselves hidden from normal people. The only reason why we can see them is because of our bond. Danny is… well, a ghost himself, and Agunimon is a Digimon."

Andy frowned as he thought back to some points when there was a ghost attack, yet people acted like they didn't see them, which always struck Andy as odd. "I see… that would explain a few things then."

Dorumon looked back at the ghost squirrel. "We need to take that thing out before it attacks again."

"Right, here goes," Andy jumped at it with his Fenton Rod.

* * *

_"__Puppy Howling!"_ Salamon blasted a few lizard ghosts away with her loud howling.

Sam sucked up the lizard ghosts into the Fenton Thermos she was holding. "You're doing pretty well, Salamon. I think that was 13 ghosts we just captured in one night. You should take a break though, I don't want you overexerting yourself."

Salamon nodded. "That would be best. I'm still feeling the effects of the attack that Technus ghost used on me."

Sam nodded before she dug into her purple spider backpack, taking out a couple of water bottles. She unscrewed the top lid of one water bottle before she bent down to Salamon. Salamon opened her mouth to let Sam pour the water into her mouth, allowing Salamon to drink up the water.

After a little bit, Sam stopped pouring the water in Salamon's mouth before she began drinking her own water.

"That's a lot of ghosts we caught." Salamon noted, remembering the number of ghosts caught that Sam had mentioned.

"Yeah… hopefully there won't be anymore tonight," Sam sighed as she finished drinking her water bottle. "Danny already has enough problems to deal with as it is. We were hoping to just have some fun at the carnival tonight."

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Salamon remarked. "I can tell that Danny means a lot to you."

Sam went red in the cheeks at hearing that. "It's not like I'm in love with him! I'm worried about him as a friend!"

The puppy Digimon gave Sam a small grin. "Now Sam, I never said you were in love with him, just that he means a lot to you."

Sam blinked. "Oh… Never mind…"

Salamon gave a solemn sigh. "If it means anything, however, I feel worried myself. He's far too young to have such a responsibility thrust on him like that, especially since he's become something not many had seen. There's no telling what could or would happen to him in the future. I've had big responsibilities thrust on young children before… I was hoping something like that would never happen again though…"

Sam frowned. "You know, it sounds like you've seen some things like that. How did you see similar responsibilities thrust upon young children?"

"Hmm…" Salamon hesitated. "Well…"

Suddenly, a ghost panther rose up from the ground and began to snarl at them. Strangely enough, even though they were on a busy street, nobody paid the ghost any mind. Only Sam and Salamon reacted to it.

"I suppose that'll have to be a story for another time. We still have work to do here," Salamon stated.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, we still do." She agreed. She stood up and held up the Fenton Thermos. "Well, let's take this ghost out and move on. I need some sleep."

* * *

_"__Terrier Tornado!"_ A green twister swept up all 5 hyena ghosts, trapping them.

Tucker held out the Fenton Thermos, making sure to suck in all of the hyena ghosts within the twister, until he was sure he got every last one of them. Terriermon stopped spinning and landed on the ground.

"Nice work, Terriermon!" Tucker exclaimed with a grin. "That brings our total to 14 ghosts caught."

"Jeez, that's gotta be some kind of record," Terriermon groaned. "How could there be so many ghosts? Even with that Fenton Portal at Fenton Works, the ghosts shouldn't be this frequent. It's almost borderline an invasion."

Tucker frowned. "Yeah, good point. We haven't had this many ghosts since that Spectra ghost had all those Soulmon here."

"Oh yeah, you told me about that," Terriermon realized. "Those Soulmon are pretty nasty, though they aren't the same as the ghosts here. They are still made out of digital data after all."

Tucker nodded. "That's true." He looked down at the Fenton Thermos. "I hope that's it for the ghosts. I think Danny and the others might be getting tired by now. I know we are."

"Hey…" A feminine voice suddenly spoke up.

Tucker blinked, looking at the person who spoke. It was Niki, a girl from a few of his classes. She was holding some books.

"Uh… Hi…" Tucker replied. "What are you doing out here, Niki?"

"I was just on my way home from the library," Niki answered. "I saw you talking to… uh… is that your dog… um… rabbit?"

Niki looked at Terriermon. Terriermon sweatdropped, but she had already seen him move, so trying to pretend he was a stuffed animal now would be pointless.

"Um… Yeah… He's my… 'pet rabbit'." Tucker replied.

"Really? Huh… I've never seen this kind of species of rabbit before," Niki remarked, looking at Terriermon. "He's got a horn on his head. He's standing on two feet with no problem. Why do his ears have those three ridges at the end?"

Tucker quickly picked up Terriermon. "D-did I say he was my pet rabbit? I meant he was my… uh… pet robot rabbit! Y-yeah, they're all the rage these days!"

Niki blinked. "Really? It looks so life-like." She then smiled. "And kinda cute too."

"Uh… yeah, he is pretty cute, isn't he?" Tucker agreed, seeing that Niki liked Terriermon's cuteness. "Um… would you like some company while you walk home?"

Niki smiled. "Sure. It would be nice."

At that, Tucker smiled, he never had a girl, other than Sam, let him walk them home before. He never thought about using Terriermon as a chick magnet, he should've known that girls loved cute things, and Terriermon definitely fit that bill. Besides, he could use a break after all the crap he went through.

* * *

Danny yelped as he dodged what would have been a nasty pierce through the stomach from this giant ghost bull's horns. The bull was angry and charging around recklessly.

"Jeez, you need to calm down. Why are you charging at me anyways? I'm not wearing any red!" Danny huffed. "Now Vlad on the other hand… I think the inside of his cape was red."

Of course, the ghost bull didn't answer, it just charged at him again. This time, Danny went intangible, making the bull go right through him. He then grabbed onto the ghost bull's tail, stopping it in its tracks. "You need to calm down. I may not have red on me, but maybe green will work!"

Danny shot a ghost ray at the bull's horns, which snapped them off. The bull let out a cry at seeing its horns cut clean off and landed in front of it.

"Huh, guess you do have some intelligence," Danny noted, seeing the bully lost all will to fight as it cried over its horns.

Danny then took the Fenton Thermos out and sucked in the ghost bull. He sighed with relief before his ghost sense went off. "Okay, that makes about 19 ghosts…"

"Oh great…" Danny muttered under his breath. "One more to go it seems… might as well make it an even 20 then."

Danny looked around for the ghost he sensed, and heard what sounded like a motorcycle engine. He quickly turned to the motorcycle, seeing someone riding on it. Danny blinked for a moment, wondering if this motorcycle rider was actually a ghost, but he could definitely see the white aura glowing off of the man. Not only that, but the motorcycle was riding on telephone poles like it was nothing. Definitely not human.

"Huh…" Danny frowned to himself. "It's not an animal ghost this time… Okay, this one may be a bit tricky…"

He then took flight, flying as fast as he could to catch up to the man. Danny's legs turned into a ghostly tail to help him go faster. Thankfully, despite how fast the motorcycle was going, Danny was able to catch up to the ghostly man._ Wonder who this guy is… since he's sentient, unlike those animal ghosts, maybe I can reason with him._

"Um, sir, I believe you're speeding," Danny spoke up to the man, catching his attention.

The man looked back with a bit of a scowl. "What do you want punk?"

"You're a ghost, aren't you?" Danny asked. "What are you doing here?"

"That's my business, which is not for you to poke your nose into!" The man snapped back. "Shadow, attack!"

"Whoa, I just want to talk! No need to get vio-" Danny couldn't even finish his sentence before a black shadowy ghost suddenly came up from the man's shadow and decked him in the face.

Danny went tumbling before landing on the ground. "Ugh…"

The shadow ghost then swooped in and sliced at a lamp post, causing the lamp to fall down. Danny saw that and moved to the side, unfortunately his strap on the Fenton Thermos was loose, which left it in the way for the lamp post to fall on, only for something to come in and shove him out of the way before the lamp post could smash the Fenton Thermos. Danny blinked as he rolled on the ground, before turning his head to see Dorumon.

"Whew, that was a close one. Are you okay?" Dorumon asked.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, thanks Dorumon." He got to his feet, brushing off his hazmat suit. "I would have had to round up all those ghosts again if not for you."

"Yeah…" Andy's voice spoke up, before Danny looked up, seeing his brother walking over to them. "You're lucky that we got here when we did."

Danny chuckled. "I guess you could say that, bro~"

Then they heard the motorcycle engine. Looking up, the brothers, and Dorumon, could see the ghost man on the motorcycle literally riding on the air as he disappeared into the horizon.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Dorumon asked.

Danny sighed. "I'm not sure. He didn't seem malicious, but still…"

"We'll leave him be for now. If he starts to cause trouble, then we'll have to fight him," Andy remarked. "Besides, after fighting ghosts all night, we're all pretty exhausted."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, you have a point bro." Danny then felt a yawn escape him. "I'm sure everyone else is wiped out too."

"I guess that means we'll have to go to that carnival tomorrow," Dorumon grumbled.

"Yeah, but no worries, it's the weekend after all, and the carnival will be here all weekend," Andy chuckled. "Oh, Danny, we left some unconscious ghosts for you at the park. You might want to get those sucked up in the thermos."

Danny sighed. "Okay, bro. I'll get those ghosts and meet you back at the house."

"I'll go see if Takuya is finished up with his ghosts as well… you'll have to suck those up too," Andy chuckled.

"Great… I'm the ghost maid now…" Danny pouted. "Really need to get you and Takuya your own thermoses… and make sure Dorumon doesn't eat them!"

"Hey, I was kidding about eating those thermoses before. They're too contaminated with ghosts for me to want to eat anyways," Dorumon rolled his eyes.

Danny chuckled. "Well, I will get those ghosts sucked up and meet you at home, bro."

"Yeah. Have fun being the ghost maid~" Andy snickered.

Danny pouted at that. "Very funny, bro…"

* * *

Tucker had actually walked Niki home without chasing her off somehow, it was a miracle if the boy ever saw one. "Hey, so… before you go into your house, I just wanted to ask… well… I was kinda hoping we could hit a movie or something this weekend, if you're not… well, too busy or anything."

"Sure." Niki replied with a small smile.

"Alright, but I'll have you know that I'm persistent-" Tucker began, having expected the usual rejection that his mind didn't catch her answer until now. "Wait, did you just say yes?"

"Of course." Niki replied.

"Really? Then would you like to beam me your-" Tucker began to ask, only for Terriermon to hit his side with his ear, and shook his head at Tucker.

Tucker, realizing he could potentially scare away Niki with his obsession of technology, cleared his throat and played it cool. "What I meant to say is, would you like to give me your phone number? Just to keep in touch."

Niki was surprised at the sudden turn around, but decided to reply. "Sure." She smiled again. "I would like that."

Tucker gave a big, goofy smile at that. It was almost like he was dreaming. Niki wrote something down on a small notepad before she tore the paper out and handed it to Tucker. "Here you go."

Tucker took the paper. "Thank you."

Niki smiled again before she unlocked the door to her house, walked inside, giving Tucker another smile. "You know, I always heard you were a techno geek, but you don't seem so bad. It might not be so bad to get to know you a little better."

Tucker was surprised to hear that, and nearly exploded, but he managed to hold himself until Niki shut the door to her house. As soon as Niki was out of sight, Tucker began to jump and dance on the sidewalk.

"Hehe, someone's happy~" Terriermon giggled.

"Hey, I just got a girl's phone number! Why wouldn't I be happy?" Tucker asked, before what Niki said earlier sunk into his mind. "Wait, who's been calling me a techno geek?"

* * *

It had been a long night. By the time all the ghosts were captured, it was almost midnight. Sam collapsed onto her bed in her room. While she was a night owl, Sam didn't like having to spend most of that night having to hunt down and fight with ghosts. Though she liked helping people, there were limits to how many ghosts she wanted to fight on a daily basis.

"Are you okay, Sam?" Salamon asked in concern.

Sam sighed. "I can handle fighting ghosts and stuff, but even I have a limit for that. I was hoping to take a break, but this was _not_ how I wanted to spend my night off, which wasn't a night off after all."

"It was unfortunate how things turned out tonight," Salamon sighed. "You all deserved to have fun and relax."

Salamon hopped up onto Sam's bed herself. "If it had been up to me, I would have taken out all those ghosts myself so you children could have the break you all deserve."

Sam looked at Salamon. "That reminds me, you said you had some experience thrusting big responsibilities onto young children. What was that about?"

Salamon gave a sigh as she sat down. "It's a rather long story… I can't go into details because some of the information has been… requested to keep as a secret. What I can tell you, however, is that when I was Ophanimon before… I had, regrettably, involved 5 children in a dangerous matter in the Digital World about 4 human years ago."

Sam blinked. "You did? What happened to them?"

"They're alive and well last I heard, so do not worry about them," Salamon answered. "But because of what happened, they've taken responsibility to become…"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Become what?" She wanted to know more, but it was clear Salamon didn't want to talk about it. She then shook her head. "You know what? Never mind. If it bothers you that much, you don't have to tell me."

"They've become essentially 'superheroes' to the Digital World, like Danny has become to this town," Salamon stated. "While kids like to imagine themselves as superheroes, protecting the innocent, and their hometown with superpowers, imagining it and actually doing it are two very different things. I won't lie when I say I can't help but worry for Danny's mental health as well as his physical health down the road. The same goes for those 6 kids that got involved."

"6? I thought you said 5," Sam asked.

"I got 5 of them involved, there was one more, but he was involved… differently…" Salamon sighed.

Sam nodded. "I see. Well, I don't want to have you feel bothered by telling me this, so I think that's enough."

The little puppy sighed. "One day though, I will have to tell you everything. And confront my regrets."

Sam gave her partner a bit of a smile. "We will get to that when the time comes."

"Thank you, Sam. I appreciate your support." Salamon gave a small smile.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** Well, why not go all out that time? XD FoxKit had the idea for EmperorGreymon coming in, so thank her for the epic scene with that. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Considering how rare it is for Takuya to be able to become EmperorGreymon, we thought that was a good time to show it and what Calumon can do with Shining Digivolution.

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Andy agrees with you there.

**ZAFT:** But don't worry, things will come to an end with the secrets soon enough. :3


	34. The Shadow of a Boyfriend

**DarkFoxKit: *Is groaning in bed with a Switch* **I hate… this stupid… on and off… nauseous feeling… then I have to keep waking up at 5 AM just to go down there every. Single. Day.

**Andy: *Pets Kit* **All of these early mornings are also starting to get to me considering I come from you...

**ZAFT:** It will be over soon. Just hang in there. ***Hugs Kit***

**Takuya:** I wish I could just burn it away from you… But I can't… ***Pouts***

**DarkFoxKit:** Thanks, but hopefully soon this will all pass and I can finally recover without needing to go back.

**Andy:** And that this incident will just be something you can tell stories about. I mean Danny kinda does it with his series. ***Frowns* **And Takuya… and Vlad…

**Takuya:** Don't bring up that jerk… ***Grumbles***

**DarkFoxKit:** Alright, let's get to the chapter so I can rest and the readers can enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 34: The Shadow of a Boyfriend**

It was Sunday night. After yesterday night's ghost hunting, everyone was more than happy to get to the carnival without incident today. When Jazz had told Danny and Andy about who was responsible for letting all those ghosts out, they weren't too happy about it. Danny went outside and actually punched a hole in the concrete sidewalk. But now that Jack wasn't super excited about showing off the fingerprint scanner, they didn't have to worry about Jack releasing more ghosts into the world, at least for now.

"So you actually got a real date?" Sam asked Tucker as the group were walking into the carnival, and carrying their Digimon partners.

Tucker nodded with a grin. "Yep! She decided to give me a chance, despite me being called a techno geek." He then frowned. "But I wonder who has been calling me that."

"You haven't noticed? The jocks have been calling you that for the past week and a half," Takuya pointed out.

"But I'm glad that you're able to get a date, Tucker." Andy smiled. "Just don't go scaring her off. Only show her your passion for technology when she's gotten comfortable with you."

"And your obsession with meat," Sam added.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Terriermon winked.

Tucker pouted. "Aww…" However, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

"By the way, guys, there was one ghost who got away last night," Danny spoke up. "He seemed to use some kind of shadow ghost that may cause bad luck, but I'm not completely sure on that."

Tucker looked back at Danny. "A shadow ghost? That's unusual."

"Maybe you can look up shadow ghosts on your D-Arc," Jazz asked. "It used to be your PDA, right? Does it still have your PDA's functions?"

"Oh, yeah," Tucker remembered before pulling out his D-Arc from his pocket.

As soon as Tucker took out his D-Arc, Kwan's hand lashed out and snatched it. "Hey! Look at me! I'm Tucker Foley, styling large with the latest in techno geek fashion!"

Dash, who was next to Kwan, gave him a look. "Dude, you pulled that off a little _too_ well."

Kwan looked startled before he dropped the D-Arc back into Tucker's hands. "Ah! Techno geek! It's contagious!"

As soon as Kwan ran away, Dash let out a sigh. "Sorry about him. You just go on about your night."

Danny, Tucker, and Sam all blinked in shock at Dash's politeness.

As Dash walked away after Kwan, Danny blinked. "Okay… That was weird…"

"Yeah, what was all that about?" Sam asked.

"What's wrong?" Salamon asked.

"It's just Dash usually isn't… nice to us," Sam answered.

"Hey, maybe he's just in a good mood," Andy spoke up. "Let's not look at a gift horse in the mouth."

Takuya gave a nod. "Yeah, and besides, we have a night to enjoy ourselves, so let's make the most of it!" The group was passing by a booth that had clown paintings and Takuya gave a slight cringe at seeing the images. "Preferably _away_ from the clowns…"

"I don't know, I feel like those paintings would be underappreciated," Jazz muttered.

Tucker was grumbling to himself as he put his D-Arc away in his pocket. "You know, I don't like being labelled as a 'techno geek'. I need to find a way to change my image, and maybe Niki would be less likely to dump me later."

Takuya looked back at Tucker. "Are you sure? It would be like losing a part of yourself if you did that."

"Besides, what's wrong with techno geek? I think it makes you sound smart with technology," Terriermon added.

"You just go a _bit_ overboard with the technology part." Danny pointed out.

Tucker pouted. "I know that… So I'm going to see if I can get a better label."

"Hey, how about we split up from here?" Jazz suggested. "There are some things I'd like to look at, while I'm sure you guys would rather get on the thrilling rides."

Takuya looked back at his older cousin. "Sure. You do… what you do, with those clown pictures… that are staring at me…"

Danny looked at Takuya. "You know, you sounded like Andy there a bit, cuz."

"I do not sound like that!" Andy huffed, having heard his brother's comment.

"You do with teddy bears~" Danny pointed out in a teasing tone.

"That's because they're actually alive," Andy hissed.

"I agree, teddy bears are evil," Dorimon mumbled.

Takuya looked at his cousins and Dorimon. "And clowns want to take over the world in some way, I'm sure."

"Heya kids!" A tall clown suddenly came up to their faces. "Want to see a nice tri-"

Takuya already ran away somewhere else.

"Huh, wasn't there more of you?" The clown asked.

Andy sweatdropped. "I better go check on Takuya."

Danny looked at Andy. "You go and do that, bro. Sam and I will see if we can help Tucker with his… uh… 'image problem'."

"Good luck with that," Andy remarked before he ran to where Takuya ran off to.

"Why do I suddenly feel like this is going to be a long night?" Sam frowned.

"Best take heed of your inner warning, Sam," Salamon noted.

Sam sighed. "I probably should…"

Andy found Takuya near the carnival's rollercoaster ride. There was already a long line for it, as rollercoasters often had. Takuya was grumbling to himself.

"Stupid clowns…"

"Uh… Takuya?" Andy spoke up.

Takuya looked up. "Huh? Oh, hey Andy." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about running off like that…"

"Are you afraid of clowns?" The younger boy asked.

"Not… really _afraid_ of them…" Takuya said. "I just… find them… _really_ creepy…"

"Why? They look silly to me," Dorimon questioned.

"It's not that uncommon for people to be afraid of clowns actually," Andy remarked. "Clowns are supposed to be seen as these funny entertainers, but they also have something about them that seems off. You never know what they could be thinking, they're always smiling, and sometimes, in movies anyways, they can lead children away from their parents, and those kids are never seen again."

Takuya shivered at that last comment. "Yeah… And the way they laugh can be unnerving to say the least…"

"Are you afraid of clowns too, Andy?" Dorimon asked.

"No, not really," Andy shook his head. "Although if I do see a killer clown, I might have to reconsider that."

Takuya looked at Andy. "Pray you don't. I know what _I_ would do if I met a killer clown."

"Wait, didn't you ever face with Piedmon?" Dorimon asked.

"What?" Takuya frowned.

"Oh… uh… nevermind!" Dorimon quickly said, chuckling sheepishly.

"Uh… Okay…" Takuya brushed it off., deciding it was best to not ask who this Piedmon Digimon was.

"Well… we're here, so, you want to get on the rollercoaster?" Andy asked.

Takuya blinked. "I thought you hated rollercoasters."

"I do." Andy nodded.

"So… why do you want to ride this one then?" Takuya asked.

"Well, there might come a time I may have to ride on Dorugamon in a quick, loop-de-loop manner. I need to get used to a rollercoaster before such a time comes. Besides, if I can survive a rollercoaster, I can survive whatever ghosts or Digimon might throw at me," Andy stated.

Takuya shrugged. "Sure. I think it would be fun to get away from the 'you-know-what' too."

Dorimon looked at the rollercoaster, seeing how fast the cart was going, and how loud the people were screaming. "Uhhh… you sure it's not some kind of torture ride?"

"No, in fact I'm about 90% sure it's meant for torture," Andy replied. "So, what better way to survive it than to get on?"

Takuya looked at Dorimon. "Some humans get a kick out of riding these things, but I'm not sure how they can handle it."

The boys stood in line for the rollercoaster.

"Look at this way, Dorimon, once we survive the death coaster, I'll get you a really nice treat as a reward," Andy promised. "There's all sorts of sweets here you haven't tried yet that I'm sure you'll love~"

Dorimon grinned. "I want a really big treat!"

While the boys stood in line, Jazz and Lopmon were admiring the clown picture, telling the painter, who seemed like a depressed clown, that his painting really speaks to her. It did cheer up the clown a little at least. Then Jazz went to get some cotton candy for Lopmon to try out.

Meanwhile, Tucker, Sam, and Danny were looking for a ride to try out. Though Tucker was more focused on how to change his image.

"I want Niki to not regret the chance she gave me," Tucker mumbled. "So… maybe I could be the smooth guy, no, the romantic guy. Charismatic guy?"

"Maybe you could be known as the guy who holds a stuffed rabbit everywhere," Sam joked.

Tucker then walked under a ladder. "No, that's not the image I want. I want something that will speak to the girls."

But Tucker didn't get the chance to get far before he smacked into Calvin's fist. Kwan and Calvin were smiling at this revelation. "Hey, he walked under a ladder, and right into your fist!" Kwan noted with a smile at the irony.

"Hey, yeah!" Calvin sneered. "Maybe we should call him 'Bad Luck Tuck'!" The two jocks then smacked their hands into their fists as they looked at poor Tucker.

"What? No! I'm not bad luck!" Tucker countered as he backed up a bit.

Danny frowned, seeing that Tucker had indeed walked under a ladder. _Wait, who put a ladder there?_

"Guys, really? Don't you have better things to do than to pick on a few wimps?" Dash asked, walking over to Calvin and Kwan.

Tucker was backing up to a truck that was behind him.

Calvin looked at the other jock, completely ignoring Tucker now thanks to Dash's intervention. "Says the one who doesn't pick on the nerds much anymore."

Dash didn't care what Calvin said. "That's because I have other things to worry about than picking on the nerds. I've been getting better grades recently because I actually put my time to being practical and actually studying. I see you're barely scraping by because you're too busy pushing nerds into lockers, or giving them swirlies in the bathroom!"

Calvin and Dash got right up to each other's faces while Kwan was awkwardly stepping back, unsure of what to do.

"You've gotten soft, Dash, can we even trust you to be our football captain anymore?" Calvin hissed.

"I haven't let our team down yet, have I? In fact, I'd say I've been improving since I'm actually able to use my brain for once and plan out proper strategies before a big game," Dash argued. "Can _you_ do that?"

Danny blinked. "Okay… this is _officially_ getting weird…" He whispered to Sam and Salamon.

"No kidding? And we're used to weird stuff. Are we sure that Digital Portal didn't send us to some kind of parallel universe?" Sam whispered back, looking just as shocked.

Salamon looked up at Sam. "No, that portal took us back to your world."

Tucker was about to relax since the attention was off of him, but the truck he was leaning against suddenly seemed to have disappeared. Blinking, Tucker turned to see what happened to the truck, and his eyes went wide with horror when he saw it was rolling down the hill.

"Uh… did somebody forget to put the breaks on that truck?" Terriermon asked.

"No… I don't think so…" Tucker moaned as he smacked his own face with his hand.

* * *

Meanwhile, Andy, holding onto Dorimon, and Takuya just got on the cart of the rollercoaster. Andy closed his eyes for a moment, trying to brace himself. However, when he opened his eyes again, he suddenly felt something shaking. He was somehow already at a high point on the rollercoaster. The tracks broke off in front of the cart they were riding on. Andy's eyes went wide as the cart began to fall with the people still on it. He had no time to digivolve Dorimon, they were falling too fast. Likewise, Takuya didn't have time to spirit evolve either. Andy could only stare numbly as they were approaching their death on the ground.

As soon as the coaster crashed, Takuya hit Andy's back to get him to snap out of it.

"Andy, stop staring! You okay?" Takuya asked.

Andy blinked, realizing whatever he just witnessed wasn't real. But he had a terrible feeling that this rollercoaster was going to lead them to death. "We have to leave, now!"

Suddenly the bars came down on them, and the coaster started moving.

Takuya looked at Andy, who looked nervous. "Um… this might be a bad time to ask, but… did you have some kind of… dream vision thing?"

Dorimon perked up. "Did you?"

Andy shivered as the coaster was starting to move up on the tracks. "... We're all going to die…"

Takuya felt the blood rush from his face at hearing that. "Um… Just calm down Andy. I'm sure it's just your dislike of rollercoasters that is making you say that." However, his hand was in his pocket on his D-Tector, just in case.

As the coaster was getting higher, Dorimon could feel Andy hyperventilating a little. "Andy, maybe I should digivolve and get you off of this thing…"

Before Andy could answer, the coaster was already at the top of the tracks, and it went down at a fast pace. It would be too hard to speak while the coaster was moving so fast, not to mention all the screaming the other people were doing. Some had their hands raised in the air.

Takuya gripped his D-Tector with one hand in his pocket while he reached for Andy's hand with his other hand and gripped his cousin's hand.

"HEY! IS THAT A TRUCK DOWN THERE!?" They heard someone shouting in surprise.

"WHO'S THE IDIOT DRIVING THAT TRUCK!?"

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT IT'S ABOUT TO CRASH INTO THE RAILS!"

Andy turned his head, seeing a truck was indeed moving towards the rollercoaster tracks. His eyes went wide just as it smashed into the coaster, causing the tremble he felt in his vision earlier. And, just like in his vision, the track ahead of them broke into two, meaning the cart had nowhere safe to go. The cart was also moving too fast for emergency brakes to stop it.

As for Takuya, he felt his pulse quicken as he saw that the tracks broke. It was then he realized that Andy's visions were also accurate, as the broken tracks meant that the cart would not stop and they would go flying off the tracks towards their deaths. His face was scarily pale now, and he knew there was no way he could Spirit Evolve to BurningGreymon to escape.

Dorimon was panicking as well, seeing the tracks were broken. He knew he could possibly survive the jumping of the tracks or get reborn as a Digi-Egg, but the humans would not be so lucky. And even if he could digivolve, it was unlikely he could save all the humans.

Time seemed to slow down for Andy. _Is this it? Is this how we die? Not in battle, but by rollercoaster? No… surely there's a way to change this fate. Could Danny stop this? Could he save us? Would he be able to?_

A flashback of Andy's life flashed through his head, then he shut his eyes and let out a scream. "DANNY!"

The cart went flying off the track and into the air.

Just then, as the cart flew through the air, a familiar ghostly form flew up and managed to catch one of the kids, a big fat kid. The fat kid grabbed onto another two kids, just as Takuya and Andy then grabbed onto the fat kid's legs, with Takuya holding onto Dorimon with his free hand.

"Oh my gosh!" Andy yelped, just realizing they weren't currently falling to their doom.

"Wah!" One kid that Danny didn't catch was falling .

"Dorimon!" Andy yelled.

"Got it! Throw me, Takuya!" Dorimon called.

Takuya looked at Dorimon before nodding. He threw Dorimon as fast as he could. "Fire one!"

Dorimon hit the kid with his nose, changing the kid's landing that would have been a painful concrete ground, to a large ball pin. The kid and Dorimon fell into the ball pin safely. The kid came out, smiling, while Dorimon swam out of the ball pit, climbing out on the edge and sighed in relief.

Takuya saw what Dorimon did and sighed with relief as well. "That worked…"

Danny sighed in relief himself. "I think that's enough excitement for one-"

The ghost boy was interrupted by a familiar scream. "Oh-no… Jazz!"

Takuya and Andy looked at who screamed, seeing their older cousin/sister was standing right in front of the cart that was about to crash directly into her and Lopmon. Lopmon was holding onto a cotton candy, which he was enjoying until he saw the cart coming at them. Lopmon dropped the cotton candy, looking in shock horror. He had no time to react, but he was about to jump at the cart in an attempt to try to shield Jazz as much as he could with his small body. However, before Lopmon could jump, there was a sound of a motorcycle, before something blurred past Jazz and Lopmon, grabbing them seconds before the cart crashed into the fence that was behind Jazz.

Takuya had felt his heart in his throat at seeing Jazz in danger, but then the blur had come and then the cart crashed into the fence. Looking down, the goggle-wearing boy could see Jazz's savior, and Jazz on his motorcycle, looking shook up, and her hair was a mess, but no worse for the wear.

Danny, seeing this, was relieved too, but both he and Andy couldn't help but get a bad feeling about the guy who just saved her. In fact, Danny realized this 'man' was the ghost he tried to talk to the other night. Danny flew down to put the kids down somewhere safe, as well as his cousin and brother.

Meanwhile, Jazz was looking around, gripping onto the man's shoulder who just saved her life, while her other hand was wrapped tightly around Lopmon. "What just…? Did you…?"

The man smiled at her, making Jazz smile back at him. He seemed nice enough, and he _had_ saved her from being crushed to death after all.

Lopmon was looking at the man. There was something off about the man, but he couldn't deny the gratitude he felt right now for the man who just saved not only his life, but his partner's life as well.

Before Jazz could ask the man's name, Danny, who had turned back to human, along with Takuya came running over to them. Though Andy wasn't with them. Andy had went back to the ball pit to get Dorimon.

"Jazz! Are you okay?!" Takuya and Danny exclaimed at the same time.

"I'm fine." Jazz smiled. "Thanks to…"

Jazz looked back at the man, silently asking his name.

"Johnny. The name is Johnny." The man, Johnny, introduced himself to Jazz.

Jazz gave a smile at that. "That sounds like a nice name."

Lopmon wanted to say something, but he had to remain silent due to his promise to act like a stuffed toy in public.

Johnny smiled at Jazz before he looked at Danny and Takuya. "Shouldn't you two be somewhere else?"

"No. Shouldn't _you_ be somewhere else?" Danny countered. He didn't like the way this ghost was getting close to his sister, not only that, but the man who called himself 'Johnny' was somehow hiding his aura and his ghostly presence. If Danny hadn't been looking for it, he wouldn't have been able to tell Johnny was a ghost.

"Jazz is our family, of _course_ we would be here after she nearly got ran over by a freaking rollercoaster," Takuya added.

"Hey, guys, don't be rude. He did just save my life after all," Jazz softly lectured her brother and cousin, though she also meant Johnny saved her and Lopmon's life, she couldn't act like Lopmon was alive around Johnny.

Jazz then looked at Johnny and shook his hand with her free hand. "Hi, I'm Jasmine, or Jazz as other people call me." She then looked at herself in the mirror on Johnny's motorcycle. "Ugh… Look at me! I look like I _was_ almost run over by a rollercoaster!"

"We- I mean excuse me, I mean I think you look perfect, Kitten." Johnny smiled before he reached into his coat. "But it is a cold night, so here, why don't you put this on?"

Johnny held out what appeared to be a purple scarf, though Danny and Takuya could've sworn they saw it glow green for a split second.

Jazz took the scarf, as it _was _a bit chilly out. "Thank you, Johnny. But my name isn't Kitten."

"Don't call her Kitten," Danny huffed.

Lopmon frowned a little as he looked at the scarf before Jazz put it around her neck. For a split second, Jazz's eyes glowed green, but it was so fast that nobody noticed, except for Lopmon, who raised an eyebrow at that. Jazz then glared at Danny before she elbowed him on the side a little _too_ harshly. Danny grunted before rubbing his side, frowning at his sister.

"But you can call me that if you want." Jazz said to Johnny.

Takuya, for some reason, felt this instinct coming up on him and he growled a bit, clenching his fists. _Who does this guy think he is, coming up and trying to act all cozy with Jazz?!_

"Ride home, Kitten?" Johnny grinned.

_There's no way Jazz would ever ride home with a strange-_ Danny began thinking to himself before Jazz suddenly ran over to Johnny and got onto the back of the motorcycle. "What the- Jazz!"

Takuya also stared. "What… Jazz, wait!"

Jazz didn't hear the two as she put on a helmet before Johnny drove off with Jazz and Lopmon, leaving behind smoke at the two boys.

Meanwhile, Andy just fished up Dorimon from the ball pit and was currently walking with the little Digimon under his arm. "I swear… if it weren't for the fact you had fur, I would have never found you in that ball pit… Why did you go back into it?"

"It was fun…" Dorimon pouted.

"You could've gotten stomped on!" Andy scolded.

"Um… excuse me…" The kid who Dorimon saved earlier spoke up from behind Andy. "That stuffed animal is yours, right…? Thanks for… uh… saving me."

Andy looked back at the kid, before shaking his head. "I'm just glad you're okay. You better get back to your parents before anything else happens, alright?"

The kid nodded before running off to his worried parents.

Dorimon smiled at Andy. "Can we get a treat now? You did promise a big treat if we survived, and we did."

Andy groaned. "How could you think of food when we almost died back there?"

"Well… we almost die on a daily basis, don't we?" Dorimon questioned innocently.

Andy let out a sigh, he decided it wasn't worth explaining the difference between being close to death in a battle to being close to death while being helpless on a freaking rollercoaster. "Fine. But we better make it quick, they're likely going to shut down the carnival after that incident with the rollercoaster."

Dorimon was both happy at getting a treat and disappointed at the carnival being shut down. "Okay, I guess."

As Andy was walking, he couldn't help but wonder to himself. _I'm sure of it… we would've died or at least been seriously injured back there if Danny hadn't come. But why didn't I see Danny in the vision? How did he know to come save us before it was too late? Was it because he noticed I was in danger due to our link? … That link needs some studying…_

"Bad Luck Tuck! Bad Luck Tuck!" Andy heard some jocks chanting.

"Um… Do I want to know why those students are taunting Tucker like that?" Dorimon asked.

Tucker was groaning, hiding his face with his berrett. Terriermon gave Tucker a concerned frown while Sam and Salamon gave Tucker a look of sympathy.

"Well… at least they're not calling you Techno Geek anymore," Sam said, hoping to try to cheer up the boy a little bit, it didn't work.

Tucker groaned. "I know what you're trying to say, Sam, but please… just drop the label thing for now…"

Andy frowned as he walked over to Tucker and Sam. "Hey… let's pick up some snacks to help cheer you up. Plus, I have a hungry 'stuffed animal'."

Tucker looked up. "Good idea… Let's get away from these jocks… And my new label…" He stood up, holding Terriermon and walking off with a sullen look on his face.

Dash frowned as well, he was the only jock among the group who wasn't chanting Tucker's new label. Then he got an idea. "Hey guys, Bad Luck Tuck may not be the best label for him. He's holding a rabbit, their feet are known to be good luck. Perhaps we should call him Rabbit Foot?"

Calvin looked at Dash. "You know, that sounds like a better nickname anyway, since he mostly runs from us! Then again, most nerds don't since we can catch them, but it is still fitting."

"I don't know, Bad Luck Tuck has a better ring to it," Another jock muttered.

Andy gave Dash an appreciated look, Rabbit Foot did sound better than calling one of his best friends 'bad luck'. Though the three of them walked away from the jocks to get some food before the carnival would shut down.

Sam looked at Andy. "Are you okay? What happened? Danny just took off for something."

"Let's just say you came very close to having an Andy Phantom, who would've been all ghost instead of half," Andy answered.

Sam paled at the implications of that statement. "Oh… Are you alright?"

"I'll tell you and Tucker about it while we get some food," Andy sighed tiredly.

* * *

Danny and Takuya decided to go home early while Andy, Tucker, and Sam decided to get some food at the carnival before the cops would come to shut it down for the crashed rollercoaster, and having 'unsafe equipment'. While Takuya knew that Andy was more lax about what almost happened with Jazz, since he and Danny went to check on her after she almost got run over by a rollercoaster, he wished Andy would've come with them. Dorimon would've been fine on his own.

"Are you okay, Takuya? I can't help but notice you seem a little more… agitated than usual," Danny noted as they were walking home.

Takuya sighed. "It's just that man who saved her. Something about him sets me off, you know? I mean, I can't help but get this feeling he is hiding something…"

Danny frowned. "Well, he was that ghost man I saw the other night…"

Takuya's eyes went wide when he heard that.

"What?!" Takuya was worried now. "And Jazz is getting all chummy with him?!" He gritted his teeth in frustration. "That man's a ghost… and he is all chummy with Jazz…? What is he up to?"

Danny wondered if Takuya's Spirits might be acting up, he seemed a little more feral as he hissed. "I don't know, but I'm sure Jazz is fine. She has Lopmon with her after all."

Takuya took in a deep breath and let it out, calming down as soon as he did so. "Yeah… You're right. I shouldn't be so worried." However, he _was_ worried, despite what he said.

The two of them came to Fenton Works, and both of their eyes went wide when they saw the familiar motorcycle parked outside of their house.

Takuya's eyes narrowed as he saw the motorcycle. "Oh great…"

Danny frowned. "That Johnny guy is here? This can't be good…"

Meanwhile, inside the house, Jazz was sitting on the couch in the living room right next to Johnny. Lopmon was currently on Jazz's lap.

"You do have a last name, don't you?" Jazz asked.

"Yes, yes, I do." Johnny replied. "Although, everyone calls me Johnny 13. You see, I have a bit of a reputation for being… unlucky."

"Well, you were pretty lucky for me tonight." Jazz smiled.

"Heh, yeah…" Johnny chuckled before he looked at Lopmon. "So… is that a stuffed animal you have there?"

Jazz looked down at Lopmon, who was still pretending to be a stuffed toy. "Yeah, it is." She confirmed. "I've had it for a while now."

"I see…" Johnny noticed the D-Arc sticking out of Jazz's pocket and grinned. "Here, why don't you try this on? I think it would look nice on you."

Johnny gave Jazz a nice looking red jacket. Lopmon noticed it glowed green for a second, but he did nothing to stop Jazz from putting it on.

Jazz put on the jacket, only for her eyes to glow green for a second again before they returned to normal. Lopmon gave a smile at Jazz and Johnny.

"You should kiss him," Lopmon whispered to Jazz.

Jazz grinned at Lopmon before she and Johnny leaned in to kiss. However, before they could, there was a door slam that stopped them. In came Takuya and Danny, both looking mad, but in Takuya's case, he was glaring at Lopmon as well for some reason.

Without saying anything, both Danny and Takuya walked into the kitchen.

Johnny frowned, realizing those two boys were going to be a problem. "Hey, do you have any place where we could be alone? Like maybe a basement or something?"

Jazz smiled. "Actually, there is a place. C'mon." She grabbed Johnny's hand and stood up, taking him down to the lab.

Lopmon hopped onto Jazz's head, not seeming to care anymore if Johnny knew he was alive. Johnny could only grin, it was the first time he actually saw a real Digimon, but he was, ironically, lucky that this girl he chose had one as a partner.

From behind the wall, Takuya frowned. "C'mon. Something tells me this needs to be nipped in the bud." He said to Danny.

"I agree, but what's with Lopmon? Why isn't he trying to stop this?" Danny wondered as he and Takuya started heading upstairs where Jack and Maddie likely were.

_I'm wondering that myself…_ Takuya thought. _Is it possible Lopmon got corrupted again? Or was he pretending to be good the whole time? I don't want to think of that possibility, but I can't rule it out either…_

Finally, Takuya decided to reply to Danny. "I'm not sure myself…"

* * *

In the lab of Fenton Works, Jazz showed Johnny around. Lopmon whispered to Jazz to show him the Ghost Portal. Jazz smiled as she went over to the control panel that was hooked up to the Ghost Portal. Jazz put her thumb on the fingerprint scanner, it only took a second for the doors to the Ghost Portal to open up. Thankfully, it would appear all the ghosts that were waiting in line before were gone, as no ghost came out of the Ghost Portal when Jazz opened it.

"Cool…" Johnny said with a grin as he looked at the portal. _This will do nicely..._

"No, it's not." Jazz said sheepishly. "But at least my brother and cousin can't bother us down here."

"By the way, would you mind introducing me to your little rabbit friend?" Johnny asked, pointing at Lopmon who was still on Jazz's head.

Jazz looked at Johnny. "Sure. This is Lopmon, my partner."

Lopmon hopped down from Jazz's head. "It's nice to meet you. I'm glad Jazz was able to find someone like you."

Lopmon twirled around a bit, showing off his ears. "I mean as her partner it's my duty to protect her, but it's nice to know she could count on someone like you to keep her safe as well."

Johnny grinned again. _I even got the Digimon under Kitty's control! This day couldn't get any better!_

Johnny looked at Jazz's D-Arc, seeing the screen was glowing green.

"Well then, how about we pick up where we left off, Kitten?~" Johnny smiled.

But before they could get back to kissing, a deep booming voice echoed from upstairs. _"JASMINE FENTON!"_

Jack Fenton came down the stairs to the lab, looking pissed off. "You know you're not allowed to bring unauthorized personnel down here!"

Standing at the bottom of the stairs were Takuya and Danny. Danny was standing against the wall with a smirk, arms folded across his chest. As for Takuya, he was glaring at Johnny and Lopmon, but each one of them for a different reason.

"You know better!" Maddie scolded.

"You were about to let some strange punk activate the Fenton Portal!?" Both Jack and Danny said at the same time, which caused the two of them to look at each other.

"Hey, lay off! We weren't doing nothing, pops!" Johnny scoffed.

"His name isn't pops!" Takuya and Maddie exclaimed at the same time, with both of _them_ looking at each other.

"Yeah, whatever, I was just about to leave. This place is too cramped for my style anyways," Johnny grumbled as he started walking past the Fentons and Takuya and headed upstairs.

"I'll walk you out, Johnny," Jazz called over him as she picked up Lopmon before she pointed at Danny and Takuya. "And could you two be anymore like our parents?"

Danny and Takuya winced just as Jazz ran up the stairs after Johnny.

The foursome peered after Jazz and Johnny. "I am not like him/her!" The four exclaimed at the same time, but Danny broke the awkward streak.

"Wow, this is awkward…" Danny muttered.

Just as Johnny and Jazz got into the living room, they stopped when someone else just walked through the door while holding another 'stuffed animal' in his arms.

"What the!? How did you get back up here so fast!?" Johnny yelped, seeing 'Danny' closing the door behind him.

"Wah?" 'Danny' looked at them in surprise himself. "Who are you?"

"Don't play dumb with me, kid! I just saw you downstairs!" Johnny hissed.

"I've… literally never seen you before in my life," 'Danny' remarked.

"Hey! Just because you changed your clothes doesn't mean you're a different person, punk!" Johnny snapped.

Jazz frowned a little. "Um… actually Johnny-"

"Hey! Don't you go yelling at my brother!" Danny snapped, having come upstairs and seeing Johnny yelling at his younger brother.

Johnny looked surprised. "Your brother?" Looking at the boy before him, the one with the 'stuffed animal' he could now see some differences, namely the eye color. This boy's eyes were green, whereas the other boy's eyes were blue, there was also the fact this boy in front of him didn't have the same hidden ghostly aura as the other one did. "Huh… so he is."

"May I ask why you're in our house?" Andy questioned. "And who are you?"

"I'm the one who saved your sister from being killed by a runaway rollercoaster." Johnny said to Andy.

"Oh yeah, that was you?" Andy noted.

"Andy, this man was just leaving," Takuya spoke up, coming up the stairs as well. "Let him leave."

Andy frowned a little, noticing the edge in his cousin's voice. "Oh… uh, alright."

Andy stepped away from the door.

Johnny walked past Andy, with Jazz right on his heels.

Dorimon frowned at seeing the new clothes on Jazz. "Andy, do you see the clothing on Jazz?" He whispered to his partner.

"Yeah… what about those?" Andy asked.

"They're filled with a ghost's ecto-signature…" Dorimon whispered.

Andy frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means that as long as Jazz is wearing those clothes, then whoever that ecto-signature belongs to, will influence her mind," Dorimon informed.

* * *

It was 12 that night, Andy was scrambling around for something on the computer. Danny yawned as he looked at his brother.

"Bro, it's midnight, why are you still awake?" Danny asked. "We have school tomorrow."

"Just… looking for certain information," Andy said. "Go back to sleep, Danny."

Danny yawned again. "I can't seem to go back to sleep now that I woke up. What're you looking for?"

"Information on how ghost possession works," Andy replied.

Danny blinked, feeling more awake when Andy said that. "What? Why are you looking up information about that? … Look, if this was about that time I overshadowed you when we were fighting Technus, I-"

"No, don't apologize for that, Danny. I wanted you to do that," Andy sighed. "And this is for something else entirely."

"What would it be for?" Danny asked as he stood up and walked over to Andy's computer. "Does it have to do with why Jazz was acting so strangely?"

"Yeah… Dorimon said that he felt an ecto-signature on the scarf and jacket she was wearing," Andy informed. "I'm guessing that man she was with is actually a ghost?"

Danny's eyes went wide at hearing that. "Y-yeah… That's… that would be it. I saw that man the other night, and he definitely had a ghostly aura around him. But this time it seems it was hidden."

"I see… that's why I didn't notice anything ghostly about him…" Andy noted. "I guess that means ghosts can hide their ghostly aura and appearance. Spectra and Bertrand did that too actually…"

Danny frowned. "So what does Jazz wearing those clothes have to do with ghost possessions?"

"Hmm…" Andy hesitated for a moment. "Well, I only have theories from what I know about ghosts right now, so they may not be all accurate. But from what I could tell… there is actually a difference between overshadowing and possessing someone."

Danny blinked. "There is? I didn't know that."

"The two are very similar, but they're not exactly the same," Andy remarked before he picked up his notepad he had on the table beside him. "When a ghost overshadows a person, they temporarily take control of their body, usually putting their host's consciousness to sleep while they do so, so the host would have no recollection to what happened. There are some rare cases where the host is strong enough to fight back, however, like when Dad fought back against Vlad's overshadowing. But basically, overshadowing just means a temporary meat puppet."

Danny nodded before Andy continued. "However, possession is… more permanent. If a ghost reforms around a person, changing that person's body into the ghost's body, then they have been possessed. Or if a ghost fuses with their host while overshadowing them, that too is a form of possession. What's happening with Jazz right now, from what I could see, is that those clothes she's wearing are likely for another ghost to reform on her. If Johnny is a ghost, he might have a ghost girlfriend, or a lost sister, or someone he cherishes that he left behind in the Ghost Zone, and they can't come out for whatever reason. So he's using Jazz to get her back."

Danny felt this rush of anger at Johnny now. "That's… I can't believe that guy would do something like that!" He then had a thought. _Wait… could Takuya be sensing something off with Jazz? Is that why his Spirits are acting up?_

"Again, bro, I don't know if this is what's happening, it's just a hunch," Andy sighed.

Danny then looked at Andy. "Hey, um… bro? I think you should know this, since it concerns Takuya." He steeled himself for what he was about to say. "Have you noticed how… aggressive he was today around Johnny?"

"Not really, since I only saw Johnny for like a few minutes," Andy answered. "Though I guess he did seem… on edge when he told me to let Johnny leave."

Danny nodded. "That's what I mean. I think his Spirits might be acting up around Johnny, but I'm not sure."

"Hmm… that makes sense, he likely subconsciously senses something is wrong with Jazz, and Johnny is likely the cause of it," Andy noted. "Dorimon sensed it as well, that was the only reason why I was even aware of the ecto-signature on those clothes Johnny gave her. But… that doesn't explain why Lopmon isn't all that… concerned…"

Andy then paled. "Oh… oh no… I think I know why Lopmon isn't concerned."

Danny looked at Andy. "What? Why? Why is Lopmon not concerned?"

"Because Lopmon is Jazz's partner," Andy said.

Danny blinked. "Uh… I… wasn't expecting that kind of answer."

"Danny… Do you remember what happened to Dorimon when Tucker overshadowed me when he was turning into a ghost?" Andy asked.

Danny nodded. "Yeah. I do. He turned into some kind of evil-looking Digimon. Why?"

"He only turned out that way because of what was happening to me," Andy explained. "Digimon partners are linked to their human partners. If something happens to the human partner, it's likely going to affect the Digimon partner as well."

Danny frowned. "But remember with Ember and her power? Lopmon didn't appear to be affected by Ember's music." He pointed out.

"Because what was happening there was external," Andy replied. "What's happening to Jazz right now, and to me when Tucker overshadowed me, was happening from the inside of us. Which messed with our partners as well."

Danny then felt his face grow pale. "Oh… Oh no… No, that can't be! That… that's not good! Imagine what Takuya would think if Lopmon continues to be influenced by the ghostly clothes!"

"We can't worry about what Takuya will think right now," Andy sighed, tapping on his table. "We need to find a way to remove those clothes from Jazz."

Danny nodded as he seemed to calm down. "Yeah… Yeah, you're right. That should be our priority. Maybe I could go ghost and remove those clothes from her while she's sleeping?"

"You could try," Andy said. "That might be our best bet actually."

Danny then frowned as a thought crossed his mind. "But what about Lopmon? If he is affected by the ghostly clothes as well, he may try to attack me and prevent me from removing them."

Andy frowned as he thought of something else as well. "We also don't even know if it's safe to remove them directly. For all we know, it might hurt us if we touch it, and maybe only Jazz or Johnny can remove those clothes."

Danny groaned, rubbing his head. "What should we do?"

"Calm down, bro," Andy sighed. "For now, I think our best bet is to keep an eye on Jazz. If Johnny tries to put anything else on her, we need to stop him."

Danny sighed as he considered Andy's words. "That… sounds like the best chance we have for now. It shouldn't be too hard, but we can't assume it will be so easy."

"Yeah, I know…" Andy frowned before he stood up. "I guess that's enough research for now. We should get some sleep."

Danny sighed again. "Okay… I'll try to get back to sleep, but… I don't know if I will be able to now."

"Dorimon," Andy said, tapping his sleeping partner on the table.

Yeah…?" Dorimon yawned.

"I think Danny may need your kisses to help him sleep tonight," Andy stated.

Dorimon grinned. "I want to help Danny sleep!"

Danny looked at the little Digimon. "Uh… no… No, that's okay! I will get to sleep on my own, thank you!"

Andy smirked as he watched his brother quickly getting into bed. _Works every time~_

* * *

The next day at school, things were relatively normal. Though Tucker was now sitting next to Niki more, both of them appeared to be trading notes with each other. When it came for lunch, Tucker and Niki were walking together with their lunch trays.

"Would you guys mind if I sat with Niki today?" Tucker asked Danny, Andy, Sam, and Takuya.

"I promise I'll only borrow him for today," Niki chuckled.

Danny blinked. "Sure?"

Sam smiled. "Enjoy yourself, Tucker."

As Tucker and Niki walked away, Danny looked at Sam. "Tucker has a date?"

Sam smiled again. "Yep."

"Since when?" Danny questioned.

"Since Saturday night, I believe," Salamon said from Sam's spider backpack.

Takuya looked surprised. "I thought being a Techno Geek would have worked against him for that."

"He's known as Rabbit Foot now," Andy chuckled.

"Huh?" Takuya was confused.

"You can thank Dash for that one," Andy remarked.

"Why is Dash being so… so nice? I thought he would've gone for the Bad Luck Tuck label," Sam wondered.

Takuya sweatdropped. _I'm like 75% sure Andy would've made Dash's next training a living hell if he did..._

Danny shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm not complaining about the change in Dash's behavior. If anything, it's been better for me lately, as I'm not shoved into lockers as much. And if I am, Dash seems to find me and let me out."

"Which is ironic since he used to be the worst of your bullies," Sam noted.

"That might be why he's been extra nice to Danny," Andy said.

"He was your worst bully too," Sam reminded.

Danny looked at his brother. "She has a point, bro. But, I guess we can chalk it up to Dash maturing more."

The group of four found an empty table and sat down, putting their trays down. The trays were made of metal, so Andy made sure to have extra food for Dorimon so they wouldn't be another tray short after lunch.

Danny looked down at Dorimon. "I think you mentioned Dorimon ate a food tray from school once?"

"Yeah," Andy sighed. "That's why I always make sure to pack extra food for him. I can't have him eating all of the food trays."

"Hey, I have some self control. I was just a baby back then," Dorimon pouted.

Takuya chuckled. "And yet you try to eat anything metal in the lab, namely the scrap metal."

"Well nobody's using it, and it's a good way to clean up," Dorimon said proudly.

Takuya chuckled again. "Waste no, want not~"

Danny laughed at that.

Sam took Salamon out of her backpack since nobody was sitting near them. "Here, Salamon, I made sure to get some food for you too."

"Thank you for your kindness, Sam." Salamon smiled before she tasted a piece of candy Sam put on the plate.

Salamon's eyes sparkled when she tasted the candy. "That's good! It's so sweet, and bursts into flavor when I chew it!"

Sam laughed at the reaction. "That's the point of a Starburst! It bursts into flavor when chewed and eaten."

"I remember the first time I tasted a Starburst…" Dorimon smiled dreamily.

"You ate the entire pack," Andy grumbled as he took out his fork.

Dorimon giggled. "I was a baby back then~"

"It was last week!" Andy pointed out.

"Yeah, and I was currently in this form, which is technically a baby~" Dorimon retorted.

Takuya tried to keep in his laughter, but he couldn't for long, and he lost control of his laughter.

Sam also laughed, but not as hard as Takuya. Salamon was enjoying more Starbursts, wanting to taste more of it. Danny rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but laugh as well.

Unfortunately, their laughter couldn't last very long. Andy was about to dig into his lunch when suddenly, something smacked his arm with the fork up high, which caused him to lose his grip on his fork, which sent the fork flying right into a big wasp's nest that just so happened to be hanging on the tree above Andy. As soon as they heard buzzing, they all paled.

Andy made a dive to Danny, tackling him to the ground. "Go intangible! Go intangible!"

Sam grabbed Salamon, Dorimon jumped off the table, and Takuya scrambled away. All three of them made a beeline to Danny, grabbing him too.

Danny turned all of them intangible, making the wasps miss them and go through their intangible forms. Because the wasps were going berserk, the other students were too busy running for their lives to notice four kids and their two stuffed animals were currently see-thru.

After the wasps chased off the other students, they went back to their nest, just as Danny and the others with him crept away, still intangible. Once they were away from the wasps nest, Danny released his intangibility.

"Wow… that was close…" Danny muttered, looking back at the wasps nest that still had the fork lodged in it. "I wonder what made that fork flip into that wasps nest."

"Talk about bad luck…" Takuya frowned.

"Something hit my arm," Andy said. "I don't think it was bad luck, I think it was sabotage or a really bad prank. And someone needs to remove that wasp nest."

"Preferably relocate them," Sam added.

Danny nodded. "We could ask Mr. Lancer to ask someone to remove that nest, if not relocate it."

* * *

By the time school let out for the day, Andy noticed that most of the students had wasp stings all over their faces. He shrunk a little as they were walking by these poor students who couldn't get away from the wasps.

_Really hope nobody knew that fork was mine… otherwise I'm going to be labelled the Wasp Boy or something…_ Andy frowned to himself.

Thankfully, no one seemed to know it had been his fork, so the students just seemed to ignore him, which was a blessing to Andy. Andy gave a small sigh of relief. However, there was another student who got caught up in the stinging, and it was Tucker.

"Uh… I'll see you tomorrow, Niki… hopefully we can get rid of these stings by then," Tucker said to the girl beside him, who was also covered with wasp stings.

Niki sighed. "I hope so. That was so not fun…"

Tucker hurried after Danny and the others. Andy groaned, looking down, knowing he caused poor Tucker's face to be like that.

As they were walking, Danny's ghost sense went off. Andy and Takuya quickly took notice of the blue mist coming out of Danny's mouth.

"Uh oh…" Danny said as he looked around.

Takuya tensed up as he felt the hot flash of his Spirits reacting.

"There's a ghost near here," Salamon spoke up.

"I feel it too." Dorimon frowned.

"Over there!" Terriermon lifted up his ears.

Then they heard a motorcycle engine. They looked in the direction Terriermon pointed at, and saw Johnny on his motorcycle passing them by, with two extra passengers with him.

Takuya frowned at seeing Johnny going by with Jazz and Lopmon.

As for Danny, he groaned at the sight. "Darn it, Jazz…"

"What should we do?" Tucker asked.

"_You_ need to get home and take care of those wasp stings," Sam sighed. "And as much as I hate to say it, but we wouldn't be able to go after Jazz."

"You guys go on home, I'll make sure Jazz and Lopmon are okay," Danny said quickly before he ran off.

Takuya frowned, he knew that Danny would let Phantom take over so he could fly after Johnny, but he didn't like the idea of Danny going alone.

He looked at Andy. "Andy… do you think…?" Takuya's voice didn't show his plan, but his eyes were asking the question. _'Should I go with Danny?'_

"Go on… maybe you might even be able to have a talk with Danny while you're at it," Andy said.

Takuya frowned, but nodded. He then looked at the others. "I… will go and see if I can catch up with Danny. You guys go on ahead." Takuya then turned and ran off where Johnny had driven off down the road.

"Andy, aren't you and Dorugamon going after them?" Sam asked. "I mean Dorugamon can fly."

"We could…" Andy looked at her. "But I get the feeling this is something only for the two of them right now."

Sam frowned. "If you think they can handle it, I won't argue. But Jazz _is_ your sister."

"Sometimes the way you think just doesn't make much sense," Tucker agreed.

Andy sighed. "Maybe. But I believe Jazz is in good hands right now."

"Regardless, I'm also worried about Lopmon. I don't understand why he's letting his partner get close to a ghost," Salamon remarked.

Terriermon frowned to himself, but didn't say anything.

Dorimon blinked as he looked at Andy. _Is Andy going to explain what is going on with Jazz and Lopmon?_

"Have you guys heard about ghost possession?" Andy asked.

* * *

Danny, in ghost form, was flying after Johnny while he was driving them up a hill. Jazz was holding onto Johnny, not noticing Danny at all. Lopmon was clinging onto Jazz's head.

Above them, and above Danny, BurningGreymon was following as well. Thankfully, he was able to keep the foursome in his sights from a higher distance. The Digimon used the clouds as cover to stay out of sight from humans if they tried to look up as well.

Johnny noticed Danny flying over them with the mirror of his motorcycle. Not wanting the ghost boy to interfere, he whispered to his shadow. "Shadow, defend."

The shadow ghost came up from Johnny's shadow and flew up at Danny. Danny flew back, barely avoiding a claw to the face by the shadow ghost. Danny frowned, about to go after Jazz again, but the shadow grabbed his boot and threw him back. Getting frustrated by the shadow, Danny fired a ghost ray at the shadow's stomach. The shadow just smirked as the hole in his stomach reformed easily.

"Gah, suffering spooks, it can regenerate," Danny groaned, before realizing the curse he used. "Wait… 'suffering spooks'? Oh no, I _am _becoming like my dad! Gaaaaah!"

BurningGreymon heard Danny screaming, and quickly flew down lower from the clouds to get a better look as to what was going on before he saw the shadow ghost eat Danny.

When BurningGreymon saw that, he could only stare in horror for a moment that seemed to stretch into hours. It was the longest second of his life before something inside him seemed to just… snap. There was no reason, he just acted, seeing only red. Without thinking at all, the Beast Warrior of Flame flew in, fire coating his body. He let out a roar before he impacted the shadow ghost in where its stomach would be, forcing it to vomit up Danny. But the fiery Digimon didn't see Danny get vomited up. His mind was more focused on the shadow ghost. BurningGreymon let his instincts guide his attack. He roared again, swiping at the shadow ghost with his claws. The claws created slash marks on the shadow ghost, but it just regenerated.

That didn't stop BurningGreymon though, as he coated his claws in fire and began slashing at the shadow ghost without any mercy. Flaming slash marks were left on the shadow ghost, and BurningGreymon's blue eyes were focused solely on the ghost before him.

Danny just stared in surprise, and a bit of fear, at what he was seeing. He knew BurningGreymon was Takuya, but Takuya wasn't acting like himself, in fact, he was acting more like the beast that he currently was. He was attacking mercilessly at the shadow ghost, like a wild animal.

"BurningGreymon! Please stop!" Danny called out.

But BurningGreymon didn't stop. Instead, he turned his attention to Danny, not realizing it was his cousin in his ghost form. No, all he saw was a ghost, one that had been causing trouble for his family in recent months. He roared again, charging right at Danny, thus allowing the shadow ghost to get away, albeit quite weakened from the beatdown it had been given.

Danny gasped, seeing BurningGreymon was now charging at him. Danny flew away, trying not to get caught up in his rage filled cousin's fire. "BurningGreymon! What are you doing? It's me, Danny! Calm down!"

BurningGreymon seemed to stop for a moment, giving Danny some hope, but it didn't work for long, as in his rage, BurningGreymon came to the conclusion that Phantom was only using Danny to try and get him to drop his guard. He didn't stop his attack, instead flying up and over Danny before coming to a hover in front of him, his blue eyes filled with uncontrolled rage.

Danny was thankful he was so quick and nimble as a ghost, it was his saving grace from his cousin's fire. He managed to dodge most of the flames, though a few did manage to burn his back a little. Danny then stopped when they got too close to the city. BurningGreymon didn't seem to care that there were innocent people nearby, he just saw that Phantom had stopped in front of him and it was the perfect chance to strike him down.

He flew at Danny, hoping to get rid of the ghost once and for all.

Danny, out of self preservation, as well as to protect the innocent people from the fire dragon, put up an ecto-shield as BurningGreymon rammed into it. The shield protected Danny from the brunt of the attack, but the flames were quickly gathering around the shield to burn his very being.

Danny let out a scream that sounded familiar to BurningGreymon. BurningGreymon planned to burn Phantom away in hopes of getting his cousin out of the ghost. But then, something happened that would shock him to his core; Danny called out his real name.

"STOP IT! TAKUYA! STOP!" Danny cried out.

Hearing that cut through the rage like a knife. BurningGreymon's eyes lost the uncontrolled rage as they went wide in shock and realization. _Did… Was… Oh… Oh no… No! He… What… am I doing?!_ The flames cut out, leaving Danny's shield somewhat intact.

Danny dissipated the shield, his body looked a bit burnt. He weakly looked at BurningGreymon with a small smile. "Hey… Takuya… glad you're… back."

Danny then began to fall from the air.

Thinking fast, BurningGreymon flew down as fast as he could and caught Danny. Fractal coding surrounded him as he reverted to his Human Spirit once he had landed on the ground. Now as Agunimon, he looked at his cousin. "Danny!? Danny! Say something!"

Danny coughed a bit. "You… sure do know how to… tackle someone… ever thought about… trying out for football, cuz?"

Agunimon couldn't believe it. He had assumed that Phantom had been a ghost living inside Danny, but now, having heard Phantom, or rather, _Danny_ say something only he could know… That threw that perception out the window. The Warrior of Flame felt bad and guilty, not only for attacking his own cousin, but because Danny was… Here, Agunimon lowered his head, his eyes becoming hidden by his wild blonde hair. Tears ran down his cheeks as he tried to keep himself from losing control of his emotions.

"Takuya…?" Danny asked in concern.

"How… long…" Agunimon rasped out. "How long have you…" He couldn't bring himself to say it.

"How long have I known it was you?" Danny misinterpreted what Agunimon was trying to ask. "Uh… since the Ember thing. I mean I accidentally saw you evolve into-"

"How long have you been dead…" Agunimon finally forced himself to say it.

At that, Danny's neon green eyes widened. His eyes looked so much Andy's and Danny's at the same time, it was painful for Agunimon to look into them. "N-no, Takuya, you got it all wrong. I'm not dead, not at all!"

"Don't deny it… you're a ghost. People who are still alive don't just become ghosts, Danny," Agunimon pointed out, before realization hit him. "It was… it was that accident with the Ghost Portal, wasn't it?"

"Takuya listen to me," Danny spoke up in a serious voice before he looked around, making sure they were alone. "Do dead people have heartbeats?"

A ring of light appeared on Danny's torso, splitting horizontally, changing him back to his human form. He hissed a bit in pain from the burns he got earlier.

Hearing Danny hiss in pain made Agunimon's heart clench with guilt. "Danny… I… I'm sorry…"

"Don't say anything," Danny said. "Just listen to my heartbeat. No actual ghost can fake that."

Agunimon hesitated, unsure about the request. So, Danny took the Digimon's hand and placed it on his own chest gently. Agunimon's eyes went wide a bit as he felt the heartbeat that was Danny's. It was slow yes, but it was there. Looking back at Danny, fresh tears formed in Agunimon's eyes as he then hugged his cousin, trying to be as gentle as he could given Danny's burns. "I'm sorry, Danny!"

All Danny could do was give Agunimon a slight hug, trying not to irritate his burns. "Don't worry, Takuya… I've already forgiven you."

Agunimon kept crying, fractal code surrounding him before he turned back to his own human form.

Danny smiled at seeing his cousin was finally in the know of his secret. He hugged Takuya a bit more, trying to keep his cousin calm.

"But… I don't understand… how can you… be alive… and a ghost at the same time?" Takuya asked.

"I don't know _how_ exactly," Danny sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I just know that the accident didn't kill me… well… fully anyways. I'm half human, half ghost. A halfa as other ghosts like to call me."

Takuya then remembered Skulker calling Danny, or rather, _Andy_, 'ghost child' before when he first revealed his secret to Andy. "Wait… Other ghosts know what you are?"

"They can sense someone's ghost core, even if it's hidden," Danny admitted. "I can't exactly hide that from other ghosts. You probably also noticed there had been something off about me too since you came back to Amity Park."

Takuya looked down. "I did… but I was under the impression a ghost was living inside of you."

"Yeah… Andy told me that when I found out about your Digimon forms," Danny admitted. "I didn't want to tell you until you wanted to tell me. And I thought it would be fine letting you believe Phantom was a separate entity from me, but… well, that didn't turn out so well…"

"That was my fault." Takuya sighed. "I lost control of my Beast Spirit. I mean, I saw you fighting that shadow ghost and then… when it _ate_ you, I just… snapped and lost control. Normally I have better control than that…"

"I have noticed you've been a little more… aggressive lately," Danny stated. "I just couldn't talk to you about it because… well… you weren't supposed to know that I knew about you."

"It's that Johnny guy. He's… been giving off a bad vibe to me…" Takuya admitted. "I assume it's my Spirits acting up, but I don't know why."

That was when Takuya remembered what Calumon had said to him, about how he should try to communicate with his Spirits more. With so much going on, Takuya had forgotten about that advice. "Ugh!" He smacked himself with his hand. "I can't believe I forgot about that advice of communicating with my Spirits…"

Danny chuckled a little. "You know… I'm actually relieved that we don't have to keep secrets from each other anymore. It was getting rather exhausting."

Takuya chuckled as well. "Yeah… I guess it was." He then frowned to himself. "Hmmm… Maybe I could try and communicate with my Spirits to find out why Johnny is making them act up."

"Wait… aren't we forgetting something?" Danny asked.

Takuya racked his brains, but there was nothing that came to mind, at least until he got an odd niggling from his Spirits, like they were screaming at him to go to the end of that road. "Um… is there something we have to do that involves the road we were following?"

Danny's eyes went wide as he paled. "JAZZ!"

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** I know, right? :3

**Unknown user****: DarkFoxKit:** I won't say if Paulina will get her own spirits or not, let alone Ranamon's spirits.

**ZAFT:** You will find out soon enough… :3

**Luna Lilltyth****: DarkFoxKit:** Yes, yes they are. And glad you enjoy Dorumon's adorable antics. XP

**ZAFT:** He can be handful, but he is so much fun to write~! X3

**Guest****: ZAFT:** I'm glad you found the story and like it. :3

**DigiGuest****: ZAFT:** Shinya will be mentioned from time to time. :3 And we never even considered the holy water blessing Andy… ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** Shinya is the little brother who is living back in Japan, and we do mention him a few times, but he really isn't important to the story. As for the holy water incident, it was mostly for a gag, but I guess you could say it might've blessed Andy enough to gain a resistance to ghosts overshadowing him.


	35. Blinded by Love

**ZAFT:** A week late, but it's better than nothing. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah. Our schedule is pretty messed up right now. We're trying to figure out when's a good time to write and update. It hasn't been easy, especially with my treatment going on.

**Takuya:** Wish it wasn't like this… but what can you do?

**Andy:** They need to take it slow first, then figure out when's a good time to write and all.

**DarkFoxKit:** Hopefully it shouldn't take long to figure it out. But until then, we will try to update for you guys.

* * *

**Chapter 35: Blinded by Love**

Dorugamon landed on a tree branch on top of Amity's tallest hill. There was quite a nice view due to the sunset over Amity Park. But the view wasn't what Dorugamon and Andy, who was on Dorugamon's back, came here for.

"Good, we made it just in time," Andy whispered.

Jazz was sitting with Johnny on the grass. Lopmon was sitting beside Jazz, smiling at them.

Dorugamon frowned. "It seems Jazz and Lopmon are indeed under Johnny's influence, or at least the influence of those ghostly clothes. By the way, Andy, why _did_ you wait as long as you did before coming here to check on Jazz?"

"I felt Danny and Takuya needed this so they could finally talk things out. They really shouldn't keep hiding their secrets from each other, as it will only cause problems later on," Andy sighed.

"How do you know their talk now would lead them to confess their secrets to each other? And how did you know Johnny and Jazz would be _here_?" Dorugamon asked.

Andy grumbled. "You ask too many questions." _I saw it… in my head… I don't want to believe I can see the future, but… these… images haven't… steered me wrong yet._

"Hey Jazz, I've been thinking, and… I know this is kinda quick, but…" Johnny held out a golden ring with a green gem on it. "How would you like to be my girl?"

Jazz was astonished. As she blinked at the ring, Lopmon gave her a smile. "Go for it, Jazz. He's been wanting a girl like you."

Jazz, given the encouragement from Lopmon, made her steel her resolve. She looked at Johnny. "You want to go steady? That is so old school. But… you know what, Johnny?"

Jazz held up her hand to the ring.

Andy frowned before swiping the degeneration card on his D-Arc. Dorugamon blinked before he suddenly degenerated into Dorumon. Both of them fell out of the tree and landed in front of Jazz, Johnny, and Lopmon, who were all shocked to suddenly see Andy with his Digimon partner falling in front of them.

Dorumon groaned as he looked up with one golden eye, giving a bit of a weak smile. "Uh… hiya?"

"Um… we were just flying when Dorumon suddenly degenerated, so sorry about that. We didn't interrupt anything, did we?" Andy innocently questioned from the ground.

Jazz stood up and stalked over to Andy and picked him up by the back of his shirt. "Were you spying on us?"

* * *

Andy was suddenly back on the street of FentonWorks that night, Jazz had Johnny take him and Dorumon, who was currently Dorimon again, back home with her and Lopmon.

"Were you spying on them?" Maddie questioned Andy after Jazz told them the situation.

"Yes, I was," Andy admitted. "I'm sorry, but…"

Jack instead put an arm around Andy's shoulders and whispered to Andy.. "Good job, Andy. I don't trust that punk any more than I can throw him."

"And if you see Jazz with that hooligan again, you let us know." Maddie added in a whisper.

Andy blinked at his parents. _When did I turn into my parents?_

Jack and Maddie then looked at Johnny and Jazz, who were looking back at them expectantly. The two adults stood up straight. "And don't do that again!" Both Maddie and Jack scolded Andy.

But then Jack leaned in towards Andy. "But seriously, feel free to do it again."

And that was how Andy found himself on the couch in the living room with a pillow on his face.

"Come on, Andy, it's not that bad," Dorimon tried to assure the boy.

Suddenly the door was shoved open. Danny and Takuya came running in frantically, after not seeing Jazz or Johnny at the top of the hill, they were very worried about what happened.

"Where's Jazz?!" Both boys asked as one.

Andy pulled his face out of the pillow and looked at them. "Home, in her room, safe, for now."

Takuya and Danny both let out sighs of relief.

Andy raised an eyebrow at them. "I thought Danny and I were the twins here."

Takuya sheepishly chuckled. "Sorry, cuz…"

Danny looked at Andy. "What happened, Andy? Can you fill us in? Johnny and Jazz were not at the hilltop where Takuya and I thought they would be."

"Dorugamon and I may have interrupted their little sunset view and they took us back home," Andy answered.

"I have to say, it was a clever idea, though I didn't appreciate suddenly degenerating and falling on the ground like that," Dorimon remarked.

"You degenerated Dorugamon like that?" Takuya asked in surprise. "Wow. That must have been a fast plan."

"I had to be fast. Johnny was about to give Jazz a ring, which I'm sure would've either completed or almost completed the ghost possession," Andy sighed.

Takuya frowned, feeling his Spirits acting up at that. "I see…" His voice didn't bother to hide the harsh tone.

"Wait, how did you know where Jazz and Johnny were? You weren't with us when we followed them," Danny questioned.

Before Andy could come up with an answer, Dorimon answered instead. "He saw it in his head."

Andy bopped Dorimon in the head with a pillow.

Takuya blinked. "Okay…?"

Danny blinked as well. "You saw it in a vision?"

"Not a vision! … A hunch," Andy corrected. "It would make sense Johnny would take her to that hill. It's a good spot to be romantic during a sunset."

Takuya frowned. "That is a good point."

Danny then looked at Andy. "Um… bro? I think you should know… Takuya and I… we had that talk about our secrets…"

"Oh, did you now?" Andy looked at them before smiling. "So how does it feel to finally tell each other your secrets?"

Danny looked at Takuya, who looked back at Danny. Both then looked back at Andy. "Better." Both replied, but they had the same looks on their faces that said it all: 'did Andy set that up?'

"Come on, guys, just because it was a coincidence you two happened to talk to each other when I suggested you should talk, doesn't mean I set it up." Andy rolled his eyes, likely noticing their looks. "I'm not a mastermind or anything."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as Danny fidgeted.

Danny then sighed. "I will admit… what prompted it was Takuya losing control of his Beast Spirit form."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… A shadow ghost literally _ate_ Danny. I was sure I lost him and then… I just snapped and went berserk. When Danny got out of that ghost, I saw only his Phantom form and assumed he was the reason Danny was involved in all this stuff and well… I attacked him."

Andy frowned. "Are you both okay?"

"I'm already healing thanks to my ghost powers. Though I really should think about investing in some kind of fireproof cream. Those flames really hurt," Danny grumbled.

Takuya looked at Danny. "I said I was sorry!"

Danny looked back at his cousin. "I know, but it still hurt!"

Takuya sighed at that point. "Anyway… when I heard Danny call my real name, it snapped me out of my rage and I realized he wasn't a separate entity from Phantom. In fact, I assumed Danny was dead until he told me he was half-ghost."

Andy shivered. "Yeah… I'm glad you told him, Danny. It would've likely put Takuya in a dangerous mindset if you let him assume you were actually dead."

Danny shivered at that thought. "I don't want to even think about that or its results…"

"But hey, now you two finally know." Dorimon smiled. "It's about time, Andy and I were getting torn apart by your secrets. I mean do you know how frustrating it was to know your secrets, but not be able to say anything about information that would've been really helpful because they involved your secrets?"

Takuya sighed. "I can't really imagine how hard that would be." He then looked back at Danny. "I'm sure you're wondering how I can become a Digimon and how I got that ability, right?"

"Well…" Danny looked at Andy. "Andy already told me about your adventures in the Digital World when I found out about your ability. If he hadn't told me, I would've driven myself mad with spying on you until I knew for sure."

Takuya laughed. "That would have been crazy for sure."

"But maybe you could tell me about some of the things Andy didn't or couldn't tell me." Danny smiled. "Like your friends. Andy and I don't really know them except for Koji and Koichi after all."

Takuya smiled at that. "Sure, I would be happy to."

"Could you tell us a little bit more about JP, Zoe, and Tommy?" Andy asked.

Takuya smiled some more. "Well, Zoe is the only girl in our group, but she holds the Spirits of Wind, she's really tough, but also sweet. She can also cook pretty well, and she's probably the nicest girl I know. Tommy is the youngest of us, but he holds the Spirits of Ice. He is quite the innovative person, and while a bit of a crier at times, is also very brave. JP is the oldest, and he holds the Spirits of Thunder. He's a bit on the chubby side, but he's not a bad cook either. He usually keeps treats like chocolate around, and likes to perform some magic tricks from time to time. He can be a bit rough around the edges, but he usually means well."

Danny blinked. "How many of you were there?"

"It started out with just 5 of us… well, 4 for the most part since Koji usually liked to go by himself. But after a while, we met up with Koichi, who was… well, brainwashed by Cherubimon at the time. He eventually joined us though after breaking out of Cherubimon's spell, so that made 6," Takuya explained.

Danny nodded. "I see. So that makes six Legendary Warriors."

"Yeah. The last four were controlled by Cherubimon as well, but we managed to beat them and purify their Spirits." Takuya explained. "See, there are ten Legendary Warriors in total. Fire, which is my element, then Light which is held by Koji, Darkness which is held by Koichi, and the other three I listed off as well."

"It'd be nice if we could meet with the rest of your friends," Andy remarked.

"I think they would have a hard time believing one of my cousins was half-ghost." Takuya joked as he looked at Danny.

"I think anyone would. I mean someone being half ghost is like saying someone is half dead. It just contradicts all rationalization," Dorimon muttered. "You're either all alive or all dead, there isn't supposed to be an in-between."

Andy sighed, trying not to think about his own concerns for Danny regarding his unique biology. "Let's not worry about that right now. We should probably figure out what to do about Jazz and Lopmon… Oh, I should tell you about what's been going on with Jazz and Lopmon, Takuya."

Takuya raised an eyebrow. "Why? What's been going on?"

* * *

Takuya lay awake that night in his bed. After Andy had explained to him about how Lopmon was acting like he didn't care, or rather, was encouraging Jazz to be with Johnny was because he was being influenced by the clothes Jazz was wearing. Takuya sighed to himself, he thought he was over Lopmon's past, but it appeared he wasn't as over it as he thought. The first thing he assumed, when Lopmon was acting weird, was that he was evil again, or that he had always been evil and was hiding it.

He looked back at his D-Tector and frowned to himself. _Maybe it's time I talk to my Spirits. It could at least help me figure some things out, like why I assumed Lopmon was still evil._

Takuya felt sleep coming up on him, and before he knew it, he was out like a light. But that was the prime opportunity for his conversation as well, as then, when he was deep in sleep, his D-Tector showed the symbol of Fire, and then his mind went into another world of sorts.

Takuya opened his eyes, feeling a familiar comforting heat. He could see a familiar flaming area around him, with the symbol of Fire on the wall. Looking around, he saw his two Spirits, BurningGreymon on the left, and Agunimon on the right.

Takuya began to make his way to the Human Spirit of Fire, just as Agunimon sensed his presence and looked back. A smile crossed the Spirit's face. "It's been a while, Takuya, since you came here."

Takuya smiled back as he ran and hugged the Spirit. "It has, hasn't it?"

"It seems your heart and mind have been troubled since that ghost came into your territory," BurningGreymon noted.

Agunimon looked at Takuya. "What is it that bothers you?"

Takuya sighed. "The ghost you are thinking of… is it that black and white ghost?"

Agunimon frowned a bit. "Yes, it would be."

Takuya sighed again. "That ghost… is an ally of sorts. It's… kinda complicated to explain so I'm not sure how I can do that…"

"Just try." The Human Spirit of Flame said gently.

Takuya swallowed and nodded. "Well… basically… that ghost is… familiar to me. He… he…" Takuya finally decided to just blurt it out. "That ghost is connected to my cousin Danny! He's what is known as a half-ghost. I don't know how, but it has to do with a portal accident my cousin was in and somehow it gave him the powers of a ghost and I can't explain it better than that so…"

Agunimon could see Takuya was distressed and placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's alright. Just take it easy. You don't need to go into detail."

"Besides, he is not the ghost who intruded on your territory, especially since he is your family, a part of your pack," BurningGreymon stated. "What _I_ was referring to was that ghost on the motorcycle, the one who keeps trying to take your sister away."

Takuya went red in the face. "Oh…"

Agunimon sighed. "What is it about that ghost that bothers you, Takuya?"

"It's just… He wants my cousin Jazz for some reason! I don't want to lose her! I almost lost one of my twin cousins due to a portal accident, and now I could lose my older cousin to a ghost! You think I'm panicked? I'm terrified!" Takuya exclaimed in a bit of a panic. "I don't want to lose her!"

Agunimon looked at Takuya with some sympathy. "It's okay. You will be able to save her, I'm sure. You just need to find a way to defeat that ghost."

Takuya looked at Agunimon. "I know that! I'm just afraid my other cousins and I will be too late! Hell, it _could_ be too late already!"

"I understand that you're scared. But you must remember you're not alone," Agunimon said calmly. "You don't need to handle things on your own. Your other two cousins are willing to help, have been helping you. You have a cousin with ghost powers, and a cousin with a partner Digimon. Together, they can help you with things you couldn't do on your own."

Takuya gave a bit of a smile. "That sounds kinda cheesy, but it does make me feel better."

BurningGreymon laughed gruffly as Agunimon blushed a bit.

Takuya laughed as well.

"If you want to put it in a better term, your cousins are strong and tactful, use that to your advantage. You'll be able to take out that horrible ghost man in no time at all! Just remember, while not every battle needs to be fought to win, there is also such a thing as being too cautious or pacifistic," BurningGreymon stated.

Takuya nodded. "I will. Thanks." He smiled at Agunimon. "And as for that speech, that _was_ kinda cheesy."

Agunimon rolled his eyes, but he smiled nonetheless.

Takuya felt himself beginning to slip from sleep. He knew it was nearing morning, or at least something close to it. He knew this was his one chance to explain something important. "Look… when we were in the Digital World, Danny had to overshadow me, and you guys attacked him. If he has to do that again, please refrain from that."

Agunimon looked at Takuya. "We didn't know at the time, but now that we do, we won't do that again. We were just concerned about you when we did that."

"Of course, it didn't help that we weren't sure if Phantom was considered a friend or foe. But now that we know for sure, we will not attack him again," BurningGreymon promised.

Takuya looked back at BurningGreymon and nodded with a smile. "Thanks, you guys."

"Don't forget, if you ever feel overwhelmed, you can always talk to us," Agunimon stated.

Takuya smiled at his Human Spirit. "I won't." Then he looked down as his body began to fade, meaning he was waking up.

When Takuya opened his eyes, he found himself lying on his bed again. He looked at the window, seeing that the morning sun was already rising.

_Huh… That conversation took most of the night._ Takuya noted as he sat up and yawned.

* * *

"You sure you don't want me to try to help?" Dash asked as he was talking to Andy and Takuya. It was lunch time at school, and Andy and Takuya decided to update Dash on what had been going on. Nobody wanted to eat outside today due to the school handling the wasp nest outside.

"You could probably keep track of Jazz and Johnny with your earth sensing abilities, but otherwise I'm not sure there's a lot you could do to help with this situation," Andy sighed, feeding Dorimon some chocolate he got.

Takuya frowned. "We have enough going on as it is. But it's odd, because Danny, Andy, and I are all on the same page as their parents, or in my case, my aunt and uncle."

"Is it that odd?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow. "From what I've heard, you're all pretty protective of Jazz. Isn't it only natural you'd all come together to try to keep her safe from someone you don't trust?"

"Dash has a point," Andy agreed. "It's weird that we seem to agree with Mom and Dad, but looking at it logically, it makes sense."

Takuya sighed. "I know. I'm just worried about Jazz, because she isn't herself."

"You also said Lopmon's been acting weird?" Dash questioned.

"Yeah, we think that whatever's influencing Jazz, most likely the jacket and scarf that Johnny gave her, is affecting Lopmon as well," Andy replied.

"It's bad when the Digimon partner is getting affected by whatever spell is happening to their human partner," Dorimon muttered.

Takuya looked down. "Yeah… I remember that well…" He knew Andy would know what he was referring to.

"The way I see it, the best thing you can do to purify them of that ghost possession thing is to remove those clothing off of Jazz," Dash stated bluntly. "I'm surprised none of you had tried to do that yet."

"There's a lot of things that could go wrong if we tried," Andy started.

"'Could have', 'what if', those aren't guaranteed, Andy," Dash suddenly spoke up. "You don't know for sure that something bad will happen if you remove them yourself, you haven't even tried. I know that there are times to be cautious and hesitant, but there are also times where you can't just think, you have to _do_ something."

Takuya blinked. Now that he thought about it, that did make sense. "I think Dash is right. Hesitating could cost us, not just Jazz, but Lopmon as well."

Andy frowned and sighed, he usually didn't like going into something with not enough information. He didn't know enough about Johnny or how the ghost possession worked. But Dash was right, the longer they hesitated, the more they risk losing Jazz and Lopmon forever.

"Then we'll try to confront Jazz and Lopmon tonight," Andy decided. "Preferably when my parents are asleep in case things get ugly."

Takuya looked at Andy again. "That would be a good idea. I don't want them to get involved unless we can't handle it alone."

"Just call me if you don't think you guys can handle it on your own," Dash said.

"Thanks, Dash," Andy replied gratefully.

"No problem, you know I'm always willing to help out when I can," Dash stated.

"Not that… I'm thanking you for the advice," Andy chuckled. "You're right in saying that sometimes the best thing to do is the most obvious thing to do."

Dash blinked before he blushed a bit. "Uh… No problem, Andy."

"What if Lopmon attacks us if we try to remove the scarf and jacket?" Dorimon asked quietly.

Takuya sighed. "That is a chance we will have to take…" He admitted sadly. "We'll have to try to knock Lopmon out, and get those ghostly clothes off of Jazz."

"I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it's necessary to save him and Jazz, we will," Andy sighed.

"Good luck then," Dash remarked.

* * *

When school let out for the day, Takuya and Andy told Danny, Sam, and Tucker about their plan to confront Jazz and Lopmon tonight. Terriermon got a look of disbelief when they mentioned they may have to fight with Lopmon.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Lopmon is a Celestial Digimon!" Terriermon exclaimed.

"Lopmon can't digivolve past the Champion stage right now, so we do have a chance, Celestial Digimon or not," Dorimon retorted.

"I am a Celestial Digimon as well," Salamon reminded. "Lopmon may be strong, but he's not unstoppable. And I know he would want this if he was in his right mind right now."

Sam frowned. "I don't like the idea of fighting a friendly Digimon, but if we have to, I don't think we have a choice."

"We don't know for sure if it will come to that," Danny reminded. "Right now, our best bet is to do what we should've done the moment we realized what was going on with those clothes Johnny was giving to Jazz."

"I'm hoping to handle this with as little need to battle as possible. Perhaps Danny could try to remove the scarf and jacket while invisible, though Lopmon may still sense him approaching," Andy sighed.

Takuya pursed his lips. "Maybe I could try to remove the clothes. I mean, Lopmon is familiar with me…" He was not saying _how_ Lopmon was familiar with him, as only Danny and Andy knew, but it was enough for Danny to get the idea.

"We should approach this acting casual," Andy suggested. "Just two concerned brothers, and a worried cousin wanting to talk to their sister and older cousin. Try to get them to suspect as little as possible."

Danny nodded in agreement with his brother. "If we act too casual though, it could throw them off." He pointed out.

"Then we won't act too casual, just enough to make it seem like we want to talk to her, but not try anything," Andy stated.

"What about us?" Tucker asked. "I think Jazz and Lopmon would suspect something if all of us tried to approach them."

"You and Sam should be on standby for now," Andy suggested. "It'll likely be late by the time we confront Jazz and Lopmon anyways, and we don't want your parents to get worried for you two if we could help it."

Danny sighed. "I guess we're on our own for this then. At least, unless things go down the gutter."

"We'll be ready in case you do need us," Sam assured.

Salamon and Terriermon both looked troubled about something.

* * *

That night, at Fenton Works, Dorimon looked into Maddie and Jack's room, seeing the two adult Fentons were asleep. He ran back over to Danny and Andy's room.

"They're asleep," Dorimon stated.

"Okay, looks like this is the best time to talk to Jazz. She is still in her room, right?" Andy asked.

"Last time I checked, she was," Danny answered.

Dorimon nodded. "That's good. We can make our move."

Suddenly, Andy's D-Arc started beeping. Frowning, the boy reached into his pocket to pull out his D-Arc, seeing the Warrior of Flame's symbol on it. "Takuya? What's wrong?"

_"__We have a problem. Johnny's back and he is with Jazz in the lab."_ Takuya replied, his voice tense.

"What?" Danny frowned.

"We'll be right there," Andy said to the D-Arc before putting it back into his pocket. "Come on, let's get to the lab!"

Andy picked up Dorimon, and both brothers hurried downstairs. Andy almost tripped along the way, Danny had to grab Andy's arm to keep him from falling down the stairs, and they both nearly slipped through the kitchen floor.

"What a time for Mom to decide to mop the kitchen floor!" Andy hissed.

Danny chuckled. "Well, Dad _did_ leave a mess with the fudge."

"At least if _you_ fell down, you could just go intangible," Andy grumbled.

Danny shook his head. "Forget it, bro. We have more pressing issues, like a certain Johnny with our sister right now."

They both ran into the lab, nearly running over Takuya in the process, who had been waiting for them on the stairs.

"WAH!" Takuya's yelp made Danny stop in his tracks, Andy smacking into Danny's back and squishing poor Dorimon between them.

"Shhh! They're right there!" Takuya hissed at the brothers.

Danny sheepishly chuckled. "Sorry, cuz…"

Andy grumbled, rubbing his forehead, while Dorimon was rubbing his face.

"So, what do you say, Kitten?" Johnny's voice asked. "Wanna be my girl?"

The brothers and Takuya peeked from the wall they were hiding in to see Johnny was holding out the golden ring with a green jewel on it at Jazz. Lopmon was on Jazz's head.

Jazz smiled as she held up her hand, Lopmon mirroring Jazz's grin.

"Okay, this has to stop _now_," Danny hissed before he ran out there. "She's not anybody's girl."

Takuya blinked, before looking at Andy. Andy shrugged, "No time for thinking."

Andy ran out there with Dorimon to join his brother.

Takuya followed as well, hoping things would go smoothly. "I hope this doesn't go downhill…"

"What are you doing here?" Jazz snapped, having gotten fed up with her family's interruption.

"Why do you think? We're worried about you," Andy said.

Danny approached Jazz, grabbed onto the jacket. The scarf was, thankfully, poorly wrapped, so when Danny pulled on the jacket, the scarf was coming out with it. "Jazz, listen, I know it's difficult with what's been going on with you, but try to think like the psychologist I know you're striving to be. Does any of this seem right to you?"

Takuya watched this with baited breath. It seemed like it was going to work. Jazz and Lopmon both started to look like they were in a daze as Danny was subtly pulling off the jacket and scarf. But then, something cut the moment off.

"Don't you think we're doing this because we have a reason?" Andy added, getting closer, looking ready to help if needed.

But then Johnny suddenly pushed Andy and Dorimon back, and grabbed Danny's shirt before pulling him u p towards him. "You know what punk? We've had just about enough of you."

At the same time, the jacket and scarf fell off of Jazz. Her and Lopmon's minds cleared almost in an instant.

"Ugh…" Jazz shook her head. "What… Wow… That's odd… Why does everything feel a bit like a hazy dream?"

"I feel it too…" Lopmon groaned before he blinked and gasped. "Jazz, look up!"

Jazz then looked up and saw Johnny holding Danny by his shirt. Her big sister instincts took over. "Hey! Hands off the little brother!"

At hearing that, Danny smirked, seeing how he was able to bring Jazz back. Andy and Takuya were also relieved to see Jazz and Lopmon were themselves again.

Johnny frowned, seeing that his plan just went down the drain. Kitty, his real girlfriend, was also getting impatient as well.

"Ah, whatever!" Johnny tossed Danny aside, which Danny slammed into a metal cabinet.

"Then we do this the hard way," Johnny said as his ghostly aura flared up suddenly, making Takuya feel his ghostly energy.

Takuya growled as his eyes flashed blue quickly, from his Spirits, before returning to their brown color, not that it was seen by Jazz or Lopmon. "You're a ghost!"

"Yes I am," Johnny admitted. "And now… Shadow, shelf!"

The black shadowy ghost came up from Johnny's shadow. Jazz and Lopmon looked in shock and horror as the shadow ghost flew into the metal cabinet, rotting it, before it flew out and it came down right on top of Danny.

Takuya saw that as well and felt worry leap into his throat. He knew Danny was half-ghost and probably went intangible, but it still worried him because Danny could have gotten hurt still. Not to mention there was no guaranteed Danny could've gone intangible before it fell on top of him.

"DANNY!" Jazz and Andy both shouted for their brother in concern.

Johnny acted quickly and grabbed Jazz's outstretched hand, while his shadow picked up the jacket and scarf. Before anybody could react, Johnny put the ring on Jazz's finger, and the shadow put the jacket and scarf on Jazz. Jazz's entire body was engulfed by a green light. Lopmon grabbed onto the scarf to try to remove it, but then he too was engulfed by the green light.

"What's happening!?" Andy yelled as the entire room suddenly flashed with light, blinding him, Dorimon, and Takuya for a bit.

Jazz's eyes then glowed green before returning to normal, but she was in a daze now. Johnny grabbed Jazz's hand and put her thumb on the genetic scanner, which opened the doors to the Ghost Zone via the Ghost Portal. As soon as the Ghost Portal was opened, Johnny pushed the dazed Jazz and Lopmon in front of the portal. Shadow grabbed onto Andy and Takuya, trying to keep them from stopping with what was about to happen. The shadow's body melted onto them, making it as sticky as tar.

"GET OFF OF US!" Andy shouted.

Dorimon yelled as he was being pulled under the shadow due to being the smallest.

Takuya struggled to reach for his D-Tector, his eyes holding that feral look. But he also was trying to get out as well, but even harder than Andy. "Let me go, you shapeless blob!"

There was a ghost girl floating in front of the portal. She had green hair with red eyes, and pale skin. She wore purple lipstick and had a black tank top on that showed her stomach. Her skirt was red, and she wore green tights that had black netting on them.

She smirked as she reached out a hand and blasted out her own essence towards Jazz. However, when the essence hit Jazz, Lopmon suddenly let out a horrible scream.

"What's going on?" Johnny frowned, not expecting this.

Lopmon's body suddenly turned into pure data and code, the code then suddenly surrounded Jazz's body, destroying the essence around her. The ghost girl let out a shocked gasp before she doubled over in pain.

Takuya looked up at seeing what happened. "W-what happened?"

The shadow got off of them, returning back to Johnny's shadow. Johnny was in shock as he backed away from the girl, who was currently wrapped up in a cocoon of data.

"Takuya… is Jazz… turning into a Digimon…?" Andy asked nervously.

"I don't know…" Takuya admitted. "I've never seen this before…"

Dorimon began to shake in fear, backing away until he was behind Andy. Takuya suddenly felt a strong and familiar darkness. His eyes went wide, his face went pale as the data got bigger and bigger. What stood before him was the face of evil, the same evil he had faced 4 years ago.

"No…" Takuya whispered.

Two large dark purple hands came down on the sides of the lab's walls. Two glowing yellow eyes glared into Takuya's soul. The giant rabbit creature let out a deep voice growl, the same voice that Takuya heard 4 years ago, the voice that had taunted him and Koji when they came close to being defeated.

Takuya was shaking now. He had _not_ expected this to happen. He was beginning to hyperventilate, as flashes of what he had gone through all those years ago came back to him. "C-Cherubimon…"

"Takuya… Takuya breathe!" Andy shouted, trying to snap his shock-stricken cousin out of the trance he was in.

Takuya blinked, Andy's voice cutting through the terror like a knife. "Huh… Andy?"

Cherubimon gave an evil grin.

"Hey, what's going on?" Danny asked, phasing out of the metal cabinet, only to see this giant evil looking rabbit creature.

Takuya gripped his D-Tector. "Danny… run."

"Wait, no," Andy spoke up. "We have to help Jazz and Lopmon!"

Takuya flashed a glare at both of his cousins. "You can't handle that Digimon! That Digimon is a Mega-Level! _THAT_ is the evil form of Cherubimon! I am the _only_ one of us who has fought with Cherubimon when he is like that!"

"No, that's not it," Danny spoke up, frowning as he walked over to Takuya and Andy. "Look at that… Cherubimon, was it? Look at him."

Takuya frowned as he looked back at Cherubimon. He thought he saw Cherubimon grinning evilly at him, but when he looked at him, Cherubimon looked to be in pain. Cherubimon let out grunts of discomfort, and was clearly in agony about something. Cherubimon lifted up his arms from the floor, trying to grasp at his chest.

Upon seeing that, Takuya was reminded of DexDorugamon and how he had been in pain upon their first meeting. "He's… in pain…?"

Dorimon looked from behind Andy's legs. "He's in pain because of the ghost clothes and ring Jazz was wearing. It's eating him from the inside."

Takuya looked down at his D-Tector. He knew what he needed to do, but he was not sure if it was the right thing to do. He would be fighting in an enclosed space, and mobility was needed, but so was power.

Andy noticed Johnny was sneaking out of the house. He looked back at Cherubimon, who was both Lopmon and Jazz right now in pain.

"Darn it!" Andy ran over to Danny. "Danny, we need to go inside Cherubimon!"

Danny looked at Andy. "You sure, bro?" Danny looked unsure of what to do. "What about Johnny?"

"We have to take off those ghost clothes and ring that Jazz has on, and the only way to do that is to go inside Cherubimon!" Andy explained. "Takuya, you go after Johnny."

Takuya looked up at Andy. "You know I will." He turned and ran after Johnny.

Danny summoned his rings, which transformed him into Danny Phantom. Andy picked up Dorimon as Danny picked him up. Danny turned all three of them intangible before he flew into Cherubimon's chest, where the pain was most likely prominent. As soon as Danny, Andy, and Dorimon were inside, they were quickly bombarded with a heavy kind of pressure that made it difficult to breathe. There was some kind of darkness coating the place, there was also ectoplasm that was likely coming from Jazz herself.

Danny shivered. "Wow… It's like I can't breathe, and that is saying something since I am a ghost right now."

Andy panted. "Lucky… you…"

"Hang in there… Jazz can't be too far…" Dorimon encouraged, sounding weak himself.

* * *

Takuya ran outside of Fenton Works, seeing Johnny getting on his motorcycle. Takuya hated the thought of leaving his cousins behind to Cherubimon, but he couldn't let Johnny get away with this. His rage began to build as Johnny had caused a lot of pain for all of them, Jazz and Lopmon most of all.

Takuya was so busy going after Johnny that he didn't see two other small shadows running into the house he just came out of.

Takuya grabbed his D-Tector and held it up, forming the familiar ball of fractal code around his left hand. He scanned it through the D-Tector's light, swiping his hand up as he did so. _"EXECUTE NOW! FUSION EVOLUTION!"_ he cried. The fractal code surrounded him, transforming into a blue-white cocoon of light. Within it, he felt the familiar transformation sweep over him. His body grew in height and became more muscular as a tugging sensation near the bottom of his spine transformed into a tail. A slight pain accompanied the growth of his wings and a sharp pain filled his mouth as his teeth elongated. Armor formed on his body and his hair turned yellow, becoming long and wild as his eyes turned a sharp, icy blue color. The light finally shattered and he flared his wings, landing and shouting out his name as he did so. "_ALDAMON!"_

Now in his Fusion form, Aldamon growled as he flared his orange wings and took flight, taking off after Johnny's motorcycle.

"This is why they told us to never mess with Digimon!" Johnny yelped. "Shadow!"

The shadow ghost came out at Aldamon.

Seeing this, the Warrior of Flame came to a hover as one of his cannons opened up and began to glow red. Instead of speaking, he let out a loud shout as he fired off his Atomic Inferno at the shadow ghost. The shadow ghost was instantly vaporized. Not only were the flames strong, but their bright light made the shadow weak. Johnny gasped, seeing that he just lost his shadow and most of his own ghost powers.

"H-how?" Johnny asked in horror as his motorcycle came to a stop, seeming to have lost all power itself.

Aldamon came hovering down, his blue eyes filled with nothing but rage. His sharp fangs were revealed as he gritted his teeth in anger. He landed, letting his wings fold slightly, stepping forwards in a slow, deliberate manner to show he meant business.

"What are you going to do with me?" Johnny asked before he let out a terrified scream as Aldamon suddenly picked him up. "Look, I'm sorry! I had no idea that would happen to Jazz!"

It was here that Aldamon finally spoke. "You hurt her… And that I _can't_ forgive!"

Aldamon was ready to completely destroy Johnny, until someone's voice cut through his rage. _"Takuya! Wait a minute!"_

The voice wasn't really there, it was the voice of a memory, the voice of a little kid.

_"__I learned that true courage isn't paying bullies back, it's standing up to them. You helped me see that fighting back in fear and anger is just as bad as being a bully. You can't let fear and anger control you, you have to fight it."_

The memory of that day in the Digital World made Aldamon hesitate. His hand holding Johnny was shaking slightly with rage, but then, the Digimon closed his eyes and looked down. He let Johnny go, letting his hand fall back to his side. "But I won't finish you. It wouldn't be right."

Johnny was shocked to hear that. "Not that I'm ungrateful, but why?"

"If I continued to lash out in anger, I would have been no better than someone who does so for fun." Aldamon explained. "As a Legendary Warrior, I can't let my emotions guide me like that. I would be no better than an evil Digimon if I did."

Johnny wasn't sure what to say.

Aldamon hissed. "You just get out of here and stay away from my family, otherwise you may not get the same mercy again."

Johnny yelped before getting back on his motorcycle. It wasn't as fast as it was before, but he did managed to make it go and get away from the powerful, fiery Digimon. _One day I'll find a way to get Kitty out of the Ghost Zone. But maybe I should find a different way to do it. I don't want to go through all that again. I may be a ghost, but I don't want to get obliterated._

Aldamon watched Johnny go before he then remembered Andy and Danny with Cherubimon. "Oh no…" He murmured before he flared his wings and took flight back towards Fenton Works. _Please… be alright you guys..._

Aldamon did, however, take a moment to look down for a moment. _Thank you, Tommy._

* * *

Back in Fenton Works, Maddie woke up to some shaking, but she only groaned. "Jack, your snoring is rattling the whole house…"

Maddie sighed before she picked up some earplugs from the night stand and put them in her ears. She gave a smile before she went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Cherubimon was beginning to summon some kind of attack. He was in pain, and he couldn't take it anymore. Black balls began to appear around Cherubimon, however, before he could do anything, a familiar voice shouted.

"STOP! Don't do anything!"

Cherubimon's yellow eyes went wide when he saw Salamon and Terriermon approaching him.

Terriermon looked up at Cherubimon; he was scared yes, but he could tell his old friend was in pain. "This is not you, Cherubimon. I know it isn't."

"Terriermon…" Cherubimon hissed.

"Fight it, Cherubimon. Don't allow yourself to fall to the dark path again," Salamon spoke up.

"Salamon…?" Cherubimon blinked, before seeing a faded version of Ophanimon over Salamon. "Ophanimon…"

Cherubimon grunted again. "It hurts… it hurts so much…"

Terriermon nodded. "I know it must hurt, but that is why Ophanimon and I are here. We can help you."

Cherubimon looked down at his hands, then his yellow eyes went wide. "What has happened to me…? Why…? No… NO! NOOOOOOOO!"

"Cherubimon! Calm down! You'll destroy the house if you keep yelling!" Salamon shouted.

Terriermon was quick to add his own words. "It's going to be okay! We can find a way to ease your pain and get you back to normal!"

"You need to stay away from me!" Cherubimon yelled. "Get away from me before I lose control!"

Terriermon wanted to stay, he really did, but he could sense Cherubimon's fear. "No! We can't! We won't!"

"It's going to be alright, Cherubimon. You won't turn evil again," Salamon said calmly. "Just calm down."

Meanwhile, Danny could see something glowing up ahead, cutting through the pressure and darkness.

"Is that Cherubimon's Digi-Core?" Dorimon asked.

Andy looked ahead, sweating from having a hard time breathing. "It's… I think that's… Jazz."

Danny gasped. "Jazz?!" He began to pick up his speed. "We have to save her!"

When Danny got close, he could see it was indeed Jazz. She was inside some kind of purple orb that had code around it. Jazz looked to be unconscious though. The jacket, scarf, and ring she wore was constantly letting out ecto energy.

"That… that must be… what's causing… Cherubimon's pain," Andy pointed out.

"They must… have biomerged when… Lopmon sensed Jazz was… in danger of the… ghost possession," Dorimon realized.

Danny tried to get in close, but the orb pushed him away. "I can't get in."

"Cherubimon's in a frenzy…" Dorimon frowned. "I don't think anyone… can get in…"

"Then… we'll have to try… to wake up Jazz," Andy stated.

"But how?" Danny asked. "It's data, and data hurts ghosts, even half-ghosts if they are in their ghost form."

"Would it… hurt humans… or Digimon?" Andy asked.

"I don't think so…" Danny said hesitantly.

"Then…" Andy looked back at Danny. "Hide in my body, and let's try."

"A-again? Are you sure?" Danny questioned, looking uncomfortable.

"We have to… for Jazz, Danny," Andy replied back.

Danny frowned before sighing. "Okay… I could give it a shot." He then turned intangible before he flew inside Andy's body again.

In that instant, data surrounded Dorimon, and he instantly digivolved into Dorumon. "Whoa, I feel so much stronger all of a sudden!"

"No time to wonder about that." 'Andy' said to Dorumon. "We have to help Jazz!"

"Right," Dorumon's little wings flapped. "Let's go!"

Danny moved Andy's body to the core, hoping that his ghostly influence didn't knock Andy away from the orb. Dorumon flew down to the orb as well. They were able to touch the orb, but they couldn't go through it. Danny looked at the data for a moment.

_"__If only we could tell the data to let us through…"_ Andy's voice commented from Danny's head.

_"__Is that possible?"_ Danny questioned back to his brother's soul.

_"__Yes, I think it is. But we would need another digital being,"_ Andy answered back before Danny looked over at Dorumon.

_"__Well, we could give it a shot with Dorumon. But I'm not sure I want to give it a try."_ Danny commented back.

_"__Are you worried?"_ Andy asked.

_"__Yeah… What if it hurts Dorumon?"_ Danny asked.

_"__Sometimes we can't afford to hesitate, Danny,"_ Andy sighed.

Danny sighed as well. _"Okay, I'll see if we can get Dorumon to tell the data to let us through."_

"I got it," Dorumon suddenly said. "You want me to try to talk to the data, right?"

Danny, in Andy's body, blinked. "Uh… Yeah… But how did you know?"

"When you overshadowed Andy, I could hear both of your thoughts. It's kind of weird," Dorumon replied. "Anyways, I'll give it a shot."

Dorumon put his claws on the data that was around the orb. Dorumon's forehead gem glowed.

_"__Who are you?"_

_"__Please, let us in. We want to help Jazz."_

_"__Your data feels familiar…"_

_"__We're friends. Please, let us pass. If you don't, the ectoplasm will kill you."_

_"__Protect Jazz."_

_"__Yes, we only want to protect Jazz as well. Let us through, we can help her."_

Danny lowered Andy's body to the data. Without Danny's consent, however, Andy's hand suddenly touched the data. Danny was surprised to see that. Apparently Andy could still take control of his body if he wanted to.

_"__What are you doing, Andy?"_ Danny asked.

_"__I'm hoping the data will recognize us as Jazz's brothers,"_ Andy replied.

Much to Danny's surprise, and Andy's delight, the data did indeed react. It parted, letting the boy(s) in.

_"__Thank you,"_ Dorumon said to the code before he and Danny/Andy went into the orb.

"Jazz… Jazz, wake up!" Danny said, taking Jazz's shoulders and shook her a little. "Please, Jazz. You need to wake up."

* * *

Takuya got to Fenton Works and immediately went down into the lab. He was currently still in his Aldamon form. He was surprised when he saw Salamon and Terriermon were there, talking to Cherubimon.

"Salamon?! Terriermon?!" Aldamon asked in shock. "What are you two doing here?!"

Terriermon jumped, Salamon looked at Aldamon.

"We're here to help a friend," Salamon answered. "We sensed something was really wrong when Lopmon suddenly became Cherubimon again."

Looking back at Cherubimon, Aldamon couldn't help but worry about Jazz. "Has there been any progress in calming him down?"

"T-Takuya…" Cherubimon suddenly spoke up, surprising Aldamon. "You must destroy me before I turn evil again…"

"Cherubimon, you're not evil! You're in pain right now!" Terriermon shouted. "Please stop telling us to destroy you!"

"Wasn't that what you wanted before?" Cherubimon asked Terriermon. "Weren't you afraid of this exact scenario!?"

Aldamon moved in front of Terriermon instinctively, but he didn't attack. The Warrior of Flame felt his throat get tight with emotion. "No… This isn't what we wanted…"

"I don't… I don't want to hurt you anymore, Cherubimon. And I'm sorry that I did in the first place," Terriermon apologized, moving out from behind Aldamon. "Please, don't hurt yourself either. Don't be… so afraid of yourself, Cherubimon."

"I don't want to be like this again… Don't make me like this again!" Cherubimon hid his face with his big hands.

Seeing Cherubimon like this sent a pang of sympathy through Aldamon's chest. "It's… It's going to be okay."

"Listen, Cherubimon, you're only like this because you wanted to protect your partner, isn't that right?" Salamon spoke up. "You're not evil, but you are in pain. You must calm yourself, you'll be back to normal soon, I promise."

Terriermon nodded. "Things are going to be okay. Just try to remain calm, please!"

Cherubimon grunted, then released his face from his hands. "I wanted… to protect Jazz… She was about to lose her soul."

Aldamon flinched a bit at that, remembering the uncontrolled rage he felt at what Johnny had almost done. "Yes… Yes, she almost did…" He then looked back at Cherubimon. "But that's over with. Johnny is gone. He's left…"

* * *

Jazz groaned as she began to stir. She slowly started to open her eyes, seeing Andy and Dorumon in front of her.

"Hey, looks like she's waking up," Dorumon noted in relief.

"Jazz! Oh thank goodness…" 'Andy' said in relief.

"Ugh… Andy…?" Jazz asked, her voice slurred a bit.

"Uh… yeah… and Danny," 'Andy' awkwardly answered.

"What?" Jazz blinked.

"I'll explain later. We need to get those off of you, but you need to wake up first. I don't know what will happen if we took those off of you now," 'Andy' informed.

Jazz looked confused as she looked at her brother(s). "Wake up…?"

"Can you see where we are?" Dorumon asked.

Jazz looked around, taking in what she was seeing. "Y-yeah… Where are we?"

"We're currently inside Cherubimon," Andy spoke up, the real Andy, Jazz noticed his eyes didn't glow when he spoke. "I had Danny take us in here to try to get to you. Lopmon's data likely wrapped itself around you and biomerged in order to protect you when you were about to be possessed."

Jazz blinked. "I… merged with Lopmon?"

"In a sense. It's different from when Vlad did it with Tsukaimon though," Dorumon spoke up. "It's not so much as a merge, as it is Lopmon digivolving with you inside him. Neither of you were in sync, nor did you activate the biomerging on your own. It was just Lopmon protecting you."

Jazz seemed to regain her senses as she looked around again. "So it was involuntary?"

"Think of it like a defense mechanism. Or when someone taps on your knee, you suddenly have that kicking reflex," Andy explained. "Because it wasn't intentional, it wasn't as… I guess 'strong' or complete as it could've been had that kick had the added power with intent behind it."

Jazz gained a contemplative look. "I see… But _how_ did we merge? I last remember Johnny shoving this ring on me and then…"

"That can be explained later, we need to get those clothes and ring off of you," Danny spoke up, making Andy's eyes glow again. "Do you think you can take off the scarf and jacket?"

Jazz looked at the scarf and jacket. "Yes, I think I can." She reached up to pull off the scarf and jacket.

Danny had Andy reach out and pull off the ring on Jazz's finger. The boy(s) felt a slight shock of ecto energy when they touched it, but it wasn't enough to make them drop the ring.

Jazz was able to remove the jacket and scarf, and she too felt a jolt of ecto energy, but like with her brothers, it wasn't enough to make her drop the clothing.

"Seems the ecto-signature didn't want to let you go, but it's too weak here to cling onto you," Dorumon noted.

Jazz nodded. "I got it off, but now what?"

"Now… we wait," Andy said, his eyes not glowing.

"Okay, that is creepy. Is Danny inside you or something?" Jazz asked.

Andy, or maybe Danny, gave Jazz a sheepish smile. "Uh… it was the only way to get into this orb to get to you."

Jazz gave her brothers a look. "I don't think I want to see this again, boys."

"Come on, it's not _that_ weird… is it?" Danny asked, making Andy's eyes glow again.

"Let's see, you're inside Andy and when you are talking, you make his eyes glow. Yep, I would say that qualifies as creepy." Jazz said in her matter-of-fact tone.

Dorumon was trying not to laugh.

"Come on! I'm half ghost, okay? Being creepy comes with the territory!" Danny grumbled.

Jazz laughed. "And that's why I tease you, little brother."

Dorumon lost it and began to laugh loudly.

The purple orb around them suddenly turned a soft pink color, the darkness that was suffocating them earlier was replaced with a warm light.

* * *

When the pain suddenly stopped, Cherubimon was able to think clearer. He was still terrified of becoming evil again, but with the pain gone, it was easier for his mind to not be clouded with fear. Cherubimon looked at Aldamon, Terriermon, and Salamon.

"I have one more question. Are you all still afraid of me?" Cherubimon asked.

Here, Aldamon was not sure what to say. He didn't want to lie, but he was not sure if he should say the truth either. He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat nervously. "I…"

Terriermon spoke up before Aldamon could answer. "Yes, I am still afraid of you. But… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let my fear and guilt drive me away from you. We all deserve a second chance, and… I know you've been trying hard to get away from your past and make up for it."

"If you want the truth, I too am still afraid of you becoming evil again, Cherubimon," Salamon admitted. "However, you deserve forgiveness as well. You were not in your right mind, and you started out with good intentions. Seraphimon and I should have talked to you before it ever got that far in the first place. I know you may look evil now, but I can tell your heart is still as pure as it was when you were Lopmon."

Aldamon realized that the big Digimon was still waiting on him to answer. Making eye contact with those yellow eyes, Aldamon finally spoke up. "I… I am." He then sighed. "But… as Terriermon said, you have been trying hard to make up for it, so I can't deny that either. But yes, I am willing to give you that second chance as well. I have seen how hard you have been working at making amends, and I will accept that."

"Thank you for your honesty," Cherubimon said before his form glowed and changed.

For a few seconds, Aldamon was in awe when he saw Cherubimon was in the pink, gold, and white form that he was in before he was reborn as a Digi-Egg. A part of Aldamon thought that Cherubimon would suddenly become a Digi-Egg again when he saw the original form. However, Cherubimon gave a smile before fractal code surrounded the pink rabbit, shrinking down to a much smaller form. At the same time, three other forms came out of the shrinking form as well.

Aldamon knew who those forms had to be. One was Lopmon for sure, hence the shrinking form, and the other three had to be Andy, Dorumon, and… Instinctual fear replaced his awe as he remembered Jazz. Rushing forwards, Aldamon reached the forms, just as the female form fell into his grasp. He knelt down, holding Jazz's form gently with worry on his face.

The jacket, scarf, and ring that Jazz was wearing fell to the floor, melting into piles of ecto goop.

"Ugh… that felt worse than a rollercoaster…" 'Andy' groaned, rubbing his head.

"Speak for yourself, I still say the death coaster was worse," Andy grumbled.

Dorumon looked over at the shared body. "Okay, I think you need to get out of Andy's body now, Danny."

Aldamon looked up, surprised. "Danny is in Andy's body?"

Andy looked up at Aldamon, and Aldamon noticed the glowing green eyes. It unsettled him.

"Ah… right…" Danny chuckled sheepishly before he flew out of Andy's body. "Sorry about that."

Shaking his head, Aldamon returned his attention to Jazz's condition. "Is she okay?"

Terriermon and Salamon were attending to Lopmon, who appeared to be unconscious.

"She's-" Andy began to say before Jazz opened her eyes.

"WAH! Let me go!" Jazz yelled, not having expected to wake up to the face of a Digimon that wasn't Lopmon or Dorumon so suddenly.

Aldamon was startled by the sudden reaction, so much so that he let her go and fell back onto his behind. "Hey! Calm down!"

"I guess he does have a bit of a scary face," Andy chuckled.

"I mean I don't blame her for screaming to_ that_ face," Dorumon added, chuckling as well.

Aldamon gave the two a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Danny studied Aldamon's face for a moment. "I guess he does kinda look like a demon man with the sharp teeth and the horns."

Aldamon shook his head at his cousins' antics.

Jazz calmed down after her initial surprise before she started laughing. She needed that laugh, because she felt like complete crap after what happened with Johnny.

Hearing Jazz laughing was somewhat contagious, as Aldamon felt his lips twitch into a smile before laughter began to escape him as well. Lopmon woke up, seeing his partner was safe and laughing, he couldn't help but give a smile of his own too.

"Lopmon… are you going to be okay?" Terriermon asked.

"Yeah…" Lopmon looked at Terriermon and Salamon for a moment. "Thank you… both of you."

Salamon smiled. "It was our pleasure, Lopmon."

Terriermon gave a small smile. "Of course."

* * *

The next morning, after Terriermon and Salamon went back to their partners' homes, Jazz was in the kitchen with the rest of her family. She told them about how Johnny left after her cousin gave him a whooping.

"I still can't believe he snuck into this house just to see you," Maddie remarked. "It's a romantic. But you still can't ever see him again."

"I told you that punk was no good!" Jack, Danny, and even Takuya said at the same time, making them look at one another. Jack then cleared his throat as he looked at Takuya. "I heard you gave the guy a decking, Takuya. That was good work."

Takuya blushed. "Ah… Thanks…"

"Aww, Jack, he's like a little you," Maddie grinned.

Danny sunk under his chair, leaving Takuya all to Jack.

Takuya gave a mock glare at Danny's chair as Jack leaned over to him. "And since you have been such a model boy lately, I have a surprise for you!"

Andy looked at Takuya. _Oh boy…_

Jazz gave a small sigh before she smiled, holding onto Lopmon. "I want to thank you boys by the way, for protecting me the way you did from someone like Johnny."

Takuya gave Jazz a smile. "Hey, you're my cousin. I wasn't gonna let that guy make a move on you just because he wanted something from you."

"Do you think you'll be okay, Jazz?" Andy asked his sister, knowing this likely did affect her more than she was letting on.

"Yeah… don't worry about me," Jazz assured.

* * *

When Jack drove the boys to school, he gave a big goofy smile. "Bye boys, have a great day! Oh, and Danny, Andy, if you two want, I could-"

"No! No, we're good!" Danny quickly said.

"You go on ahead home. I'm sure Takuya deserves it more than we do~" Andy smiled.

"In that case, I'll see you boys later!" Jack smiled before he drove away.

When the GAV was gone, Takuya was wearing an orange hazmat suit that was too large for his slim frame.

Tucker and Sam came over. Niki was walking beside Tucker. They all looked at Takuya in surprise.

"Wow… that's… a nice jumpsuit…?" Niki said before she whispered to Tucker. "He does know that's too big on him, doesn't he?"

Tucker looked at Niki. "Judging by his expression, I think he does…" He whispered back.

"Somehow I don't see you having a great day today," Sam remarked.

Takuya didn't even say anything, he just stood there as Dash, Calvin, and Kwan walked by them, seeing him in that jumpsuit. Dash stared in surprise, then he covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, it looks ridiculous. I know." Takuya grumbled. "Go ahead and laugh." He was _not_ in a good mood. _I'm _sure_ my Spirits are probably laughing right now..._

"Maybe we should start calling you Jumpsuit Man, or maybe Loose Man since that's way too big for you," Calvin laughed.

Takuya groaned. "I need a new image… could someone lend me their plushy?"

"Get your own thing," Tucker remarked, hugging Terriermon.

The school bell rang.

"Come on, let's get to class," Danny said, snickering a little.

"You guys go on ahead… I'll take my time…" Takuya grumbled.

"Hey, at least if you're late wearing that, you could always say the suit made you trip and fall," Andy suggested.

"Ugh… I love my uncle a lot, but I just need to get this thing off…" Takuya groaned.

As the group started heading to the school, Takuya just stood there to try to think of a good way to ditch the jumpsuit without upsetting Jack. Then, his D-Tector suddenly beeped. Takuya had to dig around through the suit to get to it.

Finally, after a few seconds of digging around in the pocket, he found it, but the big gloves made it hard to grasp. "Ugh… Got it, finally." He muttered as he pulled out his D-Tector. "Hello?"

_"__Takuya,"_ Sorcermon's voice spoke up, which surprised Takuya. _"Listen… can you come to the Digital World tonight?"_

Takuya blinked. "Yeah, I believe I can. I don't have anything going on tonight so I can come."

_"__Great. I'm calling all available Legendary Warriors to the Digital World tonight. So expect some old faces there as well,"_ Sorcermon stated.

Takuya felt a smile cross his face. "That sounds good. I'll be there."

_"__Oh, I should also tell you not to bring anyone else with you unless they're a Legendary Warrior themselves. We want to keep this to a minimum,"_ Sorcermon warned.

Takuya frowned, wondering if that should include Dash since he held the Spirits of Wood now. "I believe there is one more Warrior who can come…"

_"__Then bring them with you. I'll see you later tonight, Takuya,"_ Sorcermon said before hanging up.

Takuya sighed as he slipped his D-Tector back into his pocket. "Oh boy… This should be interesting…"

* * *

**Titanic X:** **ZAFT:** That will be shown here. :3

**CT7567Rules: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, Dash has come a long way, and I feel like he could've been a more in-depth character at some point, but he sadly never did. As for the crossover, yes, it should be, but the main setting is in the Danny Phantom universe, and… well, if we had put this in crossover, not many people would ever see it, let's be honest. ^^'

**ZAFT:** And we want maximum readership so… ^^'

**Luna Lillyth: ZAFT:** What were you expecting then? It's just how the chapter worked out.

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, the episode itself was quite interesting. I liked seeing Danny being more protective towards Jazz instead of it being the other way around, it shows how much they care for each other.

**ZAFT:** Never mess with a brother who is half-ghost~ XD


	36. Reunion with Old Friends

**ZAFT:** Another update, another week. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** We'll be a bit slow for a little while, due to my treatment. I know we've said this before, but it felt like it's been a while since we last wrote together because of it.

**Takuya:** At least it won't be much longer.

**DarkFoxKit:** Well, technically I still have 5 more weeks of another type of treatment after this one, but it should be easier to set up my schedule since it's only twice a week instead of 5 days a week like I'm doing now. These early mornings though, they're _killing_ me. I'm a night owl by nature, but I've had to go to bed at 9 or 10 PM and wake up at 5:30 AM every weekday lately.

**ZAFT: ** Well, at least the major pain of this type of treatment you have going on will be over soon. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Doesn't feel soon enough if you ask me. But yeah, I'm glad that it's almost over, even if I do have 5 more weeks of another one.

**Andy:** Think of it this way; twice a week is better than 5 days a week. You'll get through this, and it'll all be over soon.

**DarkFoxKit: **Yeah… and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

**ZAFT:** True. :3 Now, let's get on with the chapter, shall we? :3 Our readers are probably tired of waiting. :3

* * *

_**(**Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley**)**_

**_Three worlds, connected side by side_**

_**(**A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that**)**_

**_Connections, with secrets to hide_**

_**(**Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself**)**_

_**Is one always chosen by fate?**_

**_(_**_Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius_**_)_**

_**Or can one make their own destiny?**_

**_(_**_Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc_**_)_**

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen**)**_

_**The power is deep inside!**_

_**(**Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance**)**_

**_Digital Phantom!_**

_**(**The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod**)**_

_**Destiny is unbound!**_

_**(**The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a shadowed form with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Fight on, without regret**_

_**(**Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it**)**_

_**Two sides never rest**_

_**(**Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, with a shadowed form above it just as an evil version of the shadowed form appears beside Vlad, both transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

* * *

**Chapter 36: Reunion With Old Friends**

"So you're going back to the Digital World?" Andy asked, catching Takuya standing in front of the lab's computer with his D-Tector clutched in his hand.

Takuya froze, he had intended to sneak downstairs without waking anyone, yet Andy was here, as if he had been waiting for him.

He looked back at Andy. "Uh… Yeah… I was. It was Sorcermon who asked me to come." Takuya replied. "I'm sorry… this is a matter of Legendary Warriors only… I couldn't take you with me."

"I take it Dash is going as well?" Andy asked.

"Yeah… he said he'll go through his own computer and meet me there," Takuya confirmed.

"So you were going to leave without even saying goodbye?" Andy sighed.

Takuya rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ehehe… Sorry…"

"Do you even know how long you'll be gone?" Andy questioned.

"Uh…" Takuya hesitated.

"Exactly. What if you were gone for days?" Andy asked. "Then we would be worried sick about you."

"It won't be long, I'm sure." Takuya assured Andy. "I will be back. Don't worry."

"Well… if you aren't… at least call me or Jazz," Andy sighed. "We'll try to cover for you with Mom and Dad if you have to be gone for longer. And Takuya… next time you have to go somewhere, don't try to sneak out."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head nervously again. "I won't. And I will be sure to let you know if I am gone for longer than expected."

"Good. Be safe out there, okay?" Andy said. "There must be a reason why they're calling back all the Legendary Warriors after all."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure there is." He then turned to the computer and held up his D-Tector. "Digi-Port, open!"

Takuya then realized something at the last second. _How did Andy know I was going to be here?_

Takuya was then sucked into the computer screen. Andy let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead. "I don't know if I should like or hate that I saw this coming…"

* * *

Takuya went through the digital portal. He saw Dash for a moment, who was in another digital portal.

Dash had his outfit change, but to a black jacket that had a grey shirt, and khaki pants with grey shoes. Takuya, however, turned into Flamemon again.

Takuya felt the familiar presence and groaned to himself. _Not again..._

Takuya was then ejected out of the vortex. Takuya yelped as he fell face first on something metallic. He groaned.

"Ugh…" Takuya, or Flamemon actually, sat up rubbing his head. "Ouch… _That_ is gonna leave a bruise…"

Flamemon stood up, rubbing his head, and looked around. He realized this was the Flame Terminal rather quickly, it was the first place in the Digital World he had seen.

"Hey… I'm back at the Flame Terminal…" Flamemon realized. He smiled wistfully. "This brings back memories…"

Flamemon could see the Poyomon flying through the sky without a care in the world. The Biyomon and Pagumon were flying as well. There were also Pagumon bouncing around as well. They were quite the troublemakers when Flamemon first met them.

"Hey, who are you?" An Agumon asked, surprised at seeing Flamemon.

"Oh! I'm Flamemon, you could call me Agunimon's Rookie form I suppose." Flamemon said with a shrug. _Might as well roll with it since this seems to be happening more and more lately._

"Agunimon?" Agumon blinked in surprise. "As in the Legendary Warrior of Flame? _That_ Agunimon?"

"Uh… Yeah. Who else would I be?" Flamemon replied. "I have the symbol here on my belt." He pointed at it for good measure.

"Oh!" Agumon suddenly got on his knees and began bowing his head. "Please forgive me, Mr. Flamemon, I'm still very ignorant! I was only a Botamon when you and your friends saved the Digital World!"

Flamemon gave a sheepish laugh. "No need to act like that… It's fine." A sweatdrop ran down the side of his head as he said that. _I guess we Legendary Warriors are a bit worshipped here..._

"Mr. Flamemon, what brings you here to the Flame Terminal?" Agumon asked, lifting up his head.

Flamemon became serious here. "That is official business for the Legendary Warriors only, I'm afraid."

Agumon quickly bowed his head again. "Yes, yes, of course! I didn't mean to insult you by asking such a classified question! Please forgive me!"

Flamemon sighed. "You were curious, nothing more. I'm not offended. And please, I'm just a Digimon like you. No need to act all worshippy of me."

Agumon looked back up at Flamemon. "Oh, am I holding you up from your important business? Please, don't mind me!"

Flamemon gave a smile. "It's okay. It was nice to meet you, Agumon." He then put a hand on Agumon's head. "Don't worry. Whatever is going on here, we Legendary Warriors will take care of it."

Agumon's green eyes sparkled with happiness when Flamemon put his hand on his head. "Uncle Bokomon was right, you _are_ amazing!"

Flamemon's eyes went wide. "Bokomon?! He's here!?"

"Hmm? Of course he is, he lives here," Agumon answered.

Flamemon was torn. He wanted to see his old friend, but at the same time, his duty as a Legendary Warrior took priority. But, since he was there, he decided to at least catch up for a bit. "Can you take me to him? It's been a while since I saw him."

"Sure! Uncle Bokomon would be happy to see you!" Agumon smiled.

As they walked off, Flamemon looked to Agumon. "Say, why are you calling Bokomon 'Uncle'?"

"Ah, well, when I was a Koromon, my parents were turned back into Digi-Eggs by some rough and tough Digimon. Uncle Bokomon took me in and raised me as his nephew. I owe him for that," Agumon answered. "He's taught me a lot about you Legendary Warriors, but I've still got a long ways to go before I'm as smart as him."

Flamemon just laughed. "That's just like Bokomon. He has a big heart when it comes to young Digimon like you."

"Heh, yeah, he told me how he raised Seraphimon, one of the Celestial Digimon from an egg. I was amazed by that," Agumon chuckled. "My best friend Gabumon was raised by Neemon. We often get to play with each other."

Flamemon blinked at the comment of _Neemon_ raising a Digimon. "Um… That's a bit of a surprise. When I was traveling with Bokomon and Neemon, Neemon wasn't exactly… the smartest Digimon I knew.""

"Oh, no, Neemon is a genius!" Agumon smiled. "It's just he has trouble with words, so others often see him as an idiot. He sees things that others tend to miss, at least that's what Gabumon told me. Uncle Bokomon still thinks Neemon is an idiot though."

Flamemon sweatdropped. "Yeah… I can guess why…"

Agumon led Flamemon into a forest-like area, where there was a house. Bokomon was reading a book to some Pagumon, Yokomon, and Poyomon outside of the house.

"Ah, looks like we came in during Uncle's story time," Agumon noted.

Flamemon smiled at seeing that. It reminded him of when Seraphimon was newly hatched and how Bokomon took care of him.

"-and everyone was finally safe to live on in peace. The end," Bokomon finished, closing his book.

"Aww, tell that story again! That was a good one!" A Pagumon bounced.

"I liked the part where the girl got her Beast Spirit and fought off that ugly squid," A Yokomon remarked.

Here, Flamemon grinned. "What about when the Legendary Warriors all became Susanoomon?"

The Digimon all turned to look at Flamemon.

"Who's that Digimon?"

"I don't know, but he looks familiar somehow."

"I feel like we've seen or heard of him before."

Agumon stepped forward and smiled. "Uncle Bokomon, I brought over Agunimon. The one you said you travelled with?"

"Hmm?" Bokomon blinked, looking at Flamemon. "This Digimon?"

Flamemon gave a familiar cocky grin at Bokomon. His symbol of Flame gleamed on his belt buckle as well. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Bokomon?"

Bokomon's eyes went wide, immediately recognizing his voice. "That voice… can it really be?"

Bokomon looked into Flamemon's eyes, then tears of happiness began falling from the Digimon's eyes. "It is! Takuya! It's been far too long!"

Bokomon jumped at Flamemon, pouncing him in a hug.

"Hey! Settle down!" Flamemon laughed as he hugged his friend. "I know it has, but I'm here now, right?"

"You have no idea how much I missed you, Takuya. I had to put up with Neemon's nonsense since you all left!" Bokomon remarked, still hugging Flamemon. "I've told your story to as many Digimon as I could so everyone would know about your and your friends' brave heroics of saving the Digital World!"

Flamemon laughed. "So I can see! You haven't changed a bit, Bokomon!"

"Oh!" Bokomon stopped hugging Flamemon and looked at him. "You… what happened to you? Why are you… in that form?"

Flamemon sighed. "It's hard to explain, but it's basically like a proto-fusion of my Spirits. Like an incomplete version in a sense."

"Oh, Takuya! I must write this down! This is new!" Bokomon smiled excitedly. "Come on inside, we can catch up with some tea and cookies! Agumon, would you mind getting some water?"

"Right, of course, Uncle!" Agumon smiled.

* * *

Dash was looking at a town that he came out of from the broken TV that was sitting at the corner of a building. "Huh… what is this place?"

"Uh… are you new here?" A voice asked.

Dash turned around, and saw a small white Digimon looking at him.

"Uh… Yeah, I am." Dash confirmed, looking at the small Digimon.

"Heh, I'm actually surprised. Are you a real human?" The Digimon asked as it flew up to him with its ears. "We don't usually get different humans here. Does that mean you have a Digimon partner?"

"What?" Dash blinked.

"Oh, sorry, I should introduce myself. I'm T- err, Calumon. It's nice to meet you," The Digimon that called itself 'Calumon' greeted.

"Ah… I'm Dash. Dash Baxter. I hold the Spirits of Wood." Dash said as he held up his D-Tector. "I'm what you would call a Legendary Warrior."

Calumon's eyes went wide when he heard that. "You're… a Legendary Warrior? The holder of the Warrior of Wood?"

"Yep." Dash said with some pride. Then he looked around. "You didn't happen to see another human here did you? He wears goggles around his neck and has brown hair."

"Uh…" Calumon hesitated. "No, you were the only human to come out of that TV here."

Dash frowned. "I see…" He then looked at his D-Tector. "I was told by my friend that I should head to a large castle in the Forest Terminal. Do you know where that is? This is my first time here in this Digital World."

"Oh?" Calumon blinked. _I wonder why he was told to go to Seraphimon's castle…_ "Well, I could take you there. But before I do… do you want to get some burgers to go?"

"Burgers?" Dash questioned.

Calumon smiled. "Look around you, you're in Burger Town. This is a place where a family of Digimon called Burgermon make the best burgers in the Digital World. I came here myself to eat some of their newer ones. Though the Little Tommy is still my favorite."

Dash blinked. "They have burgers here?" He then smiled a bit. "Sure. I could go for a bite since I missed dinner back in the real world."

"Great, follow me! I know a great family who makes the best burgers." Calumon grinned as he flew ahead.

Dash hurried after Calumon. As he looked around, he could see there were many banners and stores that had the burger picture on them. There were also a lot of those Digimon that Calumon called Burgermon roaming around. They all looked happy and going about their business, though many of them were looking at him curiously. There were also these little brown chicks that were flying around. The town also reminded Dash of a western town he usually would see on TV.

Calumon stopped in front of an entrance that didn't seem to have a door, but one of those floppy doors that the bars would have in an old western town.

Dash followed Calumon and looked inside. "Wow. This is a nice place."

"It definitely is. I helped out with rebuilding it after Pe- err… a big, mean Digimon caused a mess around here," Calumon replied.

Two Burgermon came walking out, a female Burgermon wearing a pink apron gave Dash a kind smile, while the male Burgermon wore a white chef outfit.

"Welcome to our humble little burger cafe," The male Burgermon greeted. "My goodness, it's been a while since we had a new human customer."

"How may we serve you?" The female Burgermon asked with a smile on her face.

Calumon landed on the ground and smiled at them. "Hey guys."

"Oh, hi little dear, is this human a friend of yours?" The female Burgermon asked.

"Well, we just met, but he seemed pretty hungry so I thought I could bring him here to try out your burgers." Calumon smiled.

Dash smiled. "I heard you have some good burgers, so hit me up with some, please."

"Would you like anything from the menu, young man?" The chef asked, giving Dash a menu of different kinds of burgers.

Dash looked at a few before deciding to try one. "I would like to try the Little Tommy. This little guy said it was his favorite, so why not give it a try myself?"

Calumon blushed a little.

"Alright then, one Little Tommy, coming right up," The chef chuckled before he headed into the kitchen.

"Can I get you anything else? Perhaps some refreshments?" The female Burgermon asked.

"Just some water, please." Dash replied. He wasn't in the mood for anything too special in terms of a drink.

"Coming right up," The female Burgermon said before she walked to the back.

Dash looked at Calumon. "It's pretty late, isn't it? So how long do they stay open?"

"They're usually open 24 hours. If they get tired, their kids usually take over," Calumon answered.

"Huh…" Dash then looked out the window and noticed there were three moons in the sky. "Wow… there are three moons!"

"Oh yeah, the Digital World has three moons instead of just one," Calumon chuckled. "It looks like all three moons are aligned tonight."

Dash looked on in awe at the three moons. "It's so majestic to see, not to mention amazing…"

Dash felt something in his Spirit that was a little agitated though, but he wasn't sure why.

Dash just brushed it off as something that was a one time deal, figuring his Spirit was just excited to be back in the Digital World.

"So…" Calumon sat down on a small chair, but it was tall enough for him to see over the table. "While we're waiting, how about you tell me about yourself? I'm actually interested to know how you have the Spirits of one of the Legendary Warriors."

Dash gave a sheepish chuckle here. "I actually got my Spirits when some of my friends were in trouble from a Digimon that somehow got into the Human world. They were unable to defend themselves, and I wasn't going to sit back and let them get hurt. The next thing I know, I am Spirit Evolving and I was able to beat the Digimon in question. I think it was called WaruMonzaemon or something like that."

"Oh wow, that was awfully brave of you," Calumon noted.

"Yeah… to be honest, I didn't really like myself that much until that point," Dash admitted. "I used to be quite a big bully actually, maybe even the king of bullies. It started out with me venting because my aunt and uncle were putting so much pressure on me… but after that, I just… couldn't stop hurting people. It wasn't until one of the people I used to hurt the most came into my defense when I was being… well, bullied myself, did I finally manage to get myself to stop and try to change."

Dash looked at Calumon, who was looking at him curiously. "Heh, I'm sorry, this all probably sounds very stupid to you."

Calumon shook his head. "Not at all. I'm glad to hear that you're trying to turn over your bullying days."

Dash smiled. "I'm glad you think so. To be honest, it feels better to _not_ be a bully than it is to be one."

The two Burgermon came back, one of them giving Dash a glass of water, while the other had two plates with burgers on it. He put one plate in front of Calumon, and the other in front of Dash.

"Here you are, the Little Tommy burger. I even brought one out for Calumon, because I know how much he likes it," The chef Burgermons chuckled, giving a wink at Calumon.

Dash laughed at Calumon's blush, but not in a mean way at all. "You look adorable when you blush!" He joked. "Just like a plush toy too."

Calumon pouted a little. "Just eat your burger."

"Hey, I was just joking with you." Dash said in a reassuring tone. "I meant no harm by it."

"I know," Calumon rolled his eyes. "I just reacted accordingly."

Calumon picked up his burger and took a bite into it, smiling as he tasted the flavor.

Dash followed suit, his eyes lighting up as he ate the burger he had in his mouth. "Wow! That's amazing!"

"I'm glad you think so. That burger was actually made by a human child who came here four years ago, it's been our top burger ever since," The chef chuckled.

Dash blinked at that. "Is that so? I can see why it would be a hit then. Humans must not be common to see here."

As Dash tasted the burger, he felt a hint of dejavu for some reason, like he had eaten this burger before in a dream. His Spirit suddenly took over, and coated his body with fractal code. Calumon's forehead triangle glowed suddenly. Calumon stared in shock and horror as he dropped his burger back on his plate.

The two Burgermon's eyes went wide as they were staring at the very same Digimon that had pilfige their home town for their burgers before. In Dash's place was Petaldramon, who licked the rest of the now tiny burger.

Calumon wasn't sure if this was a bad thing or a good thing. It didn't seem like Petaldramon was going on a rampage this time. Unfortunately, the Burgermon were still quite traumatized from when Petaldramon kidnapped one of them and demanded a better burger for ransom.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" Petaldramon asked, noticing all the eyes were suddenly on him. "Why is everything suddenly smaller? … And why do I feel so hungry?"

"It's you! You monster!" The female Burgermou shouted, pointing at him.

Petaldramon winced back a little, blinking and sweatdropping at the sudden accusation. "I'm sorry, what?"

The male Burgermon got in front of his wife. "I will not let you take her, you fiend! Not after what you did last time!"

"Why would I take her? I've also never met with you guys before until today," Petaldramon pointed out.

"Um… Dash? You… kinda… changed?" Calumon pointed out.

Petaldramon looked himself over and sweatdropped. "Oh… Uh… Is this a bad thing?"

"Petaldramon was a corrupted Digimon in the Digital World 4 years ago… he… was the big Digimon who caused the destruction of this place," Calumon informed hesitantly.

Petaldramon felt sweat running down his wooden skin. "Uh oh… And because I hold his Spirits… Crap…"

Calumon ran up to the two Burgermon. "It's alright, he's not the same Petaldramon. He's still the human kid, his Spirit likely just reacted to my burger- _the_ burger I mean."

Petaldramon noticed the slip up, but he didn't question it. However, it did raise his curiosity as to who Calumon was.

The two Burgermon paused for a moment, looking at Petaldramon. Petaldramon tried his best to look as innocent and least threatening as possible. He waited, hoping that he passed whatever test they had for him to prove he wasn't the same monster that tormented them 4 years ago.

There was no movement from either party, which made it feel like a western stand-off to Petaldramon. _This feels like a western film for some reason..._

Finally, the chef relaxed. "You certainly do have a different aura than the original Petaldramon had. If you were the same, I doubt you'd just let us look at you like that for so long. He was never the patient one."

Hearing that, Petaldramon relaxed. "Sorry… I just didn't think my Spirit would react like that." He sheepishly chuckled. "It must have been quite the shock…"

"It certainly was," The female Burgermon remarked. "But as long as you aren't the same Petaldramon, and you don't have any ill intentions, then we're sorry for overreacting like that."

"It's not your fault," Petaldramon said.

"Your Spirits do have minds of their own. The Petaldramon Spirit likely remembered the taste of the Little Tommy's burger and came out when you tasted it," Calumon explained.

Petaldramon took in that information. "I guess that makes sense. I've heard the Spirits can be alive in a sense, but I never thought it was actually possible."

"Keep in mind of it for next time then," Calumon chuckled. "Also… it looks like we may need more burgers, you're likely feeling pretty hungry right now. The three moons seem to make Petaldramon pretty hungry."

As if on cue, Petaldramon's stomach let out a loud growl, to which, Petaldramon blushed and the leaves on his neck extended out to cover his embarrassed face.

"That would explain why I feel so hungry…" Petaldramon muttered sheepishly.

"Heh, well it's been a long time since I had to make a bigger burger." The chef smiled.

Petaldramon looked at the chef. "You would do that?" He was surprised.

"Sure, just think of it as payment for being so rude to you earlier," The chef chuckled. "It's also on the house."

"Wow, thank you so much!" Petaldramon smiled.

* * *

Once Dash finished eating his burgers, and managed to turn back to his human form, he thanked the Burgermon before he and Calumon left their restaurant.

"So, you said you needed to go to the Forest Terminal to a castle?" Calumon asked, who was currently on Dash's shoulder.

Dash nodded. "That's right." He confirmed.

"Okay then. I guess Sorcermon wanted to meet the newest Legendary Warrior," Calumon muttered. "Well, we could walk there, but it would be faster to take a Trailmon there."

Dash looked at Calumon. "I've seen a Trailmon a few times, but never ridden on one."

"It's like riding on a real train, only one that talks," Calumon chuckled.

Dash blinked at what Calumon said. "Wait… how do you know what a human train is like?"

"Uh… I've… seen one before…?" Calumon nervously answered.

Dash frowned a bit at that. He was getting the feeling something was off about Calumon, but as to what it was, he wasn't sure. Still, he didn't point out the answer was more like a question and let Calumon feel less nervous with the lack of a reaction.

"Um… anyways, the nearest Trailmon station is just a few blocks away from here," Calumon continued. "It should be easy for us to get on one that'll take us to where we need to go."

Dash smiled. "Well then, let's find a Trailmon and take the tracks to the castle!"

* * *

Flamemon had a nice time chatting with Bokomon, but he knew he needed to get going. Sorcermon and his friends were likely waiting for him at Sorcermon's castle.

"It was nice to talk to you, Bokomon, but I need to get going. Sorcermon is waiting for me." Flamemon said as he stood up. "I wish I could stay longer, but you know how it is being a Legendary Warrior." He smiled sheepishly at that.

"Yes, of course," Bokomon agreed, he had a notepad full of notes. "It was nice seeing you again, Takuya. It was nice hearing about your heroic deeds at Amity Park. I look forward to hearing more again soon. Don't be a stranger now."

"Maybe one day, Gabumon and I could digivolve into something really awesome that could be a great help to you Legendary Warriors." Agumon smiled.

Flamemon laughed at that. "That is a good goal. Just stay on the path you are now, and that will happen!" He then patted Agumon's head. "Maybe we can train together one day as well."

Agumon smiled happily at that, before he passed out.

"Oh dear, looks like he got a little too excited," Bokomon chuckled. "But you really made his night, Takuya."

Flamemon smiled. "I'm glad I could. He seems like a good Digimon."

"I'll let you in on a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, especially Agumon and Gabumon," Bokomon whispered. "Neemon and I actually found them together when they were Koromon and Tsunemon. We're not entirely sure yet, but we think it's possible they were a royal knight before. Like Crusadermon and Dynastmon."

Flamemon looked at Bokomon. "A Royal Knight? Which one?" He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"An Agumon and Gabumon's Mega lines usually have to fuse in order to create this particular royal knight; Omegamon. Considering we found those two together, it's possible that was who they were before they were reborn," Bokomon stated. "They're also always together, and they get along better than most other Digimon their age."

Flamemon pursed his lips. "I see. You know we had bad experiences with the Royal Knights before, but… it was only two of them. I can't say I know the rest of the Royal Knights very well, but you know my personal experience isn't the best with that group…"

"I know. And like I said, we're not 100 percent sure that is the case. They could just be normal Agumon and Gabumon that just happen to become friends," Bokomon stated. "I guess we won't know until later. It's only a hunch for now."

Flamemon nodded. "Okay." He then looked back at Agumon, who was still on the floor. He picked up Agumon and put him on the couch so he didn't wake up sore. "If he is a Royal Knight Digimon, I hope he turns out noble instead of evil. It would be great if that happened."

"Well, if it helps, you are his favorite Legendary Warrior, and he's a very nice Digimon at his Digi-Core," Bokomon assured. "And so is Gabumon. I just can't imagine either of them turning out like Crusadermon or Dynasmon."

Flamemon smiled. "I will hold you to that then. You've done a good job raising him."

"Ah, well now, I do have experience after all!" Bokomon smiled proudly. "Ah, but I've kept you long enough. You should get to where you're needed now. I'm sure everyone else is waiting for you."

Flamemon smiled again. "Yeah, I probably should." He then turned and ran out, but not before he turned back and gave a wave of goodbye as he ran. "See ya, Bokomon!"

"Be sure to come back and visit again soon!" Bokomon waved as Flamemon left.

Flamemon looked at the sky. "Okay, so how do I want to get there? Should I go there by Trailmon or by air?"

Deciding flight would be faster, he focused on his fusion link for his Spirits and let the form he was in go, returning to human form. Now Takuya again, the boy looked at his D-Tector before he took it out. "Time to fly!"

One evolution later, BurningGreymon was now airborne and on his way to the castle. "Okay, here we go! Sorcermon, here I come!"

As BurningGreymon was flying, he was enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the night sky and the Digital World around him, he was happy that it wasn't in pieces like it was the last time he was here when Lucemon was eating away the world, literally. It was good to see the world in one piece. Then he thought about Dash. _Oh… Dash doesn't know anything about this world… I hope he'll be able to find his way to the castle._

BurningGreymon found himself wishing that he had gone with Dash instead of through the lab's computer. But when he remembered his Flamemon form, he felt a sweat-drop run down the side of his head. _Yeah… _that_ would have been hard to explain… Maybe it was best we came the way we did, separately…. Still, I may need to look for him if he's not at the castle by the time I get there._

* * *

"I can't believe we're riding in a pink Trailmon that looks like a cute mole… This looks like something Paulina would like to ride, not me," Dash grumbled as he and Calumon were riding in a Mole Trailmon.

"Oh stop complaining, it was the only Trailmon available for the Forest Terminal. Just be glad they built actual tracks there. If you tried to get there a year ago, you'd be walking," Calumon huffed.

Dash sighed. "I guess that's a good counterpoint. I heard about how walking was hard on the Legendary Warriors before when they were here a few years ago."

"Oh? Who told you about that?" Calumon asked.

Dash froze, realizing he had something he probably shouldn't have said. But he decided to be honest with the little guy. "Would you believe me if I told you I met one of the Legendary Warriors back in my hometown?"

Calumon's eyes looked at Dash with a sense of surprise and curiosity. "Really? Oh… well, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised since you do hold the Warrior of Wood… but still… I guess I just didn't expect you to meet one of them. You… come from the United States, right?"

Dash nodded. "Yeah, I do. A small town called Amity Park to be exact."

"I see… so the Legendary Warrior you met…" Calumon paused for a moment. "What was their name?"

Dash blinked. "Can you clarify that? I mean, I have my Digimon names and my human name, so which are you asking for?"

"It doesn't really matter. Human or Digimon, they're the same person," Calumon remarked. "But I suppose, I am asking for their human name."

Dash nodded. "Well, his name is Takuya. Takuya Kanbara."

For a moment, Calumon didn't give any visible reaction, but then he gave a small smile. "Heh… so it was him after all…"

"You know Takuya?" Dash asked, surprised.

"He and I have met before, yeah," Calumon admitted.

"When did you meet him?" Dash asked. "I mean, he never mentioned you in his story he told me."

"I suppose he wouldn't. Calumon has only met him recently," Calumon said, seeming to refer to himself in third person.

Before Dash could ask what Calumon meant, there was a sudden shake, then the Trailmon let out a surprised yelp as the trailer they were sitting in suddenly went flying a bit. Dash and Calumon rolled on the ground as the trembling and shaking finally stopped.

"Ugh… That wasn't what I expected…" Dash groaned as he sat up. "Hey, are you okay, Calumon?" He picked up the smaller Digimon, who had landed next to the human.

"Ugh… a little disorientated, but I'll be fine…" Calumon groaned, rubbing his head. "What happened? Did we get derailed?"

Dash got up to his feet and looked out of the window. "Not that I can see… We appear to still be on the tracks, but I don't see the Trailmon."

"We better take a look outside, something must've happened to Mole," Calumon said in concern.

Dash walked over to the door and opened it, getting out of the train car they were in. He looked around, only to have his eyes widen at seeing a large hole in front of the car just ahead of them. All he could see was Mole's rear end sticking out of the hole the Trailmon had fallen into.

"Oh dear… I seem to have fallen and can't get up," The Mole Trailmon muttered. "Um… excuse me up there, if you don't mind, could you help pull me up? This hole looks pretty dark."

Dash looked at Calumon. "I think we should help."

"Yeah," Calumon agreed before the upside-down triangle on his forehead gave a slight red glow. "You better do it fast. Whatever made that hole might still be around."

Dash took out his D-Tector as the dark green Beast Spirit roared before appearing on the screen of the tan and brown device. He invoked the ball of fractal coding on his hand before swiping the D-Tector across the coding. _"EXECUTE! BEAST SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"_ Dash cried out as the coding surrounded his body. He could feel his skin becoming bark, with the leaves forming on his back. A tail sprouted from his spine as his body took on a quadruped form, and the leaves around his neck formed as well. Finally, the coding vanished as he landed, swishing his tail around before calling out his Beast Spirit name. _"PETALDRAMON!"_

Now as Petaldramon, he grabbed onto Mole's back and started pulling him back onto the trail. Calumon flew around in a circle, trying to find what made that hole in the first place.

"Just hang on! Almost got you out!" Petaldramon shouted as he pulled.

Mole gave a sigh of relief, until he saw something moving in the darkness. Mole gave a bit of a shriek. "H-hurry! There's something down here!"

Petaldramon was able to pull Mole to safety, just as something swiped at, and missed, Mole's front end. "Gotcha out!"

Calumon looked at the hole, then he saw something moving, and digging. Calumon's eyes widened. "Petaldramon! It's coming underneath you!"

Petaldramon looked down, only to wind up moving back as a large drill emerged from the ground "Whoa! That was close!"

A large mole-like Digimon came up from the hole. It had purple fur on the top of its back and head, with cream colored fur on the rest of its body. The 'horn' on its nose was actually a drill, and it had smaller claws that were similar in appearance. It had blue eyes, and sharp teeth as well. The Digimon also appeared to have three whiskers per side above its mouth too.

"What the heck is that?" Petaldramon asked.

"It's a Drimogemon!" Calumon called out.

**"****Drimogemon is an Animal Digimon. It moves underground at high speeds with the gigantic drill attached to its snout. It is an extremely rare Digimon to come across because it is always digging deep underground. It is a Champion level, and a Data type."** A voice said in Petaldramon's head.

"Okay… I swear I heard a voice in my head…" Petaldramon muttered to himself.

Calumon flew over to Petaldramon. "That was probably one of your Spirits giving you information on the Digimon. The other Legendary Warriors have those voices too when they see a Digimon they've never seen before."

Petaldramon considered that. _That _does_ make sense, given how the Spirits were once Digimon too…_ He then looked at Drimogemon. "But why is he attacking?"

"Actually… it's a she…" Calumon pointed at the eyelashes. "And I don't know. Maybe the Trailmon ran over her territory?"

Petaldramon frowned. "I don't know myself, but we can't let him… err, her, get away with attacking like that."

"You're going to pay…" Drimogemon hissed in a feminine voice.

"Pay? Pay for what?" Petaldramon asked, but he was ready to attack in case talking didn't work.

"You've hurt my family and I. I'll make sure you pay for that! _Drill Spin!_" Drimogemon ran at Petaldramon with her large drill nose spinning.

Petaldramon quickly moved away from the Drimogemon, but she turned and was following him. "Calumon! Did Petaldramon do something to her too!?"

"Not that I know of!" Calumon answered back, flying with Petaldramon.

Petaldramon looked back at the enraged Drimogemon. "What did I do to your family?! I've never met you before!"

Drimogemon didn't seem interested in answering, instead she growled. "Justice will be served."

Drimogemon created a large bone in her hand. _"Bone Crusher!"_

"Look out!" Calumon yelped.

Petaldramon used his tails to swipe the bone away.

Petaldramon was getting frustrated now. "It seems talking won't work on this one. She's too driven by rage."

Calumon frowned as he looked at the Drimogemon. He noticed something wasn't quite right with her eyes, they seemed glazed over, like she wasn't all there.

"I'm going to try to knock her out," Petaldramon decided.

He decided his Leaf Cyclone would do the trick. _"Leaf Cyclone!"_

Drimogemon quickly burrowed underground, avoiding the tornado of leaves. Petaldramon gasped, seeing the ground was coming towards him.

"Okay… bad idea…" Petaldramon muttered before deciding his Thorn Jab would be a better bet. "But since she is underground, maybe…" He then knew what to do. _"Thorn Jab!"_

The vines came up from underground. Drimogemon was easily wrapped up in the vines as Petaldramon had the vines lift her above the ground. Drimogemon yelled and struggled against his hold.

"Yes! It worked!" Petaldramon exclaimed.

_"__Screw Claw!"_ Drimogemon's mini drill claws began to spin and she dug them into the vines that held her body.

Calumon gasped at seeing that before he quickly flew towards the Drimogemon.

"Hey! What are you doing? Don't get too close, it's too dangerous!" Petaldramon called after the small Digimon.

"I have to stop her claws before she drills through the vines!" Calumon called back. "She could accidentally pierce herself!"

Petaldramon realized that was a possibility and froze. "Oh, that's not good." Then he paused. "Wait… How do you plan to do that?!"

Calumon frowned as he analyzed the claws trying to dig through the vines. "You might feel slightly cold."

Calumon focused for a moment, the red upside-down triangle on his forehead turned light blue, and into the shape of a teddy bear's face. _"Crystal Breeze!"_

A small blizzard of ice and snow came out of Calumon's forehead, freezing the Drimogemon's claws into ice, stopping the drills completely, though he did also freeze some of the vines as well.

Petaldramon blinked as he saw that. "What the…?" He was stunned. _How did that little guy do that?_

Calumon turned to Petaldramon as the blue teddy bear's face turned back into the red upside-down triangle. "Hurry and knock her out. That weak ice attack won't hold her claws for long."

Petaldramon blinked. "Oh. Right." He ran at Drimogemon and gave her a good headbutt with his own head, knocking the Digimon out.

"Whew… looks like that's that," Petaldramon sighed in relief.

"Yeah… but…" Calumon frowned as Drimogemon began to groan despite being unconscious. "What could've happened to her?"

"I don't know…" Petaldramon frowned. "I don't believe that attack was random, err… was it?"

"I don't think so. She sounded like she was out for revenge," Calumon answered. "We better take her with us. Sorcermon might be able to help her and find out what's going on."

Petaldramon nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He then looked himself over. "Hmm… Maybe I could take her with us more easily as Arbormon."

Calumon looked back at Mole, and the tracks that were stopped over a big hole. "First… we might need to get Mole over that hole…"

Petaldramon looked back at Mole. "Oh… Right..."

* * *

It was late by the time Mole reached the Forest Terminal. He stopped by a large tree that seemed to go up forever. "We're here. I'm going to have to get someone to fix up that hole back there though. I may be a mole, but I don't like falling down dark holes."

Arbormon stepped out of the train car, pulling the unconscious Drimogemon with him. "I don't blame you. Dark holes aren't fun for anyone, human or Digimon."

"I'm glad you understand," Mole replied. "Well, good luck."

Mole began moving down the track once Dash and Calumon were out. Calumon had been analyzing the unconscious Drimogemon since they brought her on the Trailmon.

"Were you able to find out anything?" Arbormon asked.

Calumon frowned. "There's nothing wrong with her body, nothing physical… there's no unusual energy inside her body that I could see either. I may be a bit of a doctor, but I am still in training, so whatever this is, someone else will have to try to pick up on it."

Arbormon frowned. "I see. I mean that's why we brought her with us anyways." He then looked around. "So… where do we go from here?"

"The castle is above this tree. It used to be hidden, but it's been open after the war against Cherubimon 4 years ago," Calumon answered.

Arbormon blinked. "Really? Well, then it shouldn't be hard to find."

"Yeah. You just have to have enough endurance to walk up stairs," Calumon replied. "Lots of stairs."

Arbormon felt a sweat-drop run down the side of his head. "Great… Lots of stairs… I am _so_ looking forward to that…"

As Arbormon carried Drimogemon and followed Calumon up the stairs, he groaned to himself. _It's times like this I wish one of my Spirits could fly… If Takuya were here, he'd be able to fly to the castle no problem, but noooo, I'm stuck carrying a giant mole, following a small Digimon up the stairs of a giant tree._

Arbormon walked up the stairs for a while before he perked up as he saw a large castle coming into view. "Hey… Is that it?"

"Yup, that's it, Seraphimon's Castle," Calumon answered. "We're almost there."

"Good… because while I am in shape, it's quite a bit of a pain to carry Drimogemon while climbing up stairs," Arbormon grumbled.

Suddenly, a shadow flew over them. Calumon nearly jumped at the sudden shadow flying over them. They looked up, seeing BurningGreymon flying over them. BurningGreymon didn't seem to notice them, however, he was just looking straight on at the castle.

"And speaking of flying…" Arbormon groaned at seeing that. "So much for hoping for some help with Drimogemon…"

"Why is he here again?" Calumon frowned, having landed on the stairs and retracted his ears. "Is something going on?"

Arbormon frowned at hearing Calumon's words, but he didn't question it, figuring he would get some answers when they arrived. "Might as well keep going…" He sighed, continuing his long trek to the castle.

The rest of the way was pretty quiet. Calumon had stopped flying after BurningGreymon passed them, he was walking up the stairs as well, and seemed to be contemplating something.

Arbormon noticed the silence from the little Digimon, but he didn't press the matter. Still, he decided to try and strike up a conversation nonetheless. "So… what is this Sorcermon like?"

Calumon blinked, coming out of his thoughts. "Ah… well, he's a good guy. Very well versed with magic attacks. He's also a good doctor, he can scan for anything unusual inside a Digimon, a lot better than I can anyways. He can be a little protective when it comes to Seraphimon though, so be careful if you want to ask him about Seraphimon."

Arbormon nodded. "I will keep that in mind." He then blinked. "Wait… Seraphimon? As in one of the Celestial Digimon?"

"Yeah. He went missing a few months ago," Calumon replied. "And with the other two Celestial Digimon weakened, and back at the real world, well… Sorcermon and a few others are stepping up to try to keep the peace in the Digital World."

Arbormon blinked. "Do you think that's why he called upon the Legendary Warriors? Because whatever is going on is getting to the point where it is out of his hands?"

"He called on the Legendary Warriors?" Calumon asked as they came up to the gate. "What do you mean by tha-aaaat…"

Calumon trailed off when he saw some very familiar faces.

"Well Takuya, it's about time you got here." Koji remarked.

Takuya sighed. "Sorry, but I met with Bokomon for a while. He wanted to catch up on old times."

"Oh, you did? We actually met up with Neemon and a Gabumon on our way here." Koichi smiled.

Takuya laughed. "Yeah, Bokomon raised an Agumon. I met that very Agumon when I arrived here."

"So, Takuya finally arrived, huh?" A chubby teen asked, coming over. "Jeez, I thought I would have to eat all the chocolate, but since you're here, I can give you your share."

Takuya laughed. "It's good to see you too, JP!"

JP was wearing a blue shirt that had a lightning bolt on it with grey pants and blue and yellow sneakers.

"Nice to see you again, Tacky, so what's it like in America?" JP chuckled, calling Takuya by the nickname he unofficially gave him.

"JP, don't be rude," A girl with long blonde hair grumbled as she walked over as well. "Well, well, it has been a while, hasn't it, Takuya?"

Takuya blushed a bit. "Uh… Yeah. It has, Zoe."

Zoe was wearing a purple shirt with white lines down the arms, and blue jeans with her pink and purple shoes. A purple beanie sat on her head. Zoe had also obviously developed over the years, which Takuya was trying very hard not to notice.

Takuya then looked around. "Hey, where's Tommy? I was sure he would be here."

"We're not sure. We thought he might arrive with you since you were so late," JP answered. "I thought he might like trying some new chocolate bars I got for him."

Takuya frowned. "That's odd… Because I never saw him when I got here."

Calumon was trying not to sweat, but beads of sweat were already running down his head. Arbormon looked at the now very nervous little Digimon. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes! Of course I am! W-why wouldn't I be?" Calumon laughed nervously. "Ummm… why don't you introduce yourself? They're the… uh… the other Legendary Warriors."

Arbormon nodded. "Sure. I guess…" he was nervous about this, considering his Spirits were once the enemy. "Uh… Hey there, Takuya."

"Is that Arbormon?" Zoe asked, surprised.

"It sure looks like it." JP frowned.

"Calm down, guys," Koichi spoke up. "This is a friend, we actually battled alongside him a few times before."

Takuya sighed. "Guys… This is the new Legendary Warrior of Wood. He's human like us, but he is apparently evolved right now." He then looked at Arbormon. "Why _are_ you evolved right now anyway? And… why do you have a giant mole with you?"

"Ah, well, my little friend and I got attacked by this Drimogemon on our way here," Arbormon answered. "I knocked her out though, and brought her here to see what's wrong with her. We don't know why she attacked us."

Takuya blinked. "Okay…? That's odd."

"Who's your little friend?" Koji asked.

Calumon was nervously behind Arbormon's legs, hoping nobody would notice him. He didn't have such luck.

Takuya blinked. "Huh? Calumon?" He saw one of Calumon's ears behind Arbormon's left leg.

Calumon froze for a moment, before he stiffly walked out from behind Arbormon, giving a very strained smile. "H-hey… didn't… expect to see you here again so soon."

Takuya frowned at seeing the nervous smile, but he decided to hold off on asking for now. "I didn't expect to come back here so soon either."

"It was because of him I was even able to find my way here. Because _somebody_ decided we should go into different computers to get here," Arbormon stated, looking sharply at Takuya.

Takuya gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah… Sorry about that…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Zoe went over to Calumon and smiled. "Awww, who's this little cutie?"

Arbormon looked down at Calumon. "He said his name is Calumon."

"Yeah, he's a doctor here from what I know," Takuya added.

"Aww, cute and smart~" Zoe smiled.

"Heh…" Calumon nervously chuckled. "Y-yeah…"

"There's… something familiar about that little Digimon, don't you think?" Koji asked, which made Calumon start sweating more.

Koichi nodded. "He _does_ have that familiar air about him… But this is the first time we met him. Maybe it's our Spirits that are actually familiar with this Digimon and we are just feeling what they are feeling."

"I don't know… Calumon said he recently came into being due to an important artifact that shattered here not that long ago," Takuya remarked.

"Hmm…" JP walked over to Calumon.

Calumon looked up at JP. "Uh… h-hello?"

JP smiled and then held out some chocolate as he knelt down in front of him. "Hey, why don't you have some chocolate to feel better? You look a bit tense."

Calumon blinked before he took a piece of chocolate from JP, he remembered that JP usually liked giving chocolate to people and Digimon. Calumon nodded. "Thank you."

Eating the piece of chocolate did help Calumon feel a little better.

"So what's your name?" Zoe asked Arbormon. "I mean your human name."

"I'm Dash. Dash Baxter." Arbormon introduced. "I met Takuya back in the human world, so that's how I know him."

"That would explain it. Takuya's D-Tector did hold the Warrior of Wood after all," JP noted.

"But this is good, we now have one more Legendary Warrior on our side," Koichi remarked.

"Indeed," Sorcermon spoke up, walking over to the group. "Arbormon, you can put down the Drimogemon. I'll have Lillymon take a look at her in the medical room."

Arbormon did as was asked before fractal code surrounded him and he reverted to his human form. "Thanks. I had to carry her up the stairs the whole way." He then gave a look at Takuya. "And no thanks for the help."

Takuya blinked. "What?"

"You flew overhead, and didn't even offer to help!" Dash pointed out.

Takuya frowned. "Uh… I guess I didn't see you?"

Lillymon came flying over, using her flower petals to pick up the unconscious Drimogemon and carried her to the castle.

Sorcermon looked at each of the humans and Calumon for a moment. "Right then, looks like all the current Legendary Warriors are here."

The assembled group all looked at Sorcermon in confusion. "Huh?" The six were all confused.

"What do you mean, Sorcermon?" Takuya asked. "We're missing Tommy."

"Yeah, Tommy is also a Legendary Warrior, even if he is the youngest one of our group," Zoe agreed.

Calumon was slowly trying to sneak away from the group.

Takuya looked back at the movement. "Calumon? Where are you going?"

Calumon froze for a second, before he looked back with a nervous smile. "O-oh, I just figured I would leave you Legendary Warriors alone with your important meeting. Maybe that last member of your group is already here in the castle! Maybe I should go get him!"

Takuya blinked. "You… think Tommy is here?"

"We've been here for a while, we never saw him," Koji pointed out.

"Really? Maybe you missed him, I'll go look!" Calumon said quickly before he rushed into the castle so fast that he would make even the fastest Trailmon jealous.

Takuya blinked as Calumon took off. "Okay… That's… weird…"

"What's got him all worked up?" Koji questioned.

Sorcermon sighed. "Forgive me, I had… forgotten about the Warrior of Ice."

Takuya gave Sorcermon a small smile. "It happens. Don't worry about it."

"Wait, the Warrior of Ice?" Dash spoke up. "Huh…"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" JP questioned. "We each are a warrior of an element. Ice isn't all that unusual."

"It's just… Calumon used an ice attack to keep that Drimogemon from scratching her way out of my vines when we were trying to knock her out," Dash remarked. "I just thought it was kind of a funny coincidence that he used ice and we're waiting for the Warrior of Ice."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. _Wait… Last time I was here, and Danny needed healing… the room suddenly got cold, cold enough that even when I was Agunimon I could see my breath..._

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence, we don't know that much about Calumon after all," Koichi noted. _Though there is still something about that Digimon that's familiar..._

Koji frowned. "So… what do we do while we wait?"

"Are we sure Tommy is even here? I mean we were here for an hour and never saw him," Zoe pointed out. "Maybe we should look for him. He might've gotten lost or hurt out there."

Takuya nodded, getting a feeling in his gut he wasn't liking. "I think we should. I mean, sure he can handle himself, but we don't know how long he could have been here if he came at all."

Sorcermon looked back at the castle.

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice spoke up.

Everyone looked at the voice, and were surprised to see a boy of about 12 years of age. He wore an orange hat that had the kanji of ice on it, a white T-shirt, khaki shorts, and white socks with teal and green sneakers. His hair was brown, and his eyes were a green color.

"I was wondering what all the racket was out here," The boy remarked as he walked closer to them.

Takuya smiled. "Tommy!" He ran over and hugged the boy.

Tommy was caught a little off guard at the sudden hug, but he gladly returned it. "Hey, Takuya, long time no see."

Takuya pulled away. "Where were you? We were about to go looking for you because you didn't get here for a while!"

"Ah… sorry about that… I didn't get the message until… recently," Tommy chuckled sheepishly.

"Have you been here the whole time?" Koji asked.

"No… I just got here actually, through one of the monitors here," Tommy answered.

Takuya smiled in relief. "I'm just glad you got here okay."

"Yeah, it's good to see you again, Tommy. You look like you've grown since we last saw you." Zoe complimented, making the young boy blush.

"You think so?" Tommy sheepishly rubbed the back of his hat. "Sometimes I feel like I've shrunk."

Dash then smiled. "Hey. You must be the Warrior of Ice. I'm Dash Baxter, the new Warrior of Wood."

Tommy smiled at Dash. "It's nice to meet you, Dash. I'm Tommy Himi."

"Huh… you wouldn't happen to be the same Tommy who made The Little Tommy burger at the Burgermon's restaurant, would you?" Dash asked.

"Uh, yeah, I am," Tommy answered.

Dash then smiled again. "I had one earlier, and it was good. You're quite a good cook."

Tommy blushed. "Heh… yeah… it was actually my first time cooking, but I'm glad it turned out as well as it did."

Takuya laughed. "Okay, I guess we're all here then!"

"Ah, I had a new chocolate bar I wanted you to try," JP spoke up, digging into his pocket.

"Maybe later, JP? I think Sorcermon called us all here for a reason," Tommy said.

Takuya looked at Sorcermon. "Yeah. What is that about anyway?"

"Right, well now that you're all here, we can get to the matters at hand," Sorcermon said before raising his staff, showing the group an illusion.

The group could see other parts of the Digital World in the illusion, and they were surprised to see normal, innocent, civilian Digimon suddenly attacking someone. Some Digimon even attacked their own kind.

"That Drimogemon you brought here earlier, Warrior of Wood, isn't the only Digimon to suddenly attack others for no apparent reason," Sorcermon stated in a serious tone. "This has been happening all over the Digital World since yesterday morning. Friends suddenly attack each other, families suddenly being pushed out of their homes by their own sibling, parent, or children. As you can see, this is not normal."

Takuya frowned at seeing the images. "That does sound bad. And you don't know what is causing this?"

"We're not sure yet. But since you did bring in one of the victims of this… whatever this is, we should be able to analyze her and see what's going on," Sorcermon answered. "But with so many Digimon affected by this mysterious 'illness', we've had our hands full. That's why we called upon the Legendary Warriors. As Legendary Warriors, you are the symbol of hope and justice of the Digital World. If anyone can find out what's going on and put a stop to it, it's all of you."

Dash rubbed the back of his head. "Wow… That's quite the tall order…"

Takuya laughed. "Well, you have the rest of us to help you out; we did this before so you're in good company."

Dash chuckled at that. "I guess I am."

"It's just like old times, huh?" JP chuckled. "Of course, those weren't exactly the best times. I remember always being scared whenever something bad happened."

"But that's changed now, right, JP?" Zoe smiled.

"R-right, Zoe! Of course! I'm a much braver man now than I was back then!" JP quickly said, trying to look all brave and heroic.

Takuya coughed. "Are you sure it's not because you want to impress the lady?" He teased JP by nudging his arm.

"Put a sock in it, Takuya!" JP snapped, his face blushing.

"Some things never change," Koji chuckled.

Takuya looked back at Sorcermon, his face going serious. "So where do we begin looking? Maybe we could find some clues at where this all started."

"There have been witnesses to the start of this, but it was in two different places," Sorcermon answered. "One was in the TV Forest. Another area was in the Autumn Leaf Fair."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "Hmmm… If that's the case, then we may have to split up to cover more ground. One group could go check out the TV Forest while the second group goes to check out the Autumn Leaf Fair." He was already running through some group assignments.

Takuya then looked up. "I have some group assignments in mind. Group one will be me, Tommy, Dash, and Zoe, while the second group is Koji, Koichi, and JP. Where the groups go will be up to Sorcermon."

"Oh? There a reason you chose the group like that?" Dash asked.

"Right, I don't think I told you yet…" Takuya sighed. "Koji and I can Fusion Evolve, that means our Spirits can fuse to create a much more powerful Digimon when needed. I figured it would be a good idea to give each group someone who can Fusion Evolve, just in case we run into a strong Digimon."

"This sounds like a solid plan to me," Koji remarked, before looking at Takuya. "Though I'm surprised, you're not usually one to make such plans, Takuya."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head. "Blame it on my cousin Andy. He's… been rubbing off on me…"

Dash snickered. "Andy has ways with planning and words. Sometimes he scares me, it makes me wonder how I got away with… ah, nevermind."

"Very good," Sorcermon spoke up. "Okay. I may send someone over to you in case we find something out about the Drimogemon. Takuya, I'll send your group to the TV Forest. Koji, your group will be going to the Autumn Leaf Fair. Remember, this is to gather information. I would advise against fighting against another Digimon's friend or family until we can resolve this matter."

Koji frowned a bit. "But what if they attack us first? We should at least Spirit Evolve in self-defense."

"If you must act in self-defense, you can do so. Just try to cause as little damage as possible to them. They are likely not in control of their actions, but I wouldn't say they've been corrupted enough to need purification. Because remember, if they go back to being a Digi-Egg, they'll lose all their memories of their past life," Sorcermon informed.

Takuya and the others all nodded.

"Don't worry. We'll only act in self-defense." Takuya assured Sorcermon.

"Alright then. You all better get going to your destinations then," Sorcermon stated. "Just be on the lookout for any potential attacks."

Takuya nodded, as did Koji and the others. Takuya then looked to his friends and fellow Legendary Warriors. "Okay, guys! Let's go!"

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** Thanks! :3

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** I'm glad you liked the way 13 was wrapped up.

**CT7567Rules****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, I thought it was funny when Jack and Maddie secretly approved Danny of spying on Jazz. I decided to do it with Andy since Danny and Takuya were a little busy with each other at the moment.

**ZAFT:** As for the armor digivolving and Veemon… we will see. We already have Digimon partners planned, but we will see for down the road. ^^'

**DarkFoxKit:** We don't know about armor Digivolution yet, since they're a bit complicated, and they need armor digi-eggs to work, but we will see what happens in the future.


	37. A Nightmare Long Forgotten

**ZAFT:** Another update, another week. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup. I'm… well, I want to say almost done with my treatment, but I still have 5 more to do. I THINK they said it's twice a week though, so it should go by quicker than the 28 days I had to do, but it will still feel like a long time for me, not to mention the recovery period after that. But I'm getting there, I just have to take it. And hopefully, we can finally get back to our normal writing schedule.

**ZAFT: **True.

**DarkFoxKit:** We were supposed to update yesterday, but my brain kinda got fried and I fell asleep too early. I left poor ZAFT here waiting, and I apologize for that. I'll let you borrow Andy for the day to make up for it.

**ZAFT:** Nah, it's fine. :3 I understand you were not feeling well, so that takes priority. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, but hopefully I can avoid doing that next time. Anyways, let's get into the chapter!

* * *

_**(**Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley**)**_

**_Three worlds, connected side by side_**

_**(**A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that**)**_

**_Connections, with many secrets to hide_**

_**(**Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself**)**_

_**Is one always chosen by fate?**_

**_(_**_Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius_**_)_**

_**Or can one make their own destiny?**_

**_(_**_Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc_**_)_**

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen**)**_

_**The power is deep inside!**_

_**(**Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance**)**_

**_Digital Phantom!_**

_**(**The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod**)**_

_**Destiny is unbound!**_

_**(**The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Fight on, without regret**_

_**(**Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it**)**_

_**Two sides never rest**_

_**(**Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, with a shadowed form above it just as an evil version of the shadowed form appears beside Vlad, both transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both**)**_

_**Never regret or look back**_

_**(**Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon**)**_

_**Fight on, with victory**_

_**(**Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him**)**_

_**Nothing will stand in our way!**_

_**(**Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

* * *

**Chapter 37: A Nightmare Long Forgotten**

BurningGreymon was carrying Tommy and Dash through the air. Kazemon, Zoe's Digimon form, was flying alongside him.

"It's been a while since we came to the TV Forest," Tommy noted. "It almost feels nostalgic."

Dash looked at Tommy. "Why is it called the TV Forest?"

"Well… I'm not entirely sure of all the details, but at some point in time of the forest, when the clouds cover up the moons, and it's at its darkest, the tree trunks will start showing bits of the real world, kind of like a TV. I've only seen it once though, so I'm not too sure on how it works," Tommy explained.

"So you can see into the human world? That's awesome!" Dash exclaimed. "I have got to see this myself!"

"That's only if you're lucky. Though right now it is pretty dark, so maybe we will get to see it," BurningGreymon stated.

"We're coming up on it now. Hey Dash, ever tried meat apples?" Kazemon asked.

"Meat apples?" Dash asked with a chuckle. "Wow. The Digital World has some strange foods."

"You have no idea," Tommy laughed.

BurningGreymon and Kazemon landed into the forest. BurningGreymon put Dash and Tommy down before both he and Kazemon surrounded themselves with fractal codes, changing back to their human forms.

Takuya, now human again, looked around. It felt like just yesterday he and his friends had entered this very forest. "Wow… I feel like we just entered this forest yesterday, even though it's been four years already since we were last here."

"I know what you mean, it's almost like we never left," Zoe agreed as she looked around as well. "Though… it's kind of creepy being here at night…"

"Is it because of what happened?" Takuya asked Zoe quietly.

"Shh! Don't say anything," Zoe hissed, looking over at Tommy, who wasn't paying attention to them. "I don't want Tommy to remember what happened."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah… I don't want him feeling bad about it…"

Dash raised an eyebrow at the way the two were whispering, but he brushed it off for now.

"Hmm… seems the moons are too bright for the rips in reality to appear," Tommy remarked.

"Maybe we should have a small snack of meat apples, we might get lucky and see them again," Takuya suggested. "Besides, I am pretty hungry."

"We're here to investigate, Takuya, not to eat." Zoe frowned before her own stomach began growling.

Takuya laughed. "Remember our evolutions take a lot of energy?" He joked as Zoe blushed at her stomach giving away her hunger.

Zoe was blushing hotly. "Y-yeah… I guess…"

"Besides, I'd like to try some of these meat apples," Dash chuckled.

Takuya grinned. "They each taste like a different meat flavor." His eyes then went wide as he remembered a fact about Tucker. "Aw man! Tucker would go nuts if he found out about meat apples!"

"And Sam would like it because it's not from animals," Dash added.

Zoe looked at the two. "Who?"

Takuya looked back at Zoe. "Tucker and Sam are friends of my cousins."

Tommy remembered them, but he looked over at Takuya. "Oh, that's nice. They sound like they would be nice people."

Takuya laughed, not catching Tommy's expression. "Yeah, they are. But Sam is a bit pushy, and Tucker is like a nerd who is super obsessed with anything technological in nature."

"Sounds like he would love it here," Zoe chuckled.

"So where do we find these meat apples?" Dash questioned.

"There's a big tree on top of a hill that grows them," Tommy answered. "Zoe, do you remember where that tree is?"

Zoe nodded. "I do. In fact, I saw it as we came in." She then smiled. "I'll race you there!"

Zoe laughed as she ran ahead.

"H-hey! No fair! You got a head start!" Tommy yelled as he ran after her.

"I guess that means we're in charge of the firewood," Takuya said to Dash. "Meat apples don't taste very good if you eat them raw."

Dash blinked before chuckling. "I see. Despite the fruity name, it's like a real meat that has to be cooked."

"Yeah. Think of them as real meat in the shape of apples… and that they grow on trees," Takuya remarked before he and Dash began to gather up some firewood.

Tommy and Zoe ran up the hill, seeing the big tree that grew the meat apples. Both of them panted when they reached the tree.

"Let's… call that… a draw…" Tommy panted.

Zoe laughed a bit. "Yeah… I think… we should…" She then looked up at the tree. Sure enough, there were meat apples on the branches. "I'm starving. Let's get some apples and get back to the boys."

"Yeah," Tommy agreed. "Heh, doesn't this feel familiar?"

Zoe laughed as she agreed, and the two of them started picking apples. Then Tommy heard something moving in the bushes. The boy stopped and looked over. _What the…? Wait… didn't something like this happen last time?_

Tommy brushed it aside, figuring it was a one time thing, only for an apple to bop him on the head. "Hey!"

"Oops! Sorry, Tommy!" Zoe exclaimed from up on the branch she was sitting on. "I dropped one on accident!"

"It's a good thing I'm wearing a hat," Tommy pouted.

Zoe gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry…" She then hopped down, holding a good amount of meat apples. "So, do you think this is enough for us?"

"Yeah, I think so. Ah, we really need to bring a basket with us," Tommy chuckled as he carried a lot of meat apples too.

Zoe smiled. "Then let's get back. I'm sure the others have a fire going by now." She began to walk back down the hill, Tommy right behind her.

When the two got back, they saw that Takuya and Dash already had a campfire going.

"Heh, looks like you've gotten used to making campfires," Dash chuckled.

"Yeah, we had to camp out a lot," Takuya agreed.

Zoe walked up with Tommy. "Hey, boys! We got the meat apples!"

"Awesome! I was getting hungry," Dash drooled.

"But didn't you eat before?" Tommy asked.

"Spirit Evolving takes a lot of energy." Dash replied. "And I had to fight that Drimogemon before I got to the castle, so that took a lot of my energy." Dash then blinked. "Wait… How did you know I ate before I met up with you guys? Calumon was the one with me when that happened."

Tommy stiffened as he started to sweatdrop. Zoe and Takuya blinked.

"Ah, well Calumon actually told me how he met with the new Warrior of Wood when he came to get me, so… that's how I knew about it," Tommy quickly explained before he laughed nervously.

Dash blinked. "I… guess that makes sense…" _I don't know how true that explanation is though… It's like the kid is hiding something..._

"Well, we got the meat apples and the fire going. Let's start cooking." Takuya smiled.

Dash helped them put sticks through the meat apple and placed them by the fire to cook them. Then they waited as they sat around the campfire.

"This really feels just like old times." Zoe smiled.

"Yeah. All we're missing is JP, Koji, Koichi, Bokomon, and Neemon." Takuya joked.

"Well, Koichi wasn't with us at the time, but it would be nice if he was here too," Tommy chuckled.

Takuya smiled. "Yeah, it would be." He then looked up at the starry sky above. "It's hard to believe things are so peaceful right now here in this forest, what with what is going on and all."

"This is probably not the best spot for an investigation. Nobody seems to live out here," Dash noted. "But it is a good spot for relaxing. If Fenton was here, he would be in awe at the stars, not to mention the three moons. He's a bit of an astronaut nut."

Takuya laughed. "Yeah. My cousin Danny _is_ a bit of a space nut." He explained to his friends.

"That's not a bad dream to have though." Zoe smiled warmly. "I hope he makes it into space one day."

Takuya smiled as he looked down. "Yeah… I hope he does too…" But his smile was more wistful than it was happy. _I don't know how Danny will get into space as a half-ghost though, what with his grades as low as they are and all..._

Tommy was having similar thoughts about Danny. _He's half ghost, isn't he? I wonder how that would affect his life…_

"I think the meat apples are cooked," Takuya noted. "Don't want to burn them."

Takuya reached out and took two meat apples before handing one to Dash. "Here. Try it."

Dash took the stick holding the meat apple while Zoe and Tommy were taking their own meat apples. Dash took a small bite. "Wow! It tastes like ham!"

Takuya smiled as he bit into his meat apple. "I'm eating roast beef!"

Tommy began to munch on his. "Mine is a hot dog!"

Zoe smiled in delight as she ate her apple. "I got sausage!"

"Wow, they really do taste like different types of meat," Dash marveled. "Foley is going to be so jealous!"

Then the clouds began to cover up the moon, making the forest darker. Light began to appear on the tree trunks around them. Dash gasped in surprise as images showed up on the tree trunks.

Takuya looked around, seeing the TV Forest was indeed now living up to its name. "Hey… The trees are showing the real world now!"

"Wow! I see Amity Park in one!" Dash smiled, looking excited.

"There's my hometown," Zoe pointed out.

"I see my cousin's house, looks like they're sleeping right now," Takuya noted, seeing Fenton Works.

Tommy was looking at one tree in particular, there was a teen who looked to be a bit older than Takuya on it.

Takuya looked back. "Tommy?"

"Ah, that's my older brother, Yutaka Himi," Tommy explained. "I didn't expect to see him in one of the tree trunks."

Takuya blinked. "Wow…" He then put a hand on Tommy's shoulder once he walked over to the younger boy. "He looks a bit like you."

"Heh… well we _are_ brothers," Tommy chuckled sheepishly. "He's been kinda acting weird lately though. Or maybe it's just me, nobody else seemed to notice."

"Huh? How has he been acting weird?" Takuya asked as Dash and Zoe came over as well.

"He keeps looking at me like I might disappear at any moment, or he would suddenly show up at my school, or at the park where I'm playing. I don't know, it just feels like he's been a bit too protective lately. It's not like him though, before I came to the Digital World, he was always telling me to not act like such a spoiled little kid," Tommy sighed.

"Maybe he's just concerned about you." Takuya said, trying to reassure Tommy. "I mean, that's what big brothers do."

"I guess… though I never told him what happened in the Digital World, so I don't know why he became so protective…" Tommy sighed. _It also makes it harder for me to get back into the Digital World when he decides to breathe down my neck..._

Takuya frowned. "Yeah… I can understand why. I never told my own brother Shinya about what happened here either."

"Maybe he subconsciously knows something happened to you, and he's worried about what it was," Dash offered. "I know someone who's like that with his own brother after something happened to him."

Takuya gave a wince at that. _Yeah… I did something similar, but with Jazz..._

"Cheer up, I'm sure things will work out," Zoe spoke up, hoping to cheer the boys up.

Takuya gave a smile at Zoe. "Yeah… It will, I'm certain of it."

Tommy nodded, though he wasn't so sure, he decided it wasn't the best time to worry about it right now.

After a while, the clouds parted from the sky, bringing the moons back. The TV images in the tree trunks all disappeared as well.

Takuya looked at Fenton Works one last time as the image faded. _Be safe, you guys..._

"It's getting awfully late… maybe we should turn in for the night and start the investigation in the morning?" Zoe suggested.

Takuya yawned at that point. "Yeah… That sounds like a good idea. We won't be able to see much in this darkness, even _with_ the three moons out."

"Aren't you worried that our folks will be worried about us if they don't see us in the morning?" Dash asked Takuya.

"I'm sure Andy will come up with an excuse. He… ah… caught me before I could come here, so I had to explain to him why I was coming." Takuya admitted sheepishly. "I told him about you too."

Dash sighed. "Andy's probably going to make us owe him one for this."

Takuya gave a cringe. "Yeah. He can get scary when he needs something done…"

Zoe and Tommy both couldn't help but laugh, Tommy more so since he actually met with the boy already.

"We shouldn't all fall asleep though. In case there is something dangerous in the forest, we should have someone keep watch," Zoe suggested.

"We could do it in shifts." Takuya offered. "One of us takes first watch, then someone second and so on."

"I could take the first watch," Tommy volunteered.

"Actually, maybe I should," Takuya said. "You're still young, Tommy, it's not good for you to stay up too late."

Tommy sighed. _You have no idea how late I stay up. Besides, weren't you about my age right now when you had to take the first watch?_ "Fine."

Takuya smiled. "Thanks. Don't worry, you will get the next watch."

Zoe looked at Dash. "I guess that means one of us will get the third and fourth watches."

Takuya used a bit of his Spirit power to put out the campfire, leaving the moonlight as their light.

As everyone was settling down, Tommy heard a noise in the trees. He looked up. _What was that? … Okay, I don't think we're quite alone here… but I can't be too sure._

Tommy looked over at Zoe, who finished setting up her makeshift bed out of leaves, and laid down. Then he looked at the firewood that was still smoking a bit. Tommy suddenly had the memory of grabbing one of those sticks for some reason.

_Did I actually grab one of those sticks before? … Did I hit anyone with it?_ Tommy frowned. _No… I think I would've noticed if someone had a burn mark on them._

Takuya moved around off to the side, settling down on a rock to watch over his friends as Dash joined Zoe on a similar makeshift bed of leaves, but his was next to her leaf bed.

Tommy frowned, knowing he had to check out the area to make sure there wasn't someone else here. He didn't want to worry the others if it was just nothing. The boy put some rocks under his makeshift bed of leaves, hoping the darkness would be enough to keep Takuya fooled into thinking he was sleeping. Tommy quietly snuck off into the bushes.

Tommy couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu, as well as danger. Something had his Spirits agitated, warning him if he stayed where he was, he would be in danger. Tommy held out his D-Tector, an upside-down red triangle appeared on the screen. Fractal code surrounded his hand and he swiped the D-Tector over it. But he didn't call out an evolution cry this time. _"Execute!"_ His form shrank down as his hair disappeared, and his arms and legs shrank as well, while his ears became larger and moved to the upper part of his head. The coding faded, revealing Calumon again.

Now as Calumon, he could move around freely, as well as fly. Calumon jumped up into the trees and began to look around carefully. He knew something was out here, but it was trying to be sneaky. If he had alerted anyone, it would've run away or attacked one of them quickly. _Where are you?_

Calumon stayed close to the camp, knowing whatever was sneaking around was likely to attack one of his friends while they were unaware.

Dash was still awake with Takuya. "So what do you see Tommy as? I notice that you seem to treat him as a little brother than just a friend."

Taukya smiled a bit. "Yeah… I kinda do treat him as a little brother. He was about the age of my own brother when we first came here. He was so scared when I first saw him, so I felt it was my job to look after him." He then looked down. "I guess I never stopped seeing him as a little brother."

"I don't think that's a bad thing. Tommy seems to look up to you too," Dash remarked.

Takuya smiled at Dash. "He does, huh? That's good to hear. I was kinda worried I was acting _too much_ like a big brother."

"Nah… you do that enough with your cousins," Dash laughed.

Takuya gave a fake pout. "I do not!"

Calumon put a claw over his mouth to try to keep from laughing. Then he heard movement, snapping his attention. _I heard it again. Where is it?_

Calumon slowly flew under the trees to avoid rustling the leaves. His eyes scanned around, knowing it was nearby. Calumon stopped and landed on a stone. He looked over at Zoe, worried that the thing might try to attack her since she was the only one asleep right now.

However, it was _not_ Zoe who was the target. The shadow came up from behind _Calumon_ instead. Calumon suddenly felt danger. _"Nightmare Syndrome!"_

Reacting quickly, Calumon laid flat on his stomach, having a dark purple and black energy thing go just over his head. _That was _too_ close!_

Calumon turned around, seeing the silhouette of a Digimon. "How did you dodge that?"

Calumon's eyes widened, seeing the Digimon was a Tapirmon. "What are you doing? You could've hit me with that just now!"

Tapirmon frowned. "How did you dodge it? I was sure you weren't aware of me."

"It's a little skill I picked up. I've learned having a fast reaction time is good to have for sneaky Digimon like you," Calumon replied. "Now what are you doing? You're obviously not a fighter."

"What I am doing is none of your business." Tapirmon countered with a sneer.

"It _is_ my business since you nearly hit me with your attack!" Calumon snapped. _Could this Tapirmon also have that weird illness Sorcermon was talking about?_

"I'm not finished yet. Don't expect to be able to dodge the next one," Tapirmon remarked as he started to float back.

"Oh no you don't!" Calumon jumped at Tapirmon, headbutting him in the stomach.

The two Digimon went rolling around, both trying to punch or scratch the other, while also trying to pin down the other.

Off in the distance, Takuya and Dash perked up at the sounds. "Huh? Do you hear that?" Dash asked.

"I definitely did." Takuya frowned.

Unlike last time, the sound wasn't subtle, it sounded like a scuffle actually. Takuya got up and started running to where he heard the scuffling. Zoe woke up too.

"Hey… what's all the noise?" Zoe rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Takuya looked back at Zoe. "Something's wrong. We need to move."

Zoe frowned before she got out of her bed. "We better wake Tommy before-"

Suddenly, the two Digimon came rolling out of the bushes. Takuya could see a white Digimon, and a darker brown Digimon rolling on each other. Both were flailing around. The white Digimon scratch and bite at the darker Digimon, while the darker Digimon was trying to punch or headbutt the white Digimon.

Takuya didn't want to stand back, but Sorcermon's words about only evolving in self-defense came back to him. Realizing he was a bit crazy, Takuya ran and jumped, grabbing the small white Digimon from the darker brown Digimon. "Gotcha!"

Takuya lifted the white Digimon to his face so he could see it better. To his shock, it was Calumon.

"No! You're going to let him get away! We'll all be in danger!" Calumon frantically said.

Takuya looked back at the Digimon he had saved Calumon from. He could see it barely, but it was visible nonetheless. "Huh? A Tapirmon?!" He then remembered the one time Tommy had been influenced by Tapirmon's Nightmare Syndrome. "Oh… crap!"

The Tapirmon flew back into the trees before Takuya could do anything.

"What was that?" Dash asked, running up to them. "Calumon? What are you doing here?"

"That's not important right now!" Calumon frowned. "We have to move, that Tapirmon is trying to hit us with his Nightmare Syndrome!"

Takuya looked back at Dash. "It's a nasty attack that makes humans or Digimon dream terrible dreams and they lash out." He then gritted his teeth. "I would like to say we should Spirit Evolve but…"

"Tapirmon hides in the shadows. He doesn't fight us himself, he wants us to fight each other," Zoe paled, seeming to remember all too well what happened last time. "Takuya, we need to get Tommy and get out of here!"

"No wait!" Calumon spoke up as Takuya put him down and hurried to the bed Tommy was supposedly sleeping in.

However, when Takuya reached the makeshift bed, he only saw rocks.

"Tommy's gone!" Takuya exclaimed as he looked at the rocks.

"Oh no! Did that Tapirmon get him again!?" Zoe gasped in horror.

"What do you mean again?" Dash frowned.

Takuya looked back at Dash again. "Tapirmon hit Tommy with his Nightmare Syndrome once before." He then looked down at the rocks again. "If that Tapirmon got him… then…" He gripped his D-Tector tightly.

Calumon didn't like seeing Takuya worried like this. He then looked at the bushes before he hurried into it. With everyone worried about his human self, nobody paid any attention to him, which made it easy for him to slip away. Fractal code surrounded the little Digimon, quickly changing him back to Tommy.

"Hey, what was that light?" Dash asked.

"Was that Tommy?" Zoe asked. "Did he Spirit Evolve?"

Takuya looked over. "Tommy?!"

Takuya was about to run to where they saw the flash of light, but Zoe quickly grabbed his arm. "Wait! If Tommy was hit by that Nightmare Syndrome, he'll attack you!"

Takuya growled to himself. "Yeah, but…"

Suddenly, Tommy came running out of the bushes. "Hey! Sorry, I had to use the bathroom, what's all the ruckus?"

Takuya saw Tommy, and seeing he was still awake, sighed with relief. "Tommy… I was worried…"

Zoe almost collapsed in relief when she saw Tommy was still himself. "We were so worried, Tommy."

"What were you worried about? Are we under attack?" Tommy frowned.

"Yeah… A Tapirmon is attacking us." Takuya said grimly.

Tommy blinked.

"You don't remember much about Tapirmon, do you?" Zoe asked.

"Um…" Tommy hesitated, he didn't have the memory, but his Spirits did tell him about what happened. "No, not really."

_"__Nightmare Syndrome!"_

Tommy gasped before he tackled Takuya down, barely avoiding the dark purple and black energy.

"What the heck was that!?" Dash yelled.

Takuya looked up. "That, Dash… is a Nightmare Syndrome attack." He was _so_ tempted to Spirit Evolve, if not to defend himself, then to defend his friends.

"We need to leave, now," Tommy said.

"What if it follows us?" Dash asked.

"In the air. I doubt it'll come after us with no cover," Tommy pointed up.

Takuya looked up. "So we take flight?"

"Unless you have a better idea." Tommy frowned. "This is a risk, I know, we'll be easier targets while we take off."

Takuya frowned to himself. "Well, we have no better ideas. Flight it is."

"We better hurry before that Tapirmon decides to attack again," Zoe said, holding up her D-Tector.

Takuya did the same as Zoe. "Let's go."

Zoe held up her D-Tector. The magenta outline of her Spirit appeared visible on the screen of her D-Tector as she held it up. Fractal coding appeared on her left hand and she slammed the D-Tector against it as she brought the two together. Zoe then called out the familiar phrase she knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ Her body became data as her clothes ripped away. Coding surrounded her in a cocoon of sorts and the power of her first Spirit flowed into her. Her hair became longer, flowing past her waist and turning a purple color. Her body grew in height, increasing her strength and speed. A bikini-like outfit appeared on her body as gloves, and high boots formed on her arms and legs, with shoulder guards appearing as well as a visor that covered her eyes. Butterfly-like wings appeared on her back and she landed, letting out a cry as she unleashed a kick before she came to a stop and said her name. _"Kazemon!"_

Takuya invoked the power of his Beast Spirit. The red outline of his second Spirit roared and appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as he invoked a ball of fractal coding on his left hand. Takuya swiped the D-Tector over the coding and called out the phrase he knew by heart. "_Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ He felt the primal power of his Beast Spirit flowing into him as his clothes ripped away and his body became surrounded by the coding. Takuya cried out as the power flooded into his body. His body grew in strength and power as well as size, with red, yellow, black, and white armor forming on his body. A tail extended out from the base of his spine as two large orange wings appeared on his body. His head became like a dragon's almost, but not exactly, and the top of his head was white. His eyes turned sky blue, but had a feral edge to them as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"BurningGreymon!"_

Now as Kazemon and BurningGreymon, the two Legendary Warriors took off, BurningGreymon taking Dash and Tommy with him as they did so.

"Be on the lookout, that attack could come from anywhere," Tommy warned.

BurningGreymon couldn't help but notice that Tommy seemed different, it had been 4 years since their adventures in the Digital World, but they usually kept in touch. Tommy seemed to know more about the Digital World than even he did.

_Why does it seem like Tommy knows more than I do about the Digital World? Has something happened while I was in America? Or was it before then…?_ BurningGreymon wondered, confused now.

"Look out!" Dash called out frantically.

BurningGreymon snapped to attention quickly, seeing the ominous purple energy coming at them. BurningGreymon quickly moved out of the way, thankfully dodging it.

"That was a close one," BurningGreymon remarked.

Kazemon and BurningGreymon kept moving around, trying to avoid the Nightmare Syndrome as they flew higher.

"We should almost be out of range soon," Tommy noted.

"Oh good, I don't think I could stand another minute in that forest anyways," Kazemon said as she flew on ahead.

BurningGreymon frowned. "We should probably stick together." He said seriously.

"You worry too much, we're already pretty much home free," Kazemon chuckled.

Then suddenly, a dark energy came up from one of the trees in a completely different direction. It was so quick and sudden that nobody had time to react.

"Kazemon! Behind you!" Tommy yelled.

BurningGreymon saw that. "Get out of there!"

But it was too late, as the cloud enveloped the Warrior of Wind.

"Oh-no, she got hit!" Dash yelped.

"Zoe!" BurningGreymon and Tommy both shouted.

The dark clouds around Kazemon disappeared, but she had the same kind of dark aura around her body.

"W-what happened to her?" Dash asked worriedly.

BurningGreymon looked on with worry. "She's in a nightmare state. That happens when one gets hit by a Nightmare Syndrome attack…"

Kazemon groaned and grabbed her head, she suddenly let out a scream.

"W-we need to help her!" Dash yelled.

"How?" Tommy asked before he looked up at BurningGreymon. "Would knocking her out work?"

BurningGreymon felt torn. It showed in his eyes clearly. He didn't want to hurt her, but at the same time, he wanted to help her. "I… I don't know… I don't want to hurt her, but…"

Kazemon suddenly looked at BurningGreymon. Her eyes were covered, so it was hard to tell exactly, but BurningGreymon figured that she was really angry, and not in a caring way.

"You… how dare you… you burned my friends!" Kazemon snapped.

BurningGreymon gaped. "Wait!" He saw her getting ready to attack and flew up to avoid it.

_"__Hurricane Wave!"_ The pinkish colored wind attack came at him, but BurningGreymon dodged it by flying up and away from the attack.

Tommy and Dash hung on to BurningGreymon tightly to avoid falling. Neither of their Spirits could fly, it would be a long way down if they fell now.

"Zoe! Please stop! You're in a nightmare!" BurningGreymon shouted, hoping to get Zoe to snap out of it like he was able to with Tommy before.

Kazemon didn't listen though, which was surprising to BurningGreymon. _What's going on? Is the Nightmare Syndrome stronger somehow? Why isn't it working?_

"I won't forgive you, you monster!" Kazemon growled venomously.

BurningGreymon gulped at hearing her voice and how filled with malice it was. "Zoe, stop! I didn't do anything!"

Kazemon spun around with her feet. _"Tempest Twist!"_

BurningGreymon covered Tommy and Dash with his wings, protecting them from Kazemon's kick. Kazemon wasn't the most powerful when it came to physical attacks thankfully, but even so, her kick had more power behind it due to her intent to kill. She wasn't going easy on him, that was for sure.

"We're going to have to Spirit Evolve and knock her out!" Dash spoke up. "It doesn't look like she can be reasoned with."

BurningGreymon looked down at Dash. "Neither you or Tommy can fly in your evolutions. I'm the only one who can."

"I can never forgive you," Kazemon hissed.

_"__I can never forgive any of you!"_ Tommy shivered as he remembered saying that 4 years ago.

BurningGreymon paid no attention to Tommy's shivering, instead focusing on Kazemon before him. "Listen, I need to set you two down so this way she won't hurt you. I can't fight against her or focus on snapping her out of it _and_ keep you safe."

Kazemon's fingers then created thin tornadoes. She gritted her teeth. _"Hurricane Wave!"_

Kazemon caught BurningGreymon in a twister she made. Tommy hissed before he started climbing up on BurningGreymon's shoulder, going up to his head.

"I'm sorry…" Tommy apologized before he pulled out his own D-Tector. The light green digital form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector and he formed the familiar ring of fractal coding around his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "_Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. He lost his hair and his body became white as snow. His fingers became like paws almost and he gained a more cub-like appearance to his body. Green chest armor formed on his body and his feet gained green and red boots. A headband that had the image of a bear on it formed on his head, and he gained a shoulder pad on each side, but one was red while the other was grey in color. He slid down and landed as a mushy pile before he reformed and grinned, calling out his name. _"Kumamon!"_

"Kumamon?" BurningGreymon questioned. "What are you doing?"

"If you won't stop her, Takuya, then I will," Kumamon said before he took out his Launcher. _"Blizzard Blaster!"_

Kumamon fired snowballs rapidly from the Launcher at Kazemon. Kazemon yelped as her own tornado attack was interrupted by the sudden cold snowballs that were pelting her body.

_Now's my chance!_ Kumamon stopped his attack before he took a deep breath, expanding his body a bit. _"Crystal Breeze!"_

Kumamon blew out a mini blizzard from his mouth at Kazemon. Kazemon shivered from the cold, but her wings began to freeze up quickly, and she started falling.

"Catch her, BurningGreymon!" Kumamon yelled after he stopped his attack.

BurningGreymon didn't need any coaxing as he dove down as fast as he could, catching Kazemon in his arms. "Got her!"

"Wow, that was some quick thinking," Dash noted, looking up at Kumamon. _Heh, for a Legendary Warrior, his form is really cute. I mean he looks like a teddy bear._

"Kazemon is a fairy-like Digimon, their wings don't normally do so well in the cold unless they're ice elementals," Kumamon explained.

Kazemon appeared to be unconscious, her body was wrapped up by fractal code until she reverted back to Zoe, still seeming to be asleep. Zoe let out a small whimper, clearly showing she was still having a nightmare.

"What should we do? She still seems to be affected by the Nightmare Syndrome," BurningGreymon asked in concern.

"Let's get her back to Seraphimon's castle, maybe someone over there can help her," Kumamon suggested.

BurningGreymon nodded. "Good idea." He then turned and flew back towards the castle, not exactly happy with the way things had turned out.

The ride back to Serpahimon's castle was quiet. Kumamon had already reverted back to Tommy. Zoe was still asleep, tormented by her nightmares. Tommy and Dash were unable to wake her either.

_Could I wake her if I used my healing powers as Calumon?_ Tommy wondered to himself.

Thankfully, it wasn't long until BurningGreymon made it to Seraphimon's Castle. Sorcermon wasn't there to greet them this time, instead it was Kyuubimon.

"Welcome back, Warriors," Kyuubimon bowed her head. "How did your investigation go?"

BurningGreymon landed and gently put Zoe down.

"We ran into some trouble," BurningGreymon explained. "Zoe was hit by a Nightmare Syndrome, and we can't wake her."

Kyuubimon frowned as she studied Zoe, seeing that she was asleep, but also moaning a bit. She didn't look to be at peace either. "You say she was hit by a Nightmare Syndrome?"

"Yeah. We couldn't snap her out of it no matter how hard we tried." Dash frowned.

"What Digimon hit her with Nightmare Syndrome?" Kyuubimon asked.

"We… didn't exactly see it…" BurningGreymon admitted. "All we saw was the cloud coming from the trees. We did encounter a Tapirmon, so it may have been that Digimon, but I'm not sure…"

"A Tapirmon? Impossible, its Nightmare Syndrome shouldn't be anywhere near strong enough to keep someone like a Legendary Warrior locked in a nightmare." Kyuubimon frowned.

BurningGreymon frowned. "But I know it was a Nightmare Syndrome attack. What other Digimon could use that move?"

"There are a few known Digimon that are able to use that move," Kyuubimon answered. "Tapirmon is the most well known for it. The other Digimon able to use Nightmare Syndrome is Digitamamon, an Ultimate level Digimon."

Dash blinked as he looked at BurningGreymon. "Do you think that could be strong enough to take down a Legendary Warrior?"

BurningGreymon frowned. "I'm not sure. I never faced a Digitamamon before…"

"I've met with one before," Tommy said, tapping on something on his D-Tector. "Digitamamon is a Perfect Digimon. An ultimate Digimon which has the appearance of a "Digi-Egg", the beginning and end of all Digimon. It's Ultimate level, and a Data type."

BurningGreymon looked at Tommy. "You met a Digitamamon?" Confusion was apparent in his voice.

"Oh yeah… I uh… sometimes come into the Digital World, just… you know, check things out from time to time. I met with a Digitamamon who owns a pretty good restaurant," Tommy sheepishly grinned.

BurningGreymon was surprised, but didn't question it. "That explains it… I guess…" _Hold on… He has been coming to the Digital World since that day? I had no idea we could return until recently._

"We should get Zoe into the Medical Bay to try to get her out of the Nightmare Syndrome. If this goes on for too long, it could damage her psyche," Kyuubimon warned.

"I'll help carry her," Dash volunteered.

"Do you think Calu-..." BurningGreymon started to say before he remembered seeing said Digimon back at the TV Forest.

It was then he remembered. "Aw… shit! Calumon! He was back at the TV Forest!" BurningGreymon exclaimed. "He may still be there!"

"Wah? How did we forget about him!?" Dash yelped.

Tommy sweatdropped.

"Fear not, Calumon has ways to get around the Digital World," Kyuubimon reassured before she used a few of her tails to pick up Zoe and put her on her back. "For now, I will take Zoe back to the medical room."

BurningGreymon nodded. "Thanks. And… let us know when she wakes up… Please…"

"Of course. Would you like for me to send a messenger to your friends, who are in the Autumn Leaf Fair, about this?" Kyuubimon inquired.

BurningGreymon frowned as he looked down. "It would probably be best…" He admitted. "Just so they know something is going on."

"Alright. I will send a messenger to them," Kyuubimon remarked. "For now, perhaps you three should stay here for the night. It's already almost dawn."

BurningGreymon looked back and sure enough, he could see the three moons were lower in the sky. "Yeah… I guess we should. That would be best, given what we went through." Fractal code surrounded him as he reverted back to his human form.

"You are free to stay in the medical room with your friend if you prefer," Kyuubimon offered. "But we may need to create a barrier around her in case she tries to attack again."

Takuya nodded. "Sure. That would be great."

Kyuubimon began walking to the castle. Dash, Takuya, and Tommy following after her.

"Hey… Takuya?" Tommy spoke up as they were walking.

Takuya looked back at Tommy. "What's up, Tommy?"

"I'm sorry… about having to attack Zoe before," Tommy apologized. "But it was the only way I could see us taking her back here to heal."

Takuya sighed. "You did the right thing. _I_ was the one who hesitated when I shouldn't have."

Takuya remembered hesitating when Tommy was in the same situation. How he refused to even Spirit Evolve to hurt Tommy. They got lucky when discovering Tapirmon, but there was a real possibility that Tommy could have frozen them all that night.

"I knew someone who once told me that sometimes when having to fight a reluctant battle, you still have to fight to defend yourself. But that doesn't mean you have to fight to the death, there are ways to end the fight peacefully," Tommy stated.

Takuya looked back, surprised at Tommy's words of wisdom. "That's… quite mature of you to say."

Tommy blushed. "Heh… well I had a pretty good teacher. Come on, let's go make sure Zoe wakes up okay."

* * *

Andy grumbled as he dialed Dash's home phone number. "The sun's not even up yet and already I have to cover for Dash..."

A female voice answered the phone. _"Hello?"_

"Hello, Mrs. Baxter, this is Andy, one of Dash's friends," Andy said as calmly as he could over the phone.

_"__Oh, good. Do you know where Dash is? He hasn't been home for a while now."_ Mrs. Baxter explained, sounding a bit worried.

"Yeah, don't worry, he's staying over at a friend's house. He lost track of time though, and I figured you were worried, so I thought I should call you up and tell you," Andy smoothly stated.

_"__Oh, that's good news!"_ Mrs. Baxter sighed with relief. _"I was worried something had happened to him."_

"I'll see if I can talk to him about letting you know he's fine at school," Andy promised. "I should go now, I need to get ready for school."

Mrs. Baxter replied at once. _"Thank you, Andy. And tell him to come home soon."_

"I will be sure to do that, Mrs. Baxter," Andy said before hanging up and let out a sigh.

Footsteps echoed behind Andy. "Hey, who were you talking to just now, bro?"

Andy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice behind him, and spun around. "Danny!? I thought you were still asleep!"

"And I thought you'd still be asleep," Danny pointed out. "Dorimon is still in bed though. Why are you up at this hour, making phone calls?"

"That's none of your concerns, bro, go back to bed," Andy sighed. "We have about an hour before we have to get ready for school."

"I woke up because I heard your voice on the phone." Danny said. "And now that I am awake, I can't get back to bed."

Andy grumbled a little. "What do you plan to do then? Go out on early morning patrol?"

"Yeah. I was thinking of it." Danny admitted. "I sometimes do go on patrol in the morning if I can't get back to bed."

Andy looked at Danny for a moment. "... Have you been having trouble sleeping at night lately?"

"No." Danny said, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering…" Andy didn't look at Danny. _Just in case your ghost nature prefers being awake at night._

Danny looked at Andy for a moment, before shaking his head. "You could come with me if you want, bro. I'm sure Dorimon would like a morning flight."

"Nah, I'm going to get an extra hour of sleep in," Andy stretched his arms up. _I have a feeling I'm going to need it soon._

Danny nodded. "Okay, bro." He then grinned mischievously. "Just don't sleep in too late, or I may have to get Bearbert~"

"You do that, and Dorimon is kissing you all day," Andy hissed.

Danny rolled his eyes, but didn't tease Andy anymore about it. "Okay… no Bearbert…"

* * *

When the morning sun came, things weren't all that much better. One of the rare times the Fentons decided to eat together at the table just had to be this morning. Andy was trying not to look nervous while Maddie, Jack, Danny, and Jazz were eating breakfast, yet there was one member of the family who was currently missing.

_Don't mention it yet… see if someone brings it up first…_ Andy kept telling himself, trying not to drum his fingers on the table.

Dorimon frowned, sensing his partner's anxiety.

Jazz finally looked up, noticing one member was not there. "Hey… Where's Takuya? Did he sleep in or something?"

"Now that you mentioned it, Takuya has been quite late today. He's usually pretty punctual," Maddie noted.

Jack looked up from his pancakes. "Say, where is that boy anyway? Do you kids know?"

Danny frowned. "Why would we-"

"Takuya did say he needed to stay over at a friend's house. They were studying all night for a big test," Andy spoke up, interrupting his twin.

Danny blinked as he looked at his twin. "He was at a friend's house? Takuya never mentioned that to me."

"I'll explain later," Andy whispered to Danny. "Just help me out here, please?"

Danny blinked again, but nodded. "Sure, bro." Danny whispered back.

"Yeah, we'll be sure to tell Takuya to call you later," Danny spoke up.

Jack gave a nod. "You had better make sure he does. Takuya should be home next time, or at least let us know where he is next time."

"I'm sure Takuya has his reasons," Jazz stepped in. "Let's just finish up our breakfast. Danny, Andy, I'll be driving you to school today."

Andy sweatdropped, knowing Jazz wanted to drive them to school so she could interrogate him to what was really going on.

Danny looked at Andy, noticing his twin's nervous look. "Um… That's nice Jazz, but is it really necessary…?"

"Yes, Danny. Allow me to drive you two to school," Jazz gave Danny a fake smile, but Danny could see that spark in his sister's eyes. She was going to have them in her car one way or another.

"O-okay…" Danny gulped.

After breakfast, Jazz all but pushed the boys into her car. She had Lopmon on the passenger seat, while Andy, Dorimon, and Danny were in the backseat. As soon as Jazz had all the doors closed, and drove off, she began to speak. "So Andy, what's really going on? Where is Takuya?"

Andy frowned. "I'm sorry I haven't told you guys about it yet, but you were all asleep at the time. Takuya said he was needed at the Digital World… so that's where he is right now."

Danny's eyes lit up in realization, though Jazz was confused.

"Why is Takuya needed in the Digital World?" Jazz asked. "It's not like he has a Digimon partner… Or does he? I saw he had an odd D-Arc last time we were there…"

"I don't know why he's needed there," Andy honestly answered. "But Takuya… has something unique from us. He'll be able to handle himself just fine, I promise. The only problem is covering for him from Mom and Dad until he gets back."

Jazz blinked. "Okay, Andy. I'll trust you on this one."

"Thank you, Jazz," Andy sighed in relief.

"I may have a feeling…" Lopmon muttered.

"So what do we do now?" Dorimon asked. "Should we go to the Digital World too?"

"No… not unless Takuya calls us or something," Andy answered. "The Digimon seem to run on their own kind of politics there. We shouldn't interfere unless absolutely necessary."

Jazz frowned, but nodded. "Yeah… I can understand where you're coming from, Andy. I don't want to get the Digimon running the Digital World upset if we interfered with something we were not asked to help with."

"But we should at least know when we should go into the Digital World in case something does happen to Takuya and he wasn't able to call us," Danny pointed out.

"Yeah… I would say if we don't hear anything from Takuya by tonight, we'll go to the Digital World to look for him," Andy stated.

Jazz nodded. "Good idea. That will give him some time to contact us, and it gives us some wiggle room so we don't worry too much."

"And hopefully talk to Mom and Dad so we have proof he's alright," Danny added.

"I wonder what's going on in the Digital World though…" Dorimon frowned in concern.

"I hope that Sorcermon, Kyuubimon, and Mercurymon, if they were able to get him, would be able to handle it…" Lopmon said, a little worriedly.

Jazz gave her partner a smile. "I'm sure they can. It probably was just something simple."

"Maybe…" Lopmon gave Jazz a small smile, though inwardly he was still worried. _But they wouldn't call just for the Legendary Warriors for something small or simple..._

Andy just hoped that nobody would ask him about Dash, he was going to have a much harder time explaining him going missing. _This might be a very long day..._

* * *

Takuya didn't know when he had fallen asleep, but he knew he must have at some point, because he was waking up back in the medical room in Seraphimon's castle. He was surprised to see more Digimon were being brought in, all of them didn't appear to be injured, but they looked like they were being tormented. Takuya looked at Zoe, who he was sitting next to. Zoe was still asleep, groaning, tossing and turning. She had a magical barrier around her bed, as did the other sleeping Digimon that were brought in.

"Holy sweatsocks! I need to call my parents before they worry about me!" Dash suddenly yelped.

Takuya then snapped out of his sleepy state. "Ack! Aw man! I need to call my aunt and uncle too! They probably think a ghost kidnapped me or something!"

"We better make it quick," Dash gulped before pulling his D-Tector out from his pocket.

Takuya took out his D-Tector. He paused, frowning. "Wait… can we even call them with these?"

"Uh… maybe call one of the other people with these devices?" Dash suggested.

Takuya then remembered Andy. "Andy! He has a D-Arc! We can call him!"

Takuya pushed a button on his D-Tector, and a heart-shaped symbol appeared on the screen.

"Andy? Can you hear me? It's Takuya." Takuya said as he saw the symbol.

There wasn't a voice answer, but Takuya heard what sounded like a door slam. Then, all of a sudden… _"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU AND DASH BEEN!? IT'S ALREADY MORNING AND I'M AT SCHOOL!"_

Takuya and Dash each winced. "Hey, just calm down!" Takuya exclaimed. "Dash and I went to the Digital World because we were needed."

_"__Yes, I know that, Captain Obvious, but why have you been there all night!?"_ Andy snapped, still clearly ticked off.

"It wasn't like we intended to!" Takuya exclaimed. "We had an issue come up and we wound up staying the night."

Dash then spoke up. "It's not like we can just leave. I mean, Digimon are being affected by something, and are reportedly attacking each other for some reason unknown. Sorcermon called all active Legendary Warriors to the Digital World to help solve this crisis."

There was a sigh coming from the other line. _"Okay, I get it. But I can't keep covering for you two forever. If neither of you are back home by this evening, your parents, and my parents, are going to start worrying about you."_

Takuya sighed as well. "We will _try_ to be home by this evening, but given what we are dealing with, that may not be for a while…"

"Look, we'll figure something out, alright?" Dash spoke up, taking Takuya's D-Tector for a moment. "If nothing else, you could possibly use your D-Arc to have us talking to my parents and your parents, so they know we're at least alright."

_"__... Okay…"_ Andy finally relented. _"But if you two don't answer my D-Arc by then, we're going to go into the Digital World to find you."_

Takuya nodded. "That's a good compromise. Okay. We'll try to stay in contact. Just be careful yourself, Andy."

Takuya took back his D-Tector from Dash, and heard Andy mumbling something. "What was that, Andy?"

Andy didn't answer, but Takuya heard Dorimon's voice instead. _"Andy is mumbling about how the next training session may be a bit tougher than usual."_

Takuya paled. "Oh… Ah, crap… Andy can get a bit evil when he wants to…"

_"__Oh no, if you want evil, you haven't seen anything yet,"_ Andy replied. _"I'll, hopefully, see you and Dash again soon."_

With that, Andy hung up.

Takuya sighed. "I hope we get a lead on this problem soon. But we have none so far…"

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to think of something… Want something to drink? I can go get us some water," Dash offered. "I know you're really worried about Zoe. I'm worried too, but you two are definitely a lot closer."

Takuya blushed at Dash's comment. "Err… I… Yeah… We are… And… yeah, a drink would be good..."

Dash chuckled. "I'll be right back then."

Dash left Takuya alone with the still sleeping Zoe. It was then Takuya realized he didn't see Tommy anywhere.

Takuya frowned. "I wonder where Tommy is…" He stood up and stretched. "Maybe I can go look for him…"

Takuya needed the distraction from all this worrying anyways. He gave Zoe one last look, giving a promise he would find a way to break her out of the Nightmare Syndrome, before he walked out of the medical room. Takuya decided to walk around, and started calling for Tommy.

"Hey, Tommy? Are you here?" Takuya called, hoping for a response.

There was what sounded like a yawn. "What…?"

Takuya stopped, blinking when he saw Calumon groggily walking over to him.

"Wait… Calumon?" Takuya asked. "What are you doing here? How did you get out of the TV Forest? Are you okay?"

Calumon blinked for a moment, before seeming to realize something. "O-oh… uh… well, I just flew back here. I've been working pretty much all night long on Zoe since you brought her in here. Unfortunately, I'm not skilled enough to chase away nightmares yet. Trust me, I've been trying all night."

Takuya sighed. "I was hoping you could help, but I can't blame you for not being able to. It sounds like this is a strong Nightmare Syndrome attack."

"It's… unusual," Calumon admitted. "It doesn't feel like it's a Nightmare Syndrome from a Rookie Digimon. There's something else too. The other Digimon being brought here… they're all trapped by a Nightmare Syndrome as well."

Takuya frowned at that news. "Huh… So it's not just Zoe… Every Digimon affected is under the influence of Nightmare Syndrome…" He then perked up in realization. "That Drimogemon Dash brought here… Maybe she is also under the Nightmare Syndrome attack."

"When I asked Sorcermon to check her, yeah, we can confirm she is." Calumon nodded. "Koji… that is, the other group that I heard was sent to the Autumn Leaf Fair, sent a message back just before dawn. They're still investigating, but what they're hearing is… similar to what happened with Zoe. Digimon that are attacking each other, were knocked out by the Digimon's equivalent to the authorities. They were soon diagnosed with Nightmare Syndrome as well. And it's still spreading to other Digimon."

"And we have no leads on what is going on…" Takuya growled. "Aside from the fact that this Nightmare Syndrome is too strong to be a Rookie level attack. This couldn't possibly be from that one Tapirmon."

"You're right, it's not. We were just… well… unlucky that one Tapirmon was there at the time," Calumon sighed. "But until we have more information, we won't be able to wake up those poor Digimon who were hit by these powerful Nightmare Syndromes."

Takuya sighed. "But where can we look for more information? It's not easy to work on such little information." Then an idea hit him. "But maybe we can look in Seraphimon's library for information!"

"There is information on dream Digimon. It's said that the more they gather, the stronger they become," Calumon spoke up. "If they unite under a Digimon capable of using dream power, then their own dream powers could increase tenfold. Of course, this is something that was outlawed long ago, because when it happened before, it nearly caused the entire Digital World to be put to sleep and caused it to be trapped in a dream world."

Takuya blinked as he heard this information before he frowned. "Wow… That sounds bad. No wonder we Legendary Warriors were called upon to help with this crisis."

"Yeah, but… would that be enough?" Calumon asked. "Look at what happened to Zoe. It could happen to all of u- you. And if that were to happen…"

Calumon frowned, seeming to be a bit lost in memory for a moment, before turning to Takuya. "Wouldn't we have to worry about being attacked by the Legendary Warriors then?"

Takuya paled at hearing that. "Oh… Wow…" He ran a hand through his hair. "I… never thought of that…"

"I know you would do your best to resist the Nightmare Syndrome," Calumon remarked. "And maybe you were able to last time. But this Nightmare Syndrome is much stronger and more potent. Once you're hit, you may not be able to tell the difference between reality and dream. All you know is what's happening in your nightmare, and will react according to whatever the Nightmare Syndrome user wants you to react."

Takuya frowned at hearing that. "That… doesn't sound good…" He put a hand on the back of his neck. "Wow… just _what_ have we gotten ourselves into here?"

"For now, be aware of any Digimon that might be looking at you funny. Be especially careful around Tapirmon and maybe Digitamamon too," Calumon warned. "Perhaps, if it's at all possible, find a Tapirmon that's alone, knock it out, and bring it back here for study. If we can figure out what amplified its Nightmare Syndrome, we may be able to make a cure."

Takuya nodded. "Okay. That shouldn't be too hard." He then looked down. "At least, I hope it isn't…"

Calumon frowned a little before he flew up to Takuya's hand and patted it with his claws. "Hey… don't look so worried. You are supposed to be strong after all, like a big brother… um… that is to say, like a Legendary Warrior."

Takuya mentally frowned at what he heard from Calumon. _Why would he say 'like a big brother'? Just who is Calumon?_ However, he didn't show his thoughts on his face. Instead, Takuya smiled. "Yeah, you're right."

Calumon then gave a yawn. "I'm going to ask Sorcermon for some energizing pills…"

"Wait, before you go," Takuya spoke up. "You wouldn't happen to know where Tommy is, do you?"

"Uh…" Calumon hesitated. "He… um… went… somewhere, I guess?"

Takuya frowned. "Calumon… Where is he?"

"How should I know? I was busy with patients all night! I don't have time to keep track of where one little kid went!" Calumon snapped, then he frowned. "Sorry… I'm just a bit grumpy from the lack of sleep. I'm sure you'll see Tommy again in the medical room later."

Takuya frowned, but brushed it off. "Okay… I'll go back and check on Zoe then. You… take care of yourself, Calumon."

"Yeah… you too," Calumon replied, sighing before he walked off down the corridor.

Takuya sighed as he made his way back to the medical room, his hands behind his head. _What's with Calumon? Who is he? And why is he so familiar? Not to mention Tommy has been disappearing lately… What is going on?_

Takuya felt like he was missing an important piece of the puzzle, just like with Danny before.

Takuya went back to the medical room and sat down by Zoe's bed again. She still didn't show any signs of waking up.

He reached out towards the barrier and put a hand on it. Takuya wished he could find a way to wake Zoe up, as he hated seeing her like this. _Hang in there, Zoe… We'll find a way to fix this..._

"Hey… I got you some water," Dash spoke up, holding out a cup of cold water to Takuya.

Takuya looked back with a smile. "Thanks, Dash." He said as he took the water and took a sip of it, cooling his dry throat. "That's just what I needed."

"Hey…" A familiar voice spoke up.

For a moment, Takuya thought it was Calumon again, but when he looked at who was speaking, he saw it was Tommy. Tommy looked pretty tired, and Takuya could see some bags under the kid's eyes. Takuya frowned, his big brother instincts kicking in.

"Tommy, are you okay?" Takuya asked in concern. "You look like you didn't sleep at all."

"Ah… well, I was too worried to sleep," Tommy answered. "I decided to go out for a walk… try to clear my head and all."

Takuya frowned a bit more, but he accepted that explanation for now. "Okay…" He then ran a hand through his hair. "Well, after what we went through, I guess I can't blame you for not being able to sleep…"

"I'm surprised any of us were able to sleep," Dash sighed.

"Oh, Tommy, perhaps you should go back home for a bit. You should get some sleep, and your folks might be worried about you, especially your brother," Takuya said to the younger boy.

"No…" Tommy frowned. "I mean, no need. Sorcermon is taking care of that."

Dash and Takuya blinked. "Huh?"

"You… didn't know that Sorcermon could make fake versions of you in the real world?" Tommy inquired.

"No…" Takuya replied before an idea struck him. "Wait… If Sorcermon can do that…! I think I have an idea that will solve our problem of worrying our folks back home."

"Yeah! This will make things so much easier!" Dash smiled.

Takuya then looked at Tommy. "Do you think you could take us to Sorcermon? I want to explain the situation to him and what we need his copies for."

"Yeah, I was just talking to him," Tommy replied.

Takuya and Dash followed Tommy to another room in the castle. They saw Sorcermon in Seraphimon's room. Sorcermon looked like he had been meditating until he heard footsteps approaching him. "Ah… Takuya, Dash, and Tommy. What can I do for you three?"

Takuya walked up. "We heard you can create copies of us to send to the human world. Well, since we Warriors may be here a while, I was thinking maybe you could do the same for the rest of us so our parents back home, or in my case my aunt and uncle, don't get worried about us being missing."

"Ah, yes of course. I should've offered this to you two much sooner, I apologize," Sorcermon bowed his head. "I had forgotten that you didn't know that I could do that."

Takuya smiled. "That would be most helpful. I mean, my cousin Andy was in a mood when I called him to let him know where I was, so I think that the copies may be helpful."

"Yeesh… I'm worried what Andy plans to do with us later…" Dash shivered.

Sorcermon chuckled. "Don't worry, I will create copies of you two in your houses. Though I will need to see into your minds to know exactly where you live and how you usually are at home. I will warn you though, the copies aren't perfect. If someone gets too close to them, or if they start asking too many questions, they're likely to be found out."

Takuya blinked before giving a shrug. "Well, it's better than nothing I suppose."

"Yeah, my parents won't care, as long as I'm home," Dash replied.

"Very well then," Sorcermon said. "I will need a minute to scan both of you then."

Takuya and Dash both stood still so Sorcermon could do his scans of them. Sorcermon waved his staff at them, creating some sort of magical light that scanned Takuya and Dash's bodies. Takuya could feel the scan was also going through his mind.

"Here we go," Sorcermon's wand glowed before Takuya and Dash were suddenly staring at themselves.

"Whoa! It's like a clone of me!" Dash exclaimed as he looked at his copy.

Takuya looked his copy over. "Wow. It's almost like looking in a mirror, only without the mirror part."

"I dunno, I feel like I'm buffer than that," Dash remarked, studying the supposed clone.

"They're made out of magic and data, but they should be able to sustain themselves in the real world, as long as they're around technology," Sorcermon explained.

"Heh… No problem there, since we have all sorts of technological equipment back home." Takuya joked with a grin.

"Yeah, and I'm not short of technology myself either." Dash grinned.

"That's good. Now, before I send them to your homes, let's test their voices as well. Takuya 2, Dash 2, say something to your original counterparts," Sorcermon stated.

"I'm Takuya Kanbara. Nice to meet you." Takuya 2 said with a grin.

"I'm Dash Baxter. I play football, basketball, and all sorts of other sports," Dash 2 remarked, flexing a little.

"Wow, their voices sound spot on," Tommy complimented.

Takuya grinned. "Yeah. Now we don't have to worry our folks anymore!"

"My voice doesn't sound that high pitched, does it?" Dash frowned.

Takuya looked at Dash. "Um… maybe it does, maybe it doesn't?"

Dash pouted a bit.

"I'll be sending these to your houses now. What they do is up to them. I've created them to be as close to your personalities as possible. Let's hope that will be enough," Sorcermon stated.

"Yeah… Let's hope so too." Takuya said, but he had a feeling things would work out. _Or will they go downhill…?_

"Hey, no getting yourself flattened during practice. I can't look bad after all, or I would get demoted from captain," Dash said to his clone.

Takuya looked at his clone. "And don't do anything that would put my cousins in danger please."

"Of course, I won't let anything bad happen to them," Takuya 2 promised.

"I'll be sure to be the best you could be during practice," Dash 2 stated.

Sorcermon's staff glowed before a portal opened under Takuya 2 and Dash 2 and they fell through. "There we go. Is there anything else?"

"No. That's good." Takuya replied. "Now we can focus more on our mission without worrying our folks. Thanks!"

"I'm glad to be able to help," Sorcermon chuckled.

"Yeah, you've always been a great help," Tommy agreed.

Dash raised an eyebrow. "By the way, how did you already know all this, Tommy?"

"I made the offer to him before," Sorcermon spoke up.

Takuya looked at Sorcermon. "You did? That's… surprising, since we didn't know about this before."

"It's not that important," Tommy quickly said.

"But-" Takuya began to say before a Biyomon came flying in suddenly, carrying some kind of scroll or rolled up paper in its talons.

"Message from the Legendary Warrior of Light from Autumn Leaf Fair," Biyomon stated, giving the rolled up paper to Sorcermon.

Takuya raised an eyebrow as Sorcermon took the scroll and opened it. "Hmmm… It would appear Koji's group is requesting your help."

Takuya blinked. "Huh? They are?"

Dash frowned. "I wonder why they want us to meet up with them."

"Guess we better go and find out," Tommy remarked.

"But… What about Zoe?" Takuya asked in concern.

Dash put a hand on Takuya's shoulder. "She will be fine here. The Digimon here seem to know what they are doing. Besides, if we go now, we may find a cure to save her faster."

Takuya sighed. "Alright… We'll go."

"Don't worry, Takuya, I'm sure we'll be able to find a cure for her soon," Tommy said, hoping to reassure someone he saw as a big brother.

Takuya smiled. "Thanks, Tommy, Dash. Alright. Let's go to the Autumn Leaf Fair!"

* * *

"Brrr… it's so cold out here!" Dash shivered, wrapping his arms around himself as BurningGreymon was flying over a place covered in snow. "I should've worn a thicker jacket!"

"It's not that bad," Tommy, or rather, Kumamon said.

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Warrior of Ice! Try being in your human form and say that!" Dash snapped.

BurningGreymon chuckled. "Now, now, no need to argue." He teased. "We have a mission to complete, remember?"

"I know! I just wish it wasn't so cold out here!" Dash shivered. "Can't you use your fire or something to keep us warm?"

"You probably don't want him to do that. You'd be burned to a crisp," Kumamon sweatdropped.

Dash paled at that. "Oh… Right… Warrior of Flame…"

BurningGreymon chuckled again. "We're almost there, so just hang in there, okay?"

"Why is this place called Autumn Leaf Fair? If it's in the middle of a snowy mountain, why not call it Winter Snow Fair?" Dash asked.

"That's… a good question…" BurningGreymon sweatdropped. "They didn't explain why it was called that when we were last there…"

"I think it's because of the giant heater. It makes it warm enough for the snow to melt, but it's still cool enough for it to be considered Autumn," Kumamon guessed.

"Giant heater?" Dash questioned.

Kumamon smiled before pointing with one of his fingers. "See for yourself."

Dash looked ahead, indeed seeing a giant heater. "Wow… You weren't kidding. That thing is big!"

"And there's an entire town down there too," BurningGreymon chuckled as he started coming in for a landing.

Dash could see there was indeed a town around the heater. "Wow. This place looks bustling."

As soon as BurningGreymon landed, he put Dash and Kumamon down before fractal code surrounded him, and began to shrink him. Kumamon had fractal code surrounding him as well. The two of them soon reverted back to their human forms.

Takuya looked around. "Now where are the others? They said they were waiting for us."

"TAKUYA! OVER HERE!" Someone shouted.

Looking back, Takuya saw it was Koichi who had shouted his name. Koichi was waving at them.

"Hey, there's Koichi." Takuya smiled before he, Dash, and Tommy walked over to the Warrior of Darkness.

"Hey Koichi, good to see you again." Takuya grinned.

"Where are Koji and JP?" Tommy asked.

Koichi frowned a little. "They're waiting in the inn. Come on, we shouldn't talk out here."

Koichi gestured for them to follow. The three boys followed after Koichi.

Tommy couldn't help but notice strange and gloomy vibes coming from all over the place. The youngest member of the group looked around, noticing how many Digimon were looking warily at each other. Some even hurried into their doors and shut it, locking it with a CLICK. Some pulled curtains over their windows as well.

"Takuya…" Tommy frowned. "Have you noticed that the Digimon here look… scared?"

Takuya had indeed noticed that. "Yeah… It's odd…"

"What are they afraid of?" Dash questioned.

"It's been like this when we came too," Koichi explained. "They're scared because they don't know what's causing their friends and family to suddenly start turning on each other. They don't want to be next."

Takuya could understand that to an extent; given how he had reacted to his family being threatened by ghosts, he was now wary of being around them himself to an extent. "That's… probably harsh to experience…"

"Yeah… it isn't fun…" Koichi frowned.

Takuya then remembered that Koichi had, at one point, fought to kill Koji, his own twin brother, 4 years ago.

"But we did figure a few things out while we were here," Koichi continued. "But we shouldn't discuss it out here. You never know who could be listening in."

Takuya nodded, pursing his lips at the thought of being overheard. "Yeah… let's get to the inn then."

When the group reached the inn, Koichi led them inside. They were surprised to see a Datamon there.

"Welcome to the Subzero Inn!" Datamon greeted. "Ah, oh, I see you're back. So these must be your friends… oh?"

Datamon looked at Tommy. "Hey! It's you, the kid who got that high score in the game, isn't it?"

Tommy blinked, surprised for a moment. "Huh?"

"Don't you remember me? I was the Datamon who gave you your Beast Spirit after you won that game." Datamon smiled.

Tommy's eyes widened. "It's really you?"

Datamon chuckled. "It is. It has been quite a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has." Tommy smiled. "I didn't know you ran this inn."

"I don't normally. Frigimon was supposed to be running it, but… well, he fell victim to whatever's been going on, so I took his place for a while," Datamon explained. "Someone needed to keep this inn running for those who want to stay hidden from what's been going on."

Takuya frowned a bit. _It seems another Digimon fell victim to this crisis then…_ He then looked at Datamon. "Would you please show us where our other friends are? We have some stuff to talk to them about."

"Yes, of course." Datamon smiled. "If anyone can solve this problem, it's the Legendary Warriors."

Datamon led the group upstairs, showing them to a room that was further back in the hallway. "They're staying right here."

Takuya nodded. "Thanks." He and the others walked to the door and opened it. Inside the room were Koji and JP.

"Hey, glad you could make it," Koji greeted.

"Is it true!?" JP demanded as he ran up to Takuya. "Has Zoe really fallen victim to this Nightmare Syndrome that's been going around?"

Takuya sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. She has." He hated himself for not seeing the attack coming sooner. "I hate this… whatever is going on… And what's worse, we have no leads right now!"

"Calm down, both of you!" Koji spoke up. "Datamon, please leave us alone."

"Right, right, just come and get me if you need something," Datamon said as he walked out of the room.

Koichi closed the door behind them. Koji made sure all the windows were closed, and the curtains covered the windows.

Takuya and JP sat down on some chairs. Koji and Koichi sat down on the bed. Tommy and Dash sat down on the floor.

"Alright then… now that we're all here, there is something we need to tell you," Koji said in a serious tone. "From what we've gathered from the witnesses, there's an invasion happening."

Takuya gasped. "What?! An invasion?! What kind of invasion?!"

"Keep your voice down! We don't want others to hear us," Koichi whispered.

Takuya lowered his voice. "What kind of invasion are we talking about?" He whispered.

"An invasion of nightmares," Koichi said.

"Get this," JP spoke up. "It started out with one Digimon. They were friends with a Tapirmon, who they went to talk to before heading to work for the day. But they never came to work. Hours later, they were found to be in a trance of some kind, and they suddenly started attacking everyone. A few days later, more Digimon began to go into these trance-like states, then they suddenly started yelling nonsense about wanting revenge or hating someone before they started attacking them. Witnesses claim that if you look into their eyes, they seem to be glazed, like they're not all there, or are half asleep."

"That already tells us they've all been victims to these Nightmare Syndromes," Koji added. "But even after they've been knocked out, they're either stuck in their nightmares, unable to wake up. Or they get up, and start attacking again."

Takuya remembered how Zoe had acted upon being hit with the purple and black haze. "That happened with Zoe as well…"

"And we saw her get hit by a Nightmare Syndrome," Tommy added.

"Yes, but that doesn't answer the questions to why or who," Dash spoke up. "How do you know this is an invasion exactly and not some kind of nightmare illness?"

"Because these Nightmare Syndromes are being casted by many Tapirmon," Koichi stated. "There isn't just one or two, there's many, hundreds of them possibly. Hiding, biding their time before they strike their next victim. The fact that there's so many is probably why their Nightmare Syndrome is so powerful."

Takuya shivered. "Oh boy…" He then perked up. "Wait… I remember there was a Tapirmon in the TV Forest last night! It was there for some reason, but I don't know why."

"Tapirmon usually live in forest areas like the TV Forest. A few were probably waiting there for travelers or investigators, like us," Tommy guessed.

Dash looked around at his fellow Legendary Warriors. "We need to find out the who and why parts of this mystery, but where can we start for that? If there are as many Tapirmon as you say, we may be in for a rough fight."

"I'm not sure if this is something we_ can_ fight, not in a traditional sense anyways." Koji frowned. "Tapirmon are passive Digimon. They don't fight directly, they hide, they use dream powers to attack, they gather in groups or packs to make themselves stronger. Fighting them would only lead _us_ to being trapped in an endless nightmare."

"But what should we do? We can't just sit by and do nothing!" JP frowned.

"The way I see it, the best thing we can do is to find one Tapirmon alone, knock it out, and bring it with us to Seraphimon's castle," Tommy spoke up. "Some of the Digimon there could analyze its Nightmare Syndrome and develop a cure for it."

Takuya blinked as he heard that and frowned. _Wait… Calumon said the same thing when we were back at the castle. How is it that Tommy knows that as well? Is this a coincidence? No… It can't be… can it?_

"As much as I hate to admit it, Tommy's idea seems to be our best bet here," Koji sighed. "Until we have a cure for these Nightmare Syndromes, it would be suicide to go into battle with whoever is in charge of this invasion of nightmares."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah. I agree. But how are we going to find a lone Tapirmon and get it knocked out? They must be traveling in groups of three or four at the very least."

"What about that one in the TV Forest?" Dash asked. "There was only one Tapirmon there, wasn't there?"

"There may have appeared to only be one there, but there were likely more hidden," Tommy frowned. "When we were flying away from the TV Forest, one Nightmare Syndrome came out of nowhere and hit Zoe. That couldn't have come from the Tapirmon we were flying away from, it came from a completely different direction, which was why it caught us off guard."

Takuya had to admit, Tommy made some excellent tactical point. "Tommy's got a point. That Nightmare Syndrome _did_ come from another direction. But that makes things more confusing. How many Tapirmon were there? How many are often in hiding in certain areas? That is what we need to know."

"There's also one other question," Tommy spoke up, looking up at Takuya. "If there were more Tapirmon, why didn't they hit us with their Nightmare Syndrome when we were distracted with Zoe?"

Takuya blinked in confusion. "That _is_ odd… Maybe they were not expecting the Legendary Warriors and figured only one of us would be sufficient to attack?"

"They were likely playing with you," JP grumbled.

"Or were testing us… maybe to see what we could do…" Tommy frowned.

Takuya shivered at that last possibility. "I don't want to consider that as a possibility…"

"Regardless of the reason, we should count it as a blessing. If all of you were trapped in a nightmare, our numbers would be cut by more than half, and we might even have to fight with you," Koichi pointed out.

Takuya paled at that. "That wouldn't be good."

Dash frowned. "Yeah, that would be bad."

"Great, so we look for one Tapirmon alone and capture it," JP remarked. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"It might be more difficult than you would think. I doubt they would be alone without a good reason since their powers increase when they're together," Takuya pointed out.

JP frowned at that. "Oh yeah… That is a good point…"

Koichi snickered as Koji smirked at the response.

"I wish Andy was here, he might be able to think of a way to catch one of the Tapirmon." Dash frowned.

Tommy crossed his arms as he thought for a moment. "Well… if you want to catch a rat, you have to lure it out with some bait."

Takuya looked down as he thought as well. "But who would be the bait?"

At that, the room got silent. All of them would be an irresistible bait to the Tapirmon. After all, why wouldn't they want to have more Legendary Warriors under their control? Whoever would be bait would be put in danger of being trapped in a nightmare, and possibly turned against the group.

"It certainly can't be you or Koji," Koichi spoke up, looking at Takuya. "You two are our strongest warriors. If either of you two fall, we're not very likely to win this battle."

Takuya frowned. "Yeah, but…"

Koichi shook his head. "No, you and Koji are out for this. You two may be the only ones who could stop this crisis if the rest of us fall victim like Zoe did."

"So that would mean either Koichi, Tommy, Dash, or myself would be the potential bait," JP noted.

Dash frowned. He wanted to help his friends, and this world, but the thought of being thrown into unending nightmares terrified him more than ghosts ever did.

Koji looked at his twin brother. "Are you sure you want to be the bait, Koichi?" He was worried about his brother since his accident that also took him to the Digital World four years ago.

Koichi frowned. "Not really… I probably should, but… after what Cherubimon did, I worry about suddenly reverting back to Duskmon."

Koji sighed. "That… no, I rather we don't chance that."

"I'll volunteer to be bait," Tommy spoke up.

"No! Tommy, you can't! Takuya immediately shot the idea down.

"Why not? We need someone to be bait, Takuya. And… let's face it, I'm not exactly the strongest one here. If I fall, you could easily take me out," Tommy pointed out.

Takuya frowned. _Tommy does have a point… But… he… went through this before. I don't want him to go through it again… He can't… he's just a kid. He shouldn't have to go through this!_

"I'll be the bait," JP suddenly spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "Sorry, Tommy, but it would be better if you let the older kid handle this. Besides… it looked like Takuya was about to have an aneurysm."

"But JP…" Tommy frowned.

"I've made up my mind. It doesn't matter who's the bait, as long as it's not Takuya or Koji, right? Those Tapirmon will want to have another Legendary Warrior no matter who it is," JP stated.

Takuya sighed. "JP is right. They don't care who they get." He then looked at Tommy. "Besides, your Beast Spirit is quite strong, so we may need you."

Tommy sighed, but he decided not to argue. "Alright…"

Takuya was actually relieved. He didn't want JP to be used as bait, but he rather Tommy didn't have to go through those horrible nightmares again if he could help it. If Takuya could, he would've volunteered himself to be bait in a heartbeat.

"So what do we have to do to lure out one of the Tapirmon?" JP asked.

* * *

**Titanic X****: DarkFoxKit:** Glad to see you're excited, hope you enjoy this chapter too.

**ZAFT:** You will see more in the future~! :3

**GirlFish****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah. I always had this idea about Tommy being Calumon since I watched Digimon Tamers and Digimon Frontier. I'm happy to see it coming into fruition in this story. As for how it happened, that's a backstory that'll be told eventually, just not now. There will be hints about it though. Calumon is pretty powerful, though I am also basing him off of Digimon World Dawn/Dusk, where he is a powerful supporting and healing Digimon, not just used for Digivolutions.

**ZAFT:** The big bad will be revealed eventually, but for now, just enjoy the chapters. We will get to that in time. ^^'

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** You're pretty close actually, but let's see if you're right. A good mystery deserves a good guess.

**ZAFT:** You never know what we will do~! :3


	38. An Invasion of Nightmares

**DarkFoxKit: *Looks at the time, and shrugs. Goes to take a shower. Comes back, looks at her PMs, sees a message from ZAFT* **….. O.O ***Races to the docs*** Hey! I'm here! It's been… what, an hour? ^^'

**ZAFT:** Meh… life happens. :3 Glad you could get here though. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** I really need some kind of reminder on our update days, it's way too easy for me to forget, especially on my treatment weeks.

**ZAFT:** Well, not much longer for that~! :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, though it still feels like an eternity sometimes.

**Andy:** How much longer _do_ you have?

**DarkFoxKit:** If nothing causes the treatments to get postponed, I'd say about 2 weeks, this one and the next one.

**Takuya:** That's great! :D

**DarkFoxKit:** For now, keep praying that nothing goes wrong so this can be over as soon as possible. And we'll finally be back to writing more of this. We're just lucky we have so many chapters in reserve that it didn't affect the update schedule. Oh! There's one more thing I wanted to mention that has to do with our current arc in the story. It might seem a bit odd that we're suddenly focusing more on the Digital side of things, and this character named Tommy. I guess it kinda is, but it shows it is indeed a crossover and that Digimon are also important to the story. We won't do this often though, as we'll mostly be focusing on Danny Phantom's side of things, so enjoy this while you can.

**ZAFT:** When we do the Digimon side of things, it will be rare, but relevant to the story. That is all I can say without going into spoiler territory. Anyway, on with the chapter~! :3

* * *

_**(**Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley**)**_

**_Three worlds, connected side by side_**

_**(**A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that**)**_

**_Connections, with many secrets to hide_**

_**(**Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself**)**_

_**Is one always chosen by fate?**_

**_(_**_Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius_**_)_**

_**Or can one make their own destiny?**_

**_(_**_Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc_**_)_**

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen**)**_

_**The power is deep inside!**_

_**(**Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance**)**_

**_Digital Phantom!_**

_**(**The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod**)**_

_**Destiny is unbound!**_

_**(**The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Fight on, without regret**_

_**(**Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it**)**_

_**Two sides never rest**_

_**(**Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, with a shadowed form above it just as an evil version of the shadowed form appears beside Vlad, both transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both**)**_

_**Never regret or look back**_

_**(**Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon**)**_

_**Fight on, with victory**_

_**(**Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him**)**_

_**Nothing will stand in our way!**_

_**(**Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

* * *

**Chapter 38: An Invasion of Nightmares**

JP knew what he had to do as he stood in the middle of town.

The green outline of his first Spirit became visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he held it up. JP then held up his left hand as fractal coding formed around it, his D-Tector held in his other hand. Slamming the device against the ring of coding, he brought the two together. JP then called out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ Coding encircled him as his clothes ripped away and his body became data, the power of the Spirit flowing into him. Blue and yellow armor formed on his body as he grew in height and strength. On his back, wings formed before they were covered by two halves of a hard shell and on his head, a horn grew. His eyes became green as a faceplate covered his mouth and he felt the power of thunder flowing into his body. He landed, slamming his fists together as he cried out his name. _"Beetlemon!"_

Now that he was Beetlemon, JP stood in the center of the Autumn Leaf Fair. The Digimon around him quickly went inside their houses or left the area, not wanting to get caught up in what the Legendary Warrior was planning to do.

"Alright, one Legendary Warrior right here, in the open! You know, in case someone wants to fight, or maybe just chat or something," Beetlemon spoke up loudly, making sure everyone could hear him.

Out of sight, five humans laid in waiting to spring out when a Tapirmon showed up, if one even did.

Takuya and Tommy were together on one side of the area Beetlemon was in, while Koji and Koichi were hiding on another. Dash was hiding in a barrel that was near the middle of the area.

"You think a Tapirmon would show up?" Tommy whispered to Takuya as they were watching Beetlemon from their hiding places.

Takuya frowned. "It's possible, but I'm not sure. We'll just have to see if they come."

"Jeez, could he make it anymore obvious that he's waiting for a Tapirmon?" Koji grumbled to Koichi from their hiding spots.

"Well, we don't have any other ideas." Koichi pointed out, albeit with a sweatdrop running down the side of his head.

"He could still be more subtle about it…" Koji sighed.

Dash was sighing to himself. "Why do I have to hide in this barrel? It smells like week-old fish in here…"

Beetlemon put his hands on his hips, trying to figure out a way to draw a Tapirmon out. "Maybe you would like for me to show off a little bit of my power, right? I can totally do that!"

Takuya groaned. "Are these Tapirmon onto us or something? You think they would be tempted by another Legendary Warrior appearing by now…"

Beetlemon was showing electricity spark around his body, hoping to try to be as flashy as possible.

Dash looked through the peephole of the barrel, and he noticed something moving towards Beetlemon from the shadows. It was difficult to see, but there was definitely something there. Dash held up his D-Tector to contact the other 4 humans. "I think I see something moving towards Beetlemon. It's in his shadow."

Takuya's symbol of Flame showed up on the screen. _"Keep an eye on it and get ready to jump it if it gets close to him."_

_"__There's also something moving in the air getting closer to Beetlemon,"_ Koji's symbol of Light showed up on screen.

_"__There's more movement coming from the side of Beetlemon as well,"_ Koichi warned as his symbol of Darkness came up.

_"__Guys… I think our bait worked a little _too_ well… we didn't attract just one Tapirmon…"_ Tommy warned, his symbol of Ice coming on.

Dash felt like smacking his face with his hand. "Oh boy… This is gonna be a bit hard…"

Beetlemon finally stopped using his electrical surge and sighed. "Maybe I should just call it a day."

"What should we do?" Takuya frowned, looking at D-Tector. "We don't know how many there are!"

_"__Calm down. Okay, new plan, we'll cause a distraction. We'll try to keep the Tapirmon off of Beetlemon while you and Tommy try to knock one out and get it away from the others. Dash, you help us distract the Tapirmon,"_ Koji instructed.

Dash looked down at his D-Tector. "Okay. But how will we do that?"

_"__Just do something that will get their attention," _Koichi replied.

Dash wracked his brain for something, before something did indeed come to mind. _I'm going to hate myself for this…_

Just as the hidden Tapirmon were about to use their attack on the unsuspecting Beetlemon, Dash was suddenly in front of Beetlemon, wearing a hula skirt, a flower necklace, and a flower on his head.

"Oh-wow!" Dash began dancing, doing the hula.

Beetlemon, Tommy, and Takuya were all staring in shock and disbelief.

Koichi and Koji both blinked, the older twin trying to hide his snickering while the younger twin was contemplating smacking his head against the wall of the building they were hiding behind.

"Oh gosh…" Koji groaned.

"Well… it's working," Koichi said, trying not to laugh.

The movements had all stopped, and were now coming out of hiding as they were looking at Dash pretty much making a fool of himself. There were about 9 Tapirmon altogether.

Takuya saw how many Tapirmon there were. "Wow… That's a lot of Tapirmon…" He noted.

"Yeah…" Tommy agreed. "We should aim for the one closest to us when Koji and Koichi get in there."

Koichi looked at his twin. "I think we should Spirit Evolve. There are too many Tapirmon for Dash and Beetlemon to handle alone."

"Right. But we better watch ourselves, don't get in too close to them if you can help it," Koji warned, taking out his D-Tector.

Koichi smirked. "I was going to say the same to you, Koji." He took out his own D-Tector.

Koji held up his D-Tector, just as the white outline of his Beast Spirit roared and appeared on the screen. He held up his hand and a ball of fractal code appeared around his left hand. He then brought the D-Tector and the coding together, scanning the code with his D-Tector. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ As soon as he said that, coding surrounded Koji and he cried out as his body became more quadruped and lupine in form. White and gold armor formed on his body as he gained golden wings that were as sharp as blades, and his face became more like a wolf's. He landed, crying out his name as his blade-wings folded close to his body. _"KendoGarurumon!"_

Koichi then held up his own D-Tector as the purple outline of his own Beast Spirit roared and appeared on the screen. He held up his left hand and a ball of fractal code formed around it before he brought it to his D-Tector, running the code across the scanner. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ As soon as he cried that out, coding surrounded the older twin's form. Koichi cried out as his body became more quadruped like his twin's, only his body became more feline in appearance, with dark armor forming on his body. Emitters of some kind appeared on his armor as well before he landed, crying out his name. _"JagerLowemon!"_

The two quadruped beasts ran into the pack of 9 Tapirmon, allowing Dash to finally stop his hula dancing. This caused the Tapirmon to scatter around.

"Whoa! That's a lot of Tapirmon!" Beetlemon noted.

"Don't get hit by their Nightmare Syndrome!" KendoGarurumon warned.

"Be on the lookout for more that might be hiding too," JagerLowemon warned.

KendoGarurumon looked around. "This is going to be a bit difficult…"

The Tapirmon looked at them with greed in their eyes. They began to smirk at them.

"We thought we were getting one Legendary Warrior, but it looks like we're getting four for the price of one~" One Tapirmon said.

KendoGarurumon bared his teeth before his golden wing blades snapped open. "Let's see if you _can_ take us! _Howling Star!"_ As soon as he said that, the wheels on the back of his legs snapped down and he began to move at high speed towards the Tapirmon that was closest to Beetlemon's left.

The Tapirmon quickly shot out a dark cloud of energy at the incoming KendoGarurumon. _"Nightmare Syndrome!"_

Seeing this, KendoGarurumon swerved himself to the side, barely avoiding the Nightmare Syndrome, almost crashing into a building in the process.

Coming to a halt, KendoGarurumon looked back. "That was close…"

"What did I tell you about getting too close?" JagerLoweemon grumbled.

KendoGarurumon growled. "Looks like close range is out then…"

_"__Thunder Fist!"_ Beetlemon gathered electricity to his fists before slamming them down on the ground, creating the electricity to discharge at the Tapirmon.

6 Tapirmon were able to fly away to avoid the electricity, but 3 were hit by it. They let out a scream before they staggered back.

"Okay, Tommy's now's our chance!" Takuya spoke up, seeing that a few of the Tapirmon were weakened. "Let's get the one closest to us."

As soon as he said that, Takuya jumped out on the closest Tapirmon, with Tommy right behind him.

_"__Ebony Blast!"_ JagerLoweemon fired a black spirit at some of the Tapirmon, mostly to keep them away.

_"__Lupine Laser!"_ KendoGarurumon shot out a light beam from his mouth at something from behind, revealing even more Tapirmon was approaching them. "We need to hurry and get out of here, more are starting to show up!"

"Dash! Help us!" Takuya yelled as he and Tommy ran past Dash, who was taking off his hula costume.

"R-right!" Dash followed the two quickly to the nearest wounded Tapirmon.

The Tapirmon hissed at them, while it was injured, it was still conscious. It was about to fire a Nightmare Syndrome when Takuya reached out and shut its mouth with his hands. "Oh no you don't!"

Tommy jumped and grabbed the clouds that were the Tapirmon's legs, weighing it down. "Hurry, Dash, knock it out!"

Dash did just that with a punch to the face, but he felt the words were familiar. _How is it that Tommy's voice is similar to Calumon's? I remember Calumon saying something very similar to me when we encountered that Drimogemon..._

The Tapirmon was knocked out. Dash, being the strongest of the group human-wise, picked it up and lugged it over his shoulder.

Takuya finally looked at the group. "We have a Tapirmon! Let's move!"

"Good, let's get the heck out of here!" Beetlemon agreed.

"Get out? Where do you think you could run off to?" A sinister voice spoke up.

Looking back, the Legendary Warriors were shocked to see a Digimon none of them had seen before. It was black in the body with what were sheep horns on its head, and the body was covered in what looked like wool. The hands were similar to hooves, and it had tentacle-like appendages on the lower part of its body. It had a face that looked vaguely human-like, but with some sheep-like features as well, and the eyes were a purple color.

"W-what is that!?" Dash yelped.

The other Legendary Warriors took a few steps back, they all had a bad feeling.

"Hello there, Legendary Warriors. You may call me… Dreammon, yes, that seems appropriate," The Digimon stated. "I am… a manifestation of dreams and nightmares. I control dreams, I gain power from nightmares. I also like hearing people moan and suffer as they try desperately to fight back against their own inner fears."

The Tapirmon all flew up to Dreammon, acting like a hivemind.

KendoGarurumon growled lowly in the back of his throat. "So this must be the one behind this crisis…"

"Heh, these Tapirmon can't help but obey me. The second I came into this world, they lost all will of their own and belonged to me. They are Digimon made by dreams, just like me after all, we have a kinship that no other could possibly understand," Dreammon stated.

JagerLowemon hissed like a large cat. "This isn't good… We need to scram, like now!"

Dreammon smirked as the Legendary Warriors began running.

"You won't be able to escape me forever. For every individual that is hit with one of my Tapirmon's Nightmare Syndrome, there's a piece of me inside them. I will be everywhere, you will not be able to escape. And soon, this whole Digital World will be one big dream, and my paradise. And my creator will have to acknowledge my successes then." Dreammon grinned a wide smile.

Takuya heard that, but he didn't ponder it at the moment. They had to get to Seraphimon's castle before this thing had them hit by a Nightmare Syndrome as well.

KendoGarurumon, JagerLoweemon, and Beetlemon quickly began using their long range attacks at Dreammon and his Tapirmon army, hoping to slow them down while they made their escape.

Dreammon just laughed as he began to spread out his tentacles. "Spread out the Nightmare Syndrome, cover this entire area in a nightmare void!"

"C'mon! We have to get back to the castle!" Takuya yelled as they continued to run.

_"__Nightmare Syndrome!"_

All the Tapirmon began to combine and spread their dark cloud of nightmares, it began to cover the entire town. Nobody was safe from it, not even those inside their houses. The energy began to flow into the cracks of the doors, and through the window's glasses. The Digimon all began screaming as many were falling victim to the nightmares while others were desperately trying to get away.

"We're never going to make it at this rate!" Tommy yelled, seeing that the big cloud of Nightmare Syndrome was spreading faster than they were running.

"Yes we will!" Dash held out his D-Tector. Dash took out his D-Tector as the dark green Beast Spirit roared before appearing on the screen of the tan and brown device. He invoked the ball of fractal coding on his hand before swiping the D-Tector across the coding. "_EXECUTE! BEAST SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"_ Dash cried out as the coding surrounded his body. He could feel his skin becoming bark, with the leaves forming on his back. A tail sprouted from his spine as his body took on a quadruped form, and the leaves around his neck formed as well. Finally, the coding vanished as he landed, swishing his tail around before calling out his Beast Spirit name. _"PETALDRAMON!"_

"All of you grab hold of me!" Petaldramon quickly instructed.

The rest of the group did just that, with those who had Spirit Evolved earlier reverting back to their human forms. Koji, Koichi, and JP each grabbed onto Petaldramon as soon as they were human again. Takuya and Tommy did the same, while still holding onto the Tapirmon as well.

"Hold on tight! It's going to be a rough ride!" Petaldramon warned before he jumped and dived underground, much like a Drimogemon, but without the drill.

Petaldramon spread out his roots in the ground, digging away the dirt and rocks, moving as quickly as he could while also growing trees over the hole he made to try to block out the Nightmare Syndrome.

Unfortunately, one stray dark cloud managed to get through before Petaldramon could close up the hole completely, and was going after them.

"Crap! There's a cloud following us!" Takuya yelped.

"Nothing I can do except keep going!" Petaldramon said back.

The others looked back in worry, seeing the Nightmare Syndrome was getting closer and closer to them.

"Can't we blast it or something?" JP asked, seeing that it was likely going to catch them before Petaldramon could get them away from it.

Takuya looked back at the cloud still chasing them. "I think we can. Leave it to me." He held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. "_Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

Now evolved, Agunimon attacked the Nightmare Syndrome. _"Pyro Darts!"_ The small bits of flame flew at the cloud.

The Nightmare Syndrome, however, dodged his attacks like a slippery fast snake. It made itself thin, making it harder to hit as well.

"Is that thing sentient!?" Tommy yelped, seeing how it moved.

"So much for that plan…" Agunimon growled. "How did a Nightmare Syndrome become able to do that?!"

The Nightmare Syndrome suddenly disappeared.

"Eh? Where'd it go?" Koichi asked.

"Did it just cease to exist because it was too far from the owner?" Koji questioned as the group looked around on Petaldramon's back.

JP caught movement at the corner of his eye, and saw the Nightmare Syndrome to the left of Agunimon. "Takuya! Look out!"

JP jumped and pushed Agunimon away just as the Nightmare Syndrome went into JP's ear, quickly going into his mind.

Agunimon fell to Petaldramon's back, only to see the Nightmare Syndrome going into JP. "No! JP!"

"JP!" Koji, Koichi, and Tommy all shouted as well.

JP fell onto Petaldramon's back, who couldn't look back to see what was going on due to going through the tunnel. "What's happening back there!?"

JP grabbed his head and was tossing and turning. "No! No! Get out of my head!"

Agunimon moved to JP's side. "JP, you have to fight it!"

"No, this can't happen to you too!" Tommy cried, unable to hold back the tears.

JP was still struggling, but he was quickly losing the fight. Then suddenly, he stopped struggling. His body relaxed.

"JP?" Agunimon and Tommy asked.

"Get away from him!" The twins frantically said.

Koji grabbed Agunimon's arm and pulled him away while Koichi grabbed Tommy's arms and quickly pulled him away as well.

JP opened his eyes, they were glazed over. "You… were supposed to be my friends…"

"No…" Agunimon murmured, seeing how JP's eyes were now glazed over.

Everyone backed away as JP started to walk toward them. "We were supposed to have each other's backs… how could you turn your back on me when I needed you the most?"

"Petaldramon! Get us to the surface now!" Koji called out frantically.

"You got it!" Petaldramon said as he began to tunnel towards the surface.

"JP! Listen to us! We _are_ friends! You're just having a nightmare right now! Whatever it is you're seeing, it isn't real!" Agunimon shouted, desperately hoping to reach JP.

"Shut it, you! I can never trust you again!" JP snapped, hissing at Agunimon with venom.

Hearing that, Agunimon felt his heart clench. "No… It's not like that… You're only having a nightmare! It isn't real!"

"You can't reason with him right now, Takuya! We have to knock him out!" Koji stated.

Agunimon frowned before he sighed. "I'm sorry, JP…"

JP growled as he clenched his D-Tector. Before Agunimon could do anything, JP had Spirit Evolved into Beetlemon.

"Not half as sorry as you will be when I'm through with you, traitor!" Beetlemon snapped, lighting gathering in his fist.

Agunimon didn't give him the chance to attack though, as he rushed in as quickly as he could, a fist drawn back. "Not this time!"

As soon as Petaldramon reached the surface, there was an explosion of lightning and fire. Agunimon and Koji were thrown back to one side, while Beetlemon, Tommy, and Koichi were thrown back to the other. Petaldramon hissed as he fell head first into the snow.

Tommy and Koichi sat up quickly, and quickly scrambled back when they saw Beetlemon was still conscious.

"Beetlemon is a tank! It's going to take a lot to knock him out!" Koichi yelled, trying to get Tommy away from Beetlemon.

Agunimon hissed under his breath. "Damn… I forgot about how much he could take in terms of punishment…"

"You're all going down!" Beetlemon growled before fractal code surrounded him, making him bigger. Everyone paled when they saw what he was doing.

"Crap… He's going for his Beast Spirit!" Agunimon exclaimed.

_"__Slide Evolution! MetalKabuterimon!"_ MetalKabuterimon emerged, and quickly aimed his cannons at his friends. _"Bolo Thunder!"_

Balls of electricity fired from the cannons. Thinking fast, Agunimon grabbed Koji and leapt to the side to avoid the attack, which was coming his way. He landed and looked back. "If he wants to go at it Beast to Beast, I can give him that!"

Then Agunimon heard Tommy and Koichi screaming. MetalKabuterimon had aimed for them as well, and they weren't in their Digimon forms.

"TOMMY!" Agunimon screamed.

"KOICHI!" Koji shouted.

Petaldramon quickly got in front of the two humans, taking the attack himself head on.

Agunimon saw that and couldn't help but be worried for Dash. "DASH! NO!"

Petaldramon groaned, his chest, which had taken the hit, was burnt pretty badly. "Don't worry about me… just knock him out, please."

Petaldramon took some leaves from his neck and began to rub them against his chest.

Agunimon looked back at MetalKabuterimon, his eyes holding an icy glint. "Alright… That's it!" Fractal code surrounded him as he went to his Beast Spirit. _"Slide Evolution! BurningGreymon!"_ The code dispersed, revealing the Beast Warrior of Flame.

Now as his own Beast Spirit, BurningGreymon tapped into his own element. "Time to end this! _Crimson Fanger!"_ Fire enveloped him as he flew at MetalKabuterimon in a charging tackle.

_"__Gigantic Impact!"_ Using his tractor-like feet, he charged at BurningGreymon head on, both giant beasts tackling each other head to head.

BurningGreymon could see he was heating up MetalKabuterimon's armor quickly, however, that wasn't stopping MetalKabuterimon's head cannon from aiming at his face and powering up another move. _"Electron Cannon!"_

"Move, Takuya!" Tommy shouted fearfully for his big brotherly figure.

However, BurningGreymon was not letting up on the attack. He drew back a three-clawed fist and punched MetalKabuterimon in the face before beginning to push his cannon upwards. All the while, flames surrounded the two Digimon, BurningGreymon hoping that his own endurance and tolerance for high heat would win out in the end. MetalKabuterimon's attack ended up going up in the sky.

MetalKabuterimon finally decided enough was enough and used his tractor legs to move backwards, getting away from BurningGreymon and his flames.

"You won't… hurt me… anymore…" MetalKabuterimon panted, clearly tired and hurt.

BurningGreymon just stood there in the flames. "I'm sorry, JP, but I have to do this." He flared his wings before doing another charging tackle. _"Drag Fanger!"_ He was coated in flames again and charged.

_"__Electron Cannon!"_ MetalKabuterimon fired an electric beam from his head cannon at the incoming BurningGreymon.

Tommy tried to move in and to Spirit Evolve himself, but Koji and Koichi kept holding him back.

"What are you doing? We have to help him!" Tommy snapped at the twins.

"We know, but this is too dangerous, even for us." Koji said seriously. "The flames are too hot, even for you."

"They don't need to keep fighting like this!" Tommy cried out. "We can stop it! I can stop it! Please! They don't need to keep hurting each other like this!"

Tommy didn't mean to, but he lost control of his emotions and he started crying as he fell to his knees. Koichi bent down to hug and try to comfort the crying boy.

"I know it's hard, but… We can't help it. JP won't listen to reason, and he is fighting us. We need to act and take him out because he isn't making this easy." Koichi said gently. He then frowned a bit. "Do you have some kind of plan or something? Because you said we can stop it..."

Tommy tried to speak, but he couldn't get a word in due to crying.

BurningGreymon let out a shout of pain as the Electron Cannon hit him, but he was determined to keep going. Despite being hurt, BurningGreymon flew through the smoke of the explosion of the attack and slammed himself into MetalKabuterimon. MetalKabuterimon actually flipped onto his back on the snow. The cold snow that got on his very heated armor began to melt, though it also started rusting the armor.

MetalKabuterimon tried to get up, but BurningGreymon put a foot on his chest. The rusted part of MetalKabuterimon's armor began to crack.

"It's over, JP… please stop," BurningGreymon said softly.

"I won't… forget this…" MetalKabuterimon growled before he passed out.

Fractal code surrounded MetalKabuterimon before shrinking him down. BurningGreymon quickly lifted up his foot as JP returned to his human form, asleep.

Panting, fractal code surrounded BurningGreymon as he reverted back to his Human Spirit of Agunimon. Kneeling down, Agunimon picked up JP into his arms before standing back up. "I'm sorry, JP…"

"Glad to see you're still in one piece," Koji commented.

Petaldramon took the leaves off of his chest, revealing that most of the burns were healed now. Tommy managed to stop crying, though he didn't say anything as Koichi let him go.

"Great… Now another one of us is under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome…" Koji grumbled as Agunimon walked over to them with the sleeping JP.

"We didn't know that the Nightmare Syndrome would suddenly gain sentience." Koichi frowned. "It's one thing if it was just the Tapirmon firing their attacks at us, but if the attacks could home in on us themselves while also dodging our attacks, then this just became close to impossible."

"That Dreammon might've been what was controlling that Nightmare Syndrome," Koji pointed out. "There's no way a normal Nightmare Syndrome, no matter how powerful, would've been able to do that."

Agunimon frowned as he looked at Koji. "Yeah… And that Dreammon… He said something that has been bugging me…"

"He said a lot of things that bugged all of us, so you're going to have to be specific," Koji stated.

Agunimon sighed. "He said something about a creator… Does that mean Dreammon is not a normal Digimon, or did he just say it to throw us off?"

"That's a good question," Koichi noted. "But unfortunately we know about as much as you do."

"We should get out of here soon. I managed to get us away from the city, but it's only a matter of time before that Dreammon comes over here as well. Then we'll all be trapped like JP." Petaldramon frowned before he looked around, noticing something was missing. "Um… so… where's that Tapirmon we knocked out?"

Agunimon looked around, before groaning. "Aw c'mon… The thing escaped?! Now what do we do?!"

"So you mean to tell me that we lost JP for nothing!?" Petaldramon frowned.

"It must've woken up during the battle and flew away when we were all distracted…" Koichi frowned.

Agunimon frowned as he looked down. "I hate to admit it, but we may have…" He gritted his teeth in frustration. "Now what do we do?!"

"Let's just head back to Seraphimon's castle, we'll think of a new plan there," Petaldramon sighed.

Agunimon sighed, before noticing that Tommy had been pretty quiet. He looked down at Tommy. "Tommy? Are you okay?"

Tommy rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, sniffling a little bit. "Y-yeah… I'm… well, I'll be okay…"

Agunimon, for some reason, felt a bit guilty, seeing Tommy upset. "... Is… Is it because JP and I fought…?"

"You… you had to fight… there wasn't much you could've done…" Tommy said softly, not looking up.

Seeing this made the Warrior of Flame's heart clench in guilt and sympathy. "I… If it makes it any easier… I didn't want to fight either… But I was left with no choice…"

"I know…" Tommy sighed. "But… next time… don't take everything on your own if you don't need to."

Agunimon nodded. "I won't next time."

Koji looked up, seeing the sky was starting to fill with clouds, clouds of Tapirmon. "We better travel underground for now, I doubt flying is going to be safe at the moment."

"I'm ready to go when you guys are," Petaldramon stated.

"Then let's go back to the castle." Agunimon said as he made his way towards Petaldramon, still holding onto JP. "We need to find out what we can from what little we know."

Once everyone was on Petaldramon, Agunimon reverted back to being human again. Petaldramon then dug underground.

While Petaldramon was tunneling through the ground, everyone on his back sat in silence. Koji and Koichi appeared to be contemplating something. Takuya had his arms crossed as he was thinking as well before he noticed Tommy moving closer to the sleeping JP. JP had his teeth gritted and his eyes shut tight, groaning in his sleep. Tommy looked down at his D-Tector for a moment, seeming tempted to do something.

Takuya raised an eyebrow at seeing the look on Tommy's face. _What is Tommy thinking about doing?_

For a split second, Takuya thought he saw something red flashed on Tommy's D-Tector screen, which was odd since none of Tommy's Spirits had red on them, but it disappeared before Takuya could see what it was. Tommy closed his eyes for a moment before letting out a sigh, then he put his D-Tector into his pocket.

_That's odd… What was that I just saw?_ Takuya thought in confusion. _Or was I just imagining things?_

"Tommy?" Takuya spoke up, getting the young boy's attention. "What were you trying to do?"

Tommy frowned before shaking his head. "I don't know. I guess I was hoping to find a way to help JP… get him to wake up, get the Nightmare Syndrome out of him, snap him out of it, or do… _something_…"

Takuya sighed. "Don't worry… We'll find a way to do that… It's just going to take some time, that's all."

"I should've kept an eye on that Tapirmon… that was our key to a cure…" Tommy said softly.

Takuya sighed. "It's not your fault. No one knew that what occurred would happen."

"Lamenting it now won't do us any good anyways," Koichi spoke up. "All we can do is try again and hope we can get a Tapirmon back with us this time."

"Preferably_ not _losing another Legendary Warrior to the Nightmare Syndrome in the process," Koji added.

Takuya gave Koji a deadpan look. "Way to ruin the mood, Koji…"

"Some moods should be ruined, Takuya," Koji huffed.

Takuya sighed. "Okay, let's focus on the objective, which is to recapture Tapirmon now."

"It might be best to go back to the TV Forest and try again there. There might be more places for the Tapirmon to hide, but it also lets us hide as well. The Tapirmon don't seem to gather in large numbers around areas where not a lot of Digimon are living in anyways, so it'll give us an easier time to deal with the pack," Tommy suggested.

Koichi nodded. "Actually, that's a good idea. And we can use the forest to our advantage too."

Takuya looked back at Tommy. "Nice suggestion, buddy." He said with a grin.

Tommy blushed a little.

"We should go there at night, that'll probably be the best time to hunt down Tapirmon," Koji suggested. "Have them think we're just some travelers, completely unaware of them, while we wait for them to make a move."

Takuya nodded. "Yeah, that could work, except that Dreammon knows the Legendary Warriors are in the Digital World. Even if we tried that, it may not work. I don't know if Dreammon knows we are humans who can become Digimon, but I don't want to take the chance he knows that."

"So what do you suggest then? Burn down the forest until we find the Tapirmon?" Koji asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No…" Takuya said. "I was just pointing out the possibility of that."

"Even if they knew who we were, it doesn't really make too much of a difference," Koichi pointed out. "The Tapirmon won't show themselves to us until they decide to try to use their Nightmare Syndrome on us."

Koji frowned. "Yeah, that is true. But we _have_ to find a way to get a Tapirmon. That could be the key to overcoming the Nightmare Syndrome."

"Koji has the right idea," Tommy spoke up.

"He does?" Takuya questioned, surprised.

"The Tapirmon won't show themselves, and they will try to hit one of us with another Nightmare Syndrome anyways. Acting like we don't know they're there will give us a chance to catch them off guard. We could also have one or two of us hidden while the Tapirmon are focused on the others, then we strike before they strike," Tommy explained.

"So who will be the ones to hide?" Takuya asked.

"That depends on who wants to stay hidden all night long," Tommy remarked. "I can-"

"Perhaps I should do it. I am the Warrior of Darkness, I can hide myself pretty well in the shadows, it is my element after all," Koichi volunteered, interrupting Tommy.

Koji looked at his twin. "Actually, that makes sense. It would be best if at least Koichi does it."

"I agree, Koichi is probably our best choice." Takuya nodded.

Tommy sighed. "Maybe I could be Koichi's back-up?"

Takuya frowned. "Are you sure, Tommy? You look like you hadn't slept much, I'd rather you didn't have to be on the look-out all night."

"You do realize that the rest of us are bait, don't you, Takuya?" Tommy pointed out.

Takuya blinked. "Uh… Yeah, I think it would be best then if you joined Koichi as his back-up then." He then blinked again before chuckling a bit. "You know, you're similar to my cousin Andy in a way, with your planning and all."

"Andy, huh?" Tommy commented. _He's the one with the Dorumon, wasn't he?_ "That's a compliment, right?"

"Yeah, it is. Andy likes to think more than his brother Danny, who is more prone to just acting on impulse at times." Takuya explained.

"So you mean, Danny acts like you?" Koji smirked at Takuya.

Takuya blushed. "No! He… is more… Well… I guess he does in a way…"

While Takuya was blushing, and the Yin-Yang twins were laughing, JP was starting to get up again. His glazed eyes said he was still in a nightmare. Tommy looked at JP, before he held up his D-Tector, showing the upside down red triangle.

"Lay down and go back to sleep, JP…" Tommy whispered.

The D-Tector glowed slightly as the same red upside down triangle appeared on Tommy's forehead.

"Don't Spirit Evolve. Don't cause trouble. We are going to help you," Tommy said softly.

JP closed his eyes and laid back down again. Tommy sighed in relief as the triangle disappeared on both his forehead and his D-Tector.

* * *

It took the group a long time to get back to Seraphimon's castle. Going through underground took longer than flying or taking a Trailmon. It was evening by the time they got back. The sun was already going down in the horizon. Dash, who had reverted back to his human form, was exhausted. Koji and Koichi had the jock lean against them while they walked through the gate. Takuya was currently Agunimon, carrying the still sleeping JP over his shoulder while Tommy followed him.

"Oh-no, another Legendary Warrior had fallen to the Nightmare Syndrome." Kyuubimon frowned when she saw them carrying JP.

Agunimon sighed. "Yeah, he did… And it was to save me from that very fate no less."

"Let's get him to the medical room," Kyuubimon said. "We've moved Zoe to the private medical room, we'll be taking JP there as well."

Agunimon nodded and followed Kyuubimon to the medical room in question. "Have you made any progress on Zoe's condition yet?"

"We did find something out…" Kyuubimon frowned. "But I'm not sure if it's good. The Nightmare Syndrome seems to affect humans a little differently from Digimon."

Agunimon blinked. "How so?"

"There's an entity in the Nightmare Syndrome inside Zoe's mind that we don't see in the Digimon," Kyuubimon stated. "It's likely why she can't wake up. She's been fighting with this entity as well."

Agunimon then remembered how Dreammon said there would be a piece of him inside the Nightmare Syndrome.

Agunimon looked at Kyuubimon. "While we were at the Autumn Leaf Fair, we came across a Digimon we never heard of before. It calls itself Dreammon and he claims to be the one behind all of this. He mentioned a piece of him was inside each Nightmare Syndrome attack."

"I see… you'll have to give us the details when we meet up with Sorcermon in the private medical room," Kyuubimon remarked.

Everyone nodded before they followed Kyuubimon.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Amity Park in Fenton Works, Andy and Dorimon were staring at Takuya, or more specifically, Takuya 2. "So let me get this straight… you, and the Dash here, are just copies of the real Takuya and Dash? And you two were sent here to cover for them?"

"That's right." Takuya 2 explained. "It's only until they get back."

"Right…" Andy sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "This is so weird…"

"Yeah… I sense a bunch of data and magic coming from you. While Takuya had some data on him, I don't sense flesh and blood on you, it's weird. You're more Digimon than Takuya's Digimon forms are," Dorimon remarked.

"That's because I was made from Sorcermon's magic and the data of the Digital World." Takuya 2 replied.

"Do you think Danny will notice?" Andy asked.

Danny suddenly barged into Takuya's room. "Andy! I sense a Digimon! … Takuya?"

"I believe the answer to my question is 'yes'," Andy groaned.

Danny blinked as he eyed Takuya. "Okay, I know you can Spirit Evolve, but there's no way your Spirits would make me sense you as a Digimon when you're human, Takuya." He then blinked. "Or would they?"

"No, they wouldn't," Dorimon chuckled.

"Danny, meet Takuya 2, a copy Sorcermon made of Takuya to help cover for him while he's doing important Legendary Warrior business in the Digital World," Andy introduced.

Danny blinked as he looked at Andy. "Sorcermon did this? I had no idea he could do that."

"Neither did I," Andy muttered.

"But this does make things easier, doesn't it?" Dorimon said. "Now we don't have to keep covering for Takuya and Dash."

"Yeah, but I'm going to give them one more call just to be sure they're okay before we turn in for the night," Andy sighed.

Danny chuckled. "You do that, bro. I will make sure Takuya 2 here doesn't get into trouble."

Andy was about to make the call on his D-Arc when suddenly a blue mist came out of Danny's mouth, Dorimon began to quiver, and even Takuya 2 frowned as he looked up.

Danny looked around. "Oh no… Don't tell me ghosts are here…"

Andy looked out the window, and saw ghosts flying around the city. There were a lot of ghosts too, not just one or two.

"Uh… Danny… we might need more than one Fenton Thermos for this…" Andy paled.

Danny looked out the window as well and paled as well. "Oh crap… What a time for Takuya to be in the Digital World right now…"

"I've never seen so many ghosts attacking at once!" Dorimon frowned. "They couldn't have come from the portal downstairs, we would've noticed!"

"I'd help you guys… but I wasn't made to Spirit Evolve. I also don't have the Spirits," Takuya 2 sighed.

Danny frowned. "Oh, that's just great…" He then sighed. "Well, at least we can teach you to use some Fenton weapons, I guess…"

"I don't think we have time. There are too many ghosts out there. They could kill people if we don't take them out now!" Andy spoke up. "Dorimon!"

"Yeah!" Dorimon hopped off of Andy's head before digivolving into Dorumon.

"I'll get Jazz, you call up Tucker and Sam!" Andy quickly instructed.

Danny nodded. "Right!" He ran to get his cell phone.

* * *

Danny, in his ghost form, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Andy, and their Digimon partners, were all outside of Fenton Works. All of these ghosts looked like some kind of armor-wearing soldier ghosts. None of them had feet, they all had those ghostly tails.

"There are so many ghosts, even more than the last time!" Tucker frowned.

"Way more, how did they get here? I doubt they all could've come from the portal without any of you noticing," Sam questioned.

Danny looked at Sam. "Dorimon said the same thing."

"It doesn't matter how they got here. The fact is they're here and we need to stop them!" Lopmon spoke up.

"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Jazz agreed, taking out the Fenton Rod.

Terriermon frowned. "But how can we battle so many ghosts? Even we Digimon have limits to how long we can fight and how many foes we can handle."

"We'll just have to try. Conserve your energy, don't digivolve unless you absolutely have to," Andy instructed.

"Lopmon, can't you and Jazz become Cherubimon again?" Salamon asked.

"No…" Lopmon frowned, shaking his head. "I don't even know how we did it the first time."

Terriermon frowned. "Well, that's just great, and right when we could use it too."

Lopmon spun around, slapping Terriermon with his ears. "If I need that kind of input, I would let you know."

Terriermon grinned. "I love you too, Lopmon~"

Jazz and Tucker stared at the two rabbit Digimon.

"As a sibling! Sheesh, get your minds out of the gutter," Terriermon groaned.

"Can we please focus? Ugh… I'm going to need a bigger Thermos," Danny sighed.

Suddenly one of the soldier ghosts tackled the ghost boy into a wall.

"And a paramedic!" Tucker added.

"Come on, let's help him out!" Andy called out.

Everyone spread out to try to fight with the army of soldier ghosts with their Fenton Gadgets and their Digimon partners.

Danny groaned as he looked up, staring at the ghostly soldier. "Uh… Hi…?"

Jazz ran at the ghost soldier. "Stay away from him!" She had her Fenton Rod held back in what could only be described as like a batter's swing.

The rod clanged against the ghost's armor. The ghost growled as he looked at Jazz.

_"__Blazing Ice!"_ Lopmon shot out an ice ball at the ghost's face, which knocked him off of Danny. "Be careful, don't aim at their armor. It's ghostly armor, they're tough."

Jazz nodded. "Okay. I'll aim for the face or the tail then." She turned around and swung the Fenton Rod at the tail of another ghostly guard, pressing the button to charge up the electrical current that would zap a ghost at the same time.

Andy and Dorumon were fighting with the ghosts near the Nasty Burger. Tucker and Terriermon were duking it out around the arcade. And finally, Sam and Salamon were battling the ghosts in Central Park.

Danny flew up, hoping that his friends, sister, and brother will be able to handle themselves. Danny had to handle the ghosts in the sky since none of them could reach the ghosts up here unless Dorumon digivolved, but Andy didn't want him to digivolve to preserve as much energy as possible. Danny couldn't blame him, this was going to be a long, _long_ night.

The several ghost soldiers in the sky began to fly at Danny while Danny's fists glowed brightly with ecto energy. "Bring it on!"

* * *

Takuya frowned as he was trying to call Andy, but he wasn't getting any answer. He tried calling Jazz, Tucker, and Sam, but again, there was no response.

He, Koji, Dash, Koichi, and Tommy had already explained the situation to Sorcermon once they brought JP and Zoe into the private medical room. The private medical room was less crowded, and more comfortable for them to rest in. While they were resting, Takuya had been trying to call the others in the real world to see how things were doing, but he became worried when nobody was answering his calls.

"I can't get a hold of Andy, Tucker, Jazz, or Sam…" Takuya said after deciding to give up on getting an answer. He had been trying for a while, but none of them had answered.

"Everything okay?" Dash asked, frowning, holding his own D-Tector.

"No. No one is answering their D-Arcs." Takuya said with a frown as well. "It's like something is either distracting them, or something is cutting off the signal…"

"Great… something's going on in the real world, and something's going on here…" Dash sighed. "We just can't win."

"Tell me about it…" Takuya grumbled. "This just isn't our week, is it?"

Dash then looked at Tommy, who had dozed off and was leaning against Takuya. "Well… if it helps, Tommy looks adorable sleeping on you like that."

Takuya looked down and blushed a bit. "Uh… He does, huh?"

"I should've brought a camera with me." Dash laughed.

"We've all had a long day and night, I'm surprised Tommy stayed awake as long as he did," Koichi chuckled.

Koji smirked. "Well, it looks good on you, Takuya."

Takuya shot Koji a mock glare. "Well, why don't you come and try it then?"

"No thanks, I'd rather not sleep on you too, it would just be weird," Koji retorted.

Takuya looked away. "I can't win, can I?"

"Nope~" Koichi grinned.

Takuya sighed, but he didn't say anymore. He looked over at Zoe and JP, they were sleeping on separate beds, and were also in a magical barrier to keep them from attacking or wandering off if the Tapirmon or Dreammon decided to move them again.

"We should probably get some rest before we go looking for a Tapirmon in the TV Forest later." Takuya suggested.

"Yeah, we don't want to be too tired for that," Koichi agreed.

"I don't like it though. The more time we waste, the stronger Dreammon gets, and the longer we have to leave our friends in their nightmares." Koji frowned.

Dash looked at Koji. "If you want to be tired if we have to fight, then be my guest. I would rather not be tired for a battle if it comes to it. There's a reason why we were encouraged to rest rather than practice just before a big game."

Koji sighed. "I know, I know. I know it's necessary, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Dash grinned. "Well, then let's get our rest. We'll be needing it."

"Would you like for me to prepare beds for you?" Sorcermon offered.

"I don't need one, but be sure to make a bed for Tommy. Poor guy needs all the comfort he can get," Takuya replied, looking at the sleeping Tommy leaning on him.

Sorcermon smiled at the sight. "I can arrange for that then."

Takuya carefully picked up Tommy, carrying him bridle style, trying not to wake the boy. Sorcermon used some of his magic to make a soft looking white bed. "There, he should be comfortable on this bed."

Takuya set Tommy down gently and smiled. "Thanks. Tommy needs the rest most of all."

"Yeah…" Sorcermon sighed, seeming to agree. "He definitely does. The rest of you need to sleep too."

Takuya nodded before a yawn escaped him. "Yeah… Let's get some sleep, or at least, try to get as much as we can before we get woken up by something going down again…"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Dash agreed.

"We'll take the floor," Koji remarked. "I don't need comfort to sleep."

"Trying to be the tough guy again, Koji?" Koichi chuckled.

Koji tried to hide his slight blush. "I am not…"

Takuya decided to just sleep on the chair. He didn't feel like he deserved much comfort after what happened. Not only did he fight with JP, and lost the Tapirmon, but he also made Tommy upset. The chair was good enough for him as far as he was concerned.

As for Dash, he decided to sleep in a chair as well; in fact, he sacked out as soon as he sat down in his chair again, snoring softly.

* * *

Back at Amity Park, Danny, Andy, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz were basically the walking dead, or half dead in Danny's case, when they were at school the next morning. Their Digimon partners were currently asleep in their backpacks, to which the kids envied right now.

"I've never wanted to skip school before in my life… and I'm considering it right now…" Jazz groaned, her hair was a mess.

"Tell me about it…" Tucker moaned. "I barely slept a wink last night…"

"Ugh… I might be a night owl, but even I can't stay up _all_ night like we did last night…" Sam sighed as she yawned.

As for Danny, he was literally almost asleep as he walked, only jolting awake when Tucker nudged him each time.

"And we still didn't get all the ghosts…" Andy grumbled, trying not to nod off himself.

"Hey, you uh…" Dash 2 began when he walked up to them. "You don't look very good."

"Thanks for the news flash, Captain Obvious," Andy grumbled.

"Andy, no antagonizing the football captain," Tucker hissed. "I am not in the mood to be harassed today."

Danny was sensing something off with Dash, but he couldn't tell what it was. _Huh… What's going on? Why is Dash giving off the same energy as the copy of Takuya?_

"I just wanted to let you know that they called an assembly at school. They even brought the mayor of Amity Park to discuss the ghost invasion," Dash 2 informed.

Danny blinked as he seemed to regain his sense of wakefulness. "Huh? Why would they call in the mayor?"

"It makes sense they would," Jazz said, rubbing her eyes a little. "With the ghost invasion going on, people are scared. And they also want to make sure their children are safe."

"If they wanted to do that, why send us to school the next day?" Andy grumbled. "I'd rather be in bed right now."

"Same here…" Tucker yawned. "I may sleep during the assembly…"

"Come on, let's get some cola or something to wake ourselves up," Sam sighed. "We're going to want to hear what they plan to do about this ghost invasion."

Danny yawned a bit as well. "Might as well… I mean, what's the worst they could do? Bring in our parents?"

Andy and Jazz both slapped their brother upside the head, and glared at him.

"You just tempted fate, bro!" Andy growled.

"_Never_ tempt fate!" Jazz hissed.

Danny blinked. "What? It's not like it could actually happen, right?"

* * *

When the students all got to the assembly, the mayor just finished showing everyone the news of the ghost invasion last night, and how much damage they caused. Thankfully, nobody seemed to have caught any of the kids or their Digimon battling.

"Now, I know you kids are scared because ghosts are scary, scary things," The mayor said as he was on the stage, though nobody seemed to have a reaction to his comment.

Danny frowned. "Yeah, we know ghosts are scary, but there's no need for them to treat us like little kids…" He whispered to his brother, sister, and friends. "Besides, I think Digimon are a bit scarier…"

At that, Dorimon, Lopmon, Terriermon, and Salamon somehow heard his comment, popped their heads out of their partner's backpacks, and looked at him.

"You scare us more sometimes," Dorimon whispered.

Danny looked down at the four Digimon. "I wasn't speaking about you… I meant the eviler Digimon…"

"Guys, get back into the backpack, we don't want someone to see you and mistake you for ghosts or something," Jazz hissed.

All four Digimon ducked back into their respective backpacks.

"But I've come to your school, not because this is a great photo opportunity-" The mayor paused to smile for the cameras that, sort of, appeared out of nowhere to take pictures of him. "But because you kids are our future… voters!"

The mayor laughed as if he just told a good joke before more cameras took his picture.

Tucker frowned. "This guy seems to have a bit of a big ego…"

"Unlike you?" Sam snickered. "Mr. Modesty?"

Tucker shot Sam a mock glare. "Says you, Ms. 'I will change the menu to veggie options only'."

Danny cleared his throat. "Um… Guys, the assembly?"

Tucker and Sam turned their attention back to the mayor as he continued to speak.

"I'd like to know where those cameras came from," Andy muttered.

"And now, I'd like to hand this over to Principal Ishiyama, who will explain the new rules of the town," The mayor stated.

Danny blinked. "Okay…? This is new…"

Principal Ishiyama then addressed the student before her. "Due to the continuing and escalating ghost threat, here are the rules that the mayor's security team came up with. One, no students are to have contact with these spirits. Second, students will be escorted to and from school. And three, there is a nine o'clock curfew now in place."

"A curfew?" Sam growled.

"An escort?" Tucker frowned.

"Heh… no contact with these spirits they said…" Andy chuckled as if it was the most ridiculous thing ever. "Where was _that_ rule a few months ago?"

Danny frowned. "And who is the mayor's security team?"

Jazz paled as she realized something. "Oh no…"

Suddenly the entrance to the auditorium opened up, revealing two very familiar people wearing hazmat suits.

"Yes, Danny, they _can_ bring in our parents, and it _can_ happen," Andy grumbled.

Danny smacked his head against the seat in front of him. "Me and my big mouth…"

All four Digimon giggled from inside the backpacks.

"Fear not, young ones! We're here to make sure this school is prepared for any ghost emergency!" Jack shouted into his megaphone.

"You must be cautious!" Maddie spoke up into a megaphone as she walked down the corridor. "At any time one of these ectoplasmic malefactors-"

Maddie stopped when she noticed Danny, Andy, and Jazz. She gave a smile and spoke in her megaphone with no shame whatsoever. "Hi sweeties!"

Danny blushed as he crouched down a little, Andy sunk in his chair, hoping to just melt and disappear, Jazz just froze, not doing anything, pretending she didn't know these people.

Maddie then continued what she was saying. "-Could appear out of nowhere!"

Danny looked at everyone in their group. "Time to sit in the back where no one notice us?"

Sam nodded. "Time to sit in the back where no one can notice us."

Everyone agreed to that. They all stood up and walked to the back of the auditorium.

As soon as they were seated in the back, Lopmon poked his head out of Jazz's backpack. "Why did we move?"

"Because our mother decided to draw attention to us," Andy grumbled.

"Hey, surprised you guys didn't sit back here to begin with," Takuya 2 chuckled, who had already been sitting in the back.

Danny looked at Takuya 2. "Yeah, lucky you…" He said sarcastically _If the real Takuya was here, he would probably be just as embarrassed as the rest of us._

"Nah, just thought ahead. You all must be tired if you didn't think about it," Takuya 2 noted, looking specifically at Andy.

"Shut up," Andy crankily said.

Danny chuckled at the reaction. "I think you're losing sleep, bro~"

"Said the half dead boy who was nodding off every 5 minutes before we poured soda down your throat," Andy huffed.

Danny blushed at that. "Hey! I can't help it! I was the one fighting the most!"

"Yeah, and now we're all back here, where it's safe and quiet," Sam spoke up.

"It is much quieter here, I guess not a lot of students like sitting back here," Salamon noted.

Dorimon nodded. "Yeah, but now we can talk more to each other."

"Let's just hope we can get through the rest of this assembly as painless as possible," Jazz grumbled.

"Don't worry, I doubt the Fentons would pay any attention to us way back here," Tucker tried to reassure Jazz.

Jazz sighed. "Tucker, this is my mom and dad we're talking about. They would find a way to embarrass or draw attention to us anyway…"

Lopmon, Terriermon, and Salamon looked at Takuya 2 for a moment, likely sensing he wasn't exactly Takuya.

"How long has Takuya been in the Digital World?" Lopmon asked Takuya 2 seriously.

"A couple of days." Takuya 2 replied honestly. "He is working on helping to solve a crisis in the Digital World."

"Wait, this isn't Takuya?" Sam asked, surprised.

Andy groaned before he explained the whole copy situation to Tucker and Sam. Jazz was blinking.

"Why haven't I heard about this?" Jazz frowned.

"You weren't with us at the time," Danny answered.

Jazz frowned again. "Still, you should have told me regardless. I want to make sure Takuya is alright too, you know."

"Sorry, we just found out before the whole ghost invasion happened, it didn't exactly cross our minds at the time," Andy grumbled.

"Wow… this is like almost a perfect copy. I couldn't even tell he wasn't Takuya," Tucker whistled, impressed.

"Thank Sorcermon and his magic." Takuya 2 replied.

"I have to learn how he did that myself," Terriermon remarked, impressed as well.

Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off. The four Digimon shivered as well.

"There's a ghost nearby…" Salamon whispered.

"Oh no… You have got to be kidding… Right now? Here?" Danny whispered. "This is not good…"

Andy frowned as he looked at the stage. _Why would a ghost be here…?_

Suddenly, a big, black furred, anthropomorphic wolf ghost, wearing green, and some kind of metallic collar around its neck, and had green pupiless eyes, jumped onto the stage out of seemingly nowhere. It growled at Mr. Lancer and Ishiyama, who both screamed. The wolf ghost then let out a howl as everyone began to stand up and scream in panic.

"Okay, I've never seen that ghost before…" Danny frowned.

"And here comes the stampede," Andy groaned.

The students were trying to run to the back where the door was, nearly running over the group in their panic and haste to get away.

Andy and Dorimon were pushed away from the group by the stampede of panicking students.

"Andy, look!" Dorimon gasped.

Andy opened his eyes and saw a glimpse of white and green moving quickly. He got to his feet, trying to see where those other ghosts went. However, before he could, someone snapped from behind him.

"Move it, dork!" Calvin shoved Andy back onto the ground as he kept running.

Dorimon huffed. "That was rude!"

"Forget him, we need to do something," Andy hissed, pushing himself back up.

"Like what? There are too many people around!" Dorimon frowned. "And there are so many ghosts here, I can't stop shivering!"

Dorimon was indeed shaking a lot, but if there were more ghosts, they were very well hidden as the only ghost Andy could see was the wolf one. Dorimon frowned again, realizing he could not digivolve to protect Andy with so many humans around.

"Gah!" Andy heard what sounded like Danny.

"Dann-" Andy gasped before a big furry paw grabbed him suddenly and pinned him to the floor, right next to Danny. They were both pinned by the wolf's hands.

The ghost wolf looked down at them, more curious than hostile. It said a word, but neither boys understood it. Dorimon stared in shock.

Danny looked at the wolf-ghost before a greenish blast zapped the wolf ghost off of him and Andy.

"Get away from my babies!" Maddie shouted as she fired the blast that hit the wolf ghost.

The wolf ghost frowned as he hit the wall, feeling quite shaken up. Maddie had the bazooka pointed at him, a bazooka that really _hurt_.

"Hey, I was going to do that," Jack pouted.

"Maybe you'll get the next one, sweetie, but I couldn't let our babies get hurt by a ghost," Maddie chuckled before she looked at the twins. "Are you two okay? That big mean ghost didn't hurt you, did it?"

Danny sat up. "No… I don't think so…" He rubbed his neck where he had been grabbed. "Thanks…"

"Yeah, you got the ghost before it did any damage, Mom," Andy agreed, sitting up as well.

Dorimon gave a silent sigh of relief to see his partner and twin brother were alright.

The wolf ghost suddenly turned itself intangible before flying through the wall. The other students that ran out earlier, came back into the auditorium, likely herded by the teachers since being around the Fentons were apparently the safest to be around in this time of crisis.

Danny looked at where the wolf-ghost had gone through the wall. "But that was weird…"

Maddie, seeing that the boys were alright, decided it was time she and Jack go chase after it. "Come on, Jack!"

"Coming!" Jack ran with Maddie to the exit, though Jack ran into the doors.

"It's pull, Jack," Maddie sighed before opening the doors.

"Right, I knew that," Jack sheepishly said.

Andy frowned as he watched them run out. "What was that about? The wolf attacks the assembly, then just runs away?"

"Yeah… That wolf ghost seemed to be frightened." Dorimon noted, having seen the whole thing.

"I thought it was weird too… ghosts don't usually just attack for no reason," Danny remarked. "And that wolf looked scared about something… I think something's going on here…"

"I think you're right, Danny," Andy agreed. "The fact that we had that massive ghost invasion last night, and now a ghost attacking the assembly before running away… we need to find a way to talk to that wolf ghost and see what's going on. Though… it looks like it speaks in a language we're not familiar with…"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. That was an odd language for sure." He then looked down at Dorimon who came over to the twins. "Hey, do Digimon have their own language that is similar to that ghost wolf's language?"

"Uh…" Dorimon blinked. "Not really. We usually speak in a universal language that anyone can understand. For example, that wolf was asking you two 'who are you?' before he was shot by your mom."

Danny blinked. "Hold on, you can understand that wolf ghost?"

"They're Digimon…" Andy realized. "Digital beings, data can understand any language, that's how anyone from any country and culture can program them. They don't distinguish languages."

Danny looked at Dorimon. "Hey… maybe if we run into that wolf ghost again, we can have Dorimon be our translator!"

"Good idea, we can use any of our Digimon partners to translate for us." Andy smiled.

"Huh… didn't realize you didn't understand that ghost," Dorimon chuckled.

"Well, we're not made of data in the real world." Danny pointed out with a chuckle.

"Wait… does this mean… Takuya can understand anybody?" Andy asked, now curious. "I'm going to have to test that later."

Danny blinked. "You know… that is a good question. We should try it out when he gets back."

"For now… let's go find the others in this… chaos, and tell them of the plan," Andy sighed tiredly, looking at the crowd of students.

Both brothers groaned.

* * *

Tommy was still sleeping soundly on the bed Sorcermon made for him. He was dreaming about someone, someone he had met a while ago.

**Dream Sequence**

_I was Calumon. I was in the Forest Terminal, walking over to a tall figure, who was covered in shadows. "Master?"_

_"__Something is troubling you, I can sense it," The mysterious figure noted._

_I looked down for a moment before looking back up. "What if one day, my friends figure out they can come back to the Digital World? They might get hurt again. Or they could end up like me, stuck as a Digimon…"_

_The form looked back, still in shadow, but with golden eyes that showed slight emotion. "You shouldn't worry about them too much if they are as strong as you. You are right to worry about them, but they all have their own strengths and can persevere over obstacles like you have."_

_I remembered what we all had to go through in this very same world a few years ago. It felt like yesterday. I knew they were strong, but I also remembered those times they got hurt too while I was helpless to do anything._

_"__I don't think I'm very strong, Master… especially now," I sighed._

_"__You will see that you are, one day." The form said, trying to sound both gentle and stern at the same time. "You feel like it is your fault you couldn't do anything to help them, is that correct?"_

_I nodded in confirmation._

_"__Sometimes strength and power isn't as helpful as you believe it to be," The form stated. "You may not have any attacks of your own in that form, but that doesn't mean you're completely useless as a Digimon. You just have to find your own kind of strength, a strength that can help others."_

_"__Do you really think I could have something like that?" I questioned._

_The form in shadow chuckled. "You could if you put your mind to it, young one. There are more forms of strength than just power and physical strength, and they are all around us if you look carefully enough. You just can't allow yourself to give up, because if you do, then you really would become useless."_

_I nodded. "I understand, Master. Thank you."_

_The form nodded. "I am glad I was able to help settle your soul and mind, young one. If you ever need guidance, you know where to find me."_

**End Dream Sequence**

Tommy started to blink open his groggy eyes. He rubbed his eyes a bit to try to get the grogginess out of them. It took the boy a little bit to realize he was laying on a bed in the medical room. For a second, Tommy feared he had been a victim of the Nightmare Syndrome, and that the others found a cure to wake him up, but then he realized he wasn't lying on a hospital bed, but a normal one.

Tommy sat up, frowning. _When did I fall asleep? Why didn't anyone wake me?_

Then the boy noticed that Takuya and Dash were sleeping on chairs, while Koji and Koichi were on the floor. Tommy felt his face heating up. _Did they… put me on a bed while they slept on… less comfortable things?_

Takuya groaned a bit as he stirred, but he didn't wake up.

Koji and Koichi were pretty much sleeping back to back, but they were also holding hands while asleep.

As for Dash, he was snoring slightly with a tiny bit of drool coming from his mouth.

_Oh gosh… they did…_ Tommy blushed, feeling rather silly. He had forgotten how much the others usually spoiled him, even though he was about their age when they first came into the Digital World now. _Ugh… I knew I shouldn't have been the first one to fall asleep… I didn't even _want_ to sleep._

Tommy got off of the bed.

"Good morning, Tommy, looks like you were able to get some decent sleep," Sorcermon greeted.

"Sorcermon… why didn't you wake me when everyone else fell asleep? I wanted to find a way to wake up JP and Zoe. I_ am _a doctor here too, you know, even if I am in training." Tommy frowned.

Sorcermon sighed. "Yes, I do know that, but you won't be of much use to your friends if you don't get rest when you need it. Even doctors need rest, and you're no exception, Tommy."

Tommy frowned, then he sighed. "I… I know that… I just… I feel like sleeping is a death sentence right now…"

Tommy then tipped his hat over his eyes. "I'm also embarrassed that I was the only one sleeping on a bed…"

Sorcermon chuckled. "It was the decision of the others. I offered to get them beds as well, but they said no."

"Of course they did…" Tommy grumbled. "What time is it?"

"It is currently 8:09 AM," Sorcermon answered.

"Has there been any progress on the Nightmare Syndrome?" Tommy questioned.

Sorcermon sighed. "Sadly no. We have been trying to find a cure, but to no effect. Whatever is boosting the Nightmare Syndrome is truly frightening if we don't know what is behind it."

"That Dreammon didn't tell us much, just that he's doing it because he wants to… and something about the acknowledgement of his creator. We suspect someone created him," Tommy sighed. "But we know too little to really figure out anything about it."

Sorcermon frowned. "A Digimon called Dreammon… I have to admit, I have never heard of such a Digimon before. If this Dreammon mentioned a creator, then it has to be a false Digimon, or at least, a Digimon created by human hands. Not that it is unusual, but most Digimon created by humans are just remnants of programs used in the human world."

"I guess it doesn't matter now. If we could just get a Tapirmon here, we might be able to figure out what makes the Nightmare Syndrome tick, and find a way to counteract it," Tommy remarked. "If only we could…"

Takuya suddenly fell out of the chair, instantly waking him up.

"Wah!" Takuya groaned as he rubbed his head. "Ouch…"

Tommy and Sorcermon looked at the goggle headed boy.

"Are you okay, Takuya?" Tommy asked in slight concern.

Takuya groaned. "Yeah… I'm fine, save for falling off the chair."

"Okay, good, in that case…" Tommy took a deep breath and let it out. "Next time, _you're_ sleeping on the bed! Clearly sleeping on the chair was bad for you. Your back is likely sore too."

Takuya blinked. "I don't feel sore…" He stood up, trying to prove his point, but he winced. "Okay… bad idea…" He stretched to ease the soreness.

Tommy crossed his arms, giving Takuya a look.

Takuya winced at Tommy's look. "Okay, fine! Next time I'll take the bed!"

"Good." Tommy smirked.

"Jeez, can you be any louder?" Koji grumbled from the floor.

Koichi groaned as he tried to cover his ears with his hat. "So much for some nice quiet sleep…"

"It's already morning," Tommy chuckled. "But maybe you might have gotten better sleep if you had… oh I don't know, slept in actual beds instead of the cold floor?"

Koichi groaned as he sat up. "Maybe… But we were so tired, we just settled for what was available…" He yawned once he was done talking.

"You could've slept on a bed," Tommy grumbled.

"We don't need a bed to sleep," Koji retorted.

"That's not important right now anyways," Takuya spoke up. "We should probably head for the TV Forest to try to catch a Tapirmon now."

"You're going to want to heal up your sore back first," Tommy pointed out.

Takuya grunted. "All I need to do is to stretch. It will go away once I'm done."

"Besides, I rather not wait any longer than necessary to get a Tapirmon and wake up our friends." Koji frowned. "Who knows how badly they've been tormented…"

Koichi frowned as he realized the reason why Koji was in a hurry to wake Zoe and JP up from their nightmares. Koji didn't want anyone to suffer because of a Digimon again, especially when it came to messing with the minds of the people he cared about.

Koichi put a comforting hand on Koji's shoulder. "We'll save them, don't worry, Koji."

Koji grunted. "Whatever. Let's just find a Tapirmon and bring it back here."

Dash grunted as he woke up. "Ugh… What's all the noise about?"

"Hey, glad to see you're awake, Dash. We were just about to leave for the TV Forest to try to catch a Tapirmon," Takuya answered.

"We're going right now?" Dash blinked, trying to rub the grogginess away from his eyes. "What about breakfast?"

Takuya, Dash, Koji, and Koichi's stomachs all growled from that comment. All four of them had Spirit Evolved for one reason or another yesterday, and they were _starving._ Tommy was the only one who wasn't as hungry due to not Spirit Evolving at all the other day.

Takuya blushed. "Uh… right… Breakfast first I suppose…"

Sorcermon chuckled at the reaction. "I'll have the Burgermon bring in some food."

"We're having burgers in the morning?" Dash asked.

"No. Just because the Digimon handling the food is called Burgermon doesn't mean they only make burgers," Sorcermon chuckled.

Tommy cringed a little. "I'm going to… uh… get some juice."

Takuya looked a bit unsure, but his stomach was growling. "Uh… I guess beggars can't be choosers then…"

Tommy left quite quickly, making Takuya wonder what was up with him. A Burgermon soon came in, pushing a cart that had food on it. The food was covered by lids and containers though.

"One fresh, nutritious breakfast for the Legendary Warriors!" The Burgermon happily announced.

The group began to gather around, curious and each of them starving.

The Burgermon opened the lids, showing the food. Everyone stared in shock and disgust when they saw their 'food' was a bunch of cooked or even, non-cooked, insects. Some of them, Takuya sworn, were once Digimon.

"These are quite the delicacies back in the human world from what I've heard. They're also filled with nutritious vitamins that are very good for humans. I made sure to make it exactly like how the humans did!" Burgermon smiled.

Takuya wasn't sure what to think. "Uh… Thanks…"

"But you know… we're really not _that_ hungry." Koichi smiled politely. "We could eat just fine in the TV Forest."

Sorcermon started backing away.

Burgermon's eyes turned into yellow stars, and the warriors suddenly got the feeling they made a big mistake in trying to refuse the food. "I have stayed up all night making the perfect meal for the Legendary Warriors. This good is top quality, and it should _not_ go to waste. Wouldn't you agree, children?~"

Takuya felt a sweatdrop running down the side of his head. "Y-yeah, we would…" _This is awkward..._

Even Koji was unsettled, he wasn't even arguing. Dash was trying not to sweat.

Burgermon became friendly again. "Good, now dig in. Make sure you eat every. Single. Bite."

Takuya looked at one of the bugs and gulped. He reached out and took it hesitantly before looking at it. "Uh… Okay… Here we go…" He gulped before putting the bug into his mouth and swallowing it.

The boy could swear he felt the bug moving in his insides. But Burgermon was staring at him. Takuya gave a strained smile. "I-it's… n-not so… bad."

Koichi looked like he wanted to pass out as Dash looked like he wanted to vomit. Koji looked downright disturbed at what he had just seen.

"Now you three, come eat~" Burgermon smiled sweetly.

Swallowing his pride, Koji just grabbed a random bug and stuffed it into his mouth before chewing it and swallowing. He shivered once he was done.

* * *

Tommy was waiting outside of the medical room, sipping his cup of juice. After a while, the door opened, and Burgermon was carting out the now empty plates, looking quite pleased with herself.

"Such good children~" Burgermon hummed as she walked down the hallway, thankfully not seeing the one child she missed.

Tommy let out a small sigh of relief before he looked through the door. "Hey… uh…"

Tommy noticed that the others were groaning on the floor. "Are you… all okay?"

"Ugh… I feel like my stomach wants to stop working…" Dash groaned.

"So many bugs…" Koichi moaned.

Koji just lay there, looking quite sick.

Takuya groaned as he held his own stomach. "I swear… if Andy knew about this, he would be laughing his head off… And Sam would say it was good for the planet to eat bugs…"

Tommy felt sorry for them. "Uh… yeah… the Burgermon who works here is… enthusiastic about making 'human food'. Unfortunately, she was only exposed to that one culture that likes to eat bugs."

"Great…" Takuya groaned. He was certain his Spirits were laughing at the irony of the situation.

"On the plus side… at least you're not so hungry anymore… and she is right… as gross as it is, those insects do have a lot of nutrients." Tommy grinned sheepishly.

"Easy for you to say… you didn't eat those bugs…" Koji groaned.

Tommy shivered a little. _I had before… ugh… I still feel sick thinking about it._ "Do you all need a minute to recover from… your breakfast?"

Takuya groaned. "I think… that would be best…" He swore he felt a bug moving around in his stomach. "Ugh…"

"Yeah… next time… we'll just live off of meat apples…" Dash grumbled.

"Heh, I can agree with you there," Tommy chuckled.

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT: **You will find out what is going on soon enough~! :3

**DarkFoxKit:** And that's what makes the mystery fun; you don't know what's going on and you want to keep reading to find out~

**Luna Lillyth****: ZAFT:** Reader speculation is fine. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Hehe, well do you have anymore of those as this goes on?

**CT7567Rules****: ZAFT:** Yes, yes the gang is back together again. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Hopefully those who didn't watch Digimon Frontier would still enjoy the whole gang getting back together. We try to take people who didn't watch Digimon Frontier into account too.


	39. Invasion in Both Worlds

**ZAFT:** Late update, but what can you do? Thanksgiving is around the corner. :P

**DarkFoxKit:** Not only that, but next week is my last treatment, hopefully. So that means I'll have more free time to write again!

**ZAFT:** Yay! :3

**Andy:** That's good. So now we can do more things in the story. Isn't that right, Takuya?

**Takuya:** Yep! :D

**DarkFoxKit:** We all hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, and a wonderful time with your friends and family. And please enjoy this chapter.

* * *

_**(**Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley**)**_

**_Three worlds, connected side by side_**

_**(**A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that**)**_

**_Connections, with many secrets to hide_**

_**(**Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself**)**_

_**Is one always chosen by fate?**_

**_(_**_Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius_**_)_**

_**Or can one make their own destiny?**_

**_(_**_Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc_**_)_**

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen**)**_

_**The power is deep inside!**_

_**(**Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance**)**_

**_Digital Phantom!_**

_**(**The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod**)**_

_**Destiny is unbound!**_

_**(**The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Fight on, without regret**_

_**(**Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it**)**_

_**Two sides never rest**_

_**(**Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, with a shadowed form above it just as an evil version of the shadowed form appears beside Vlad, both transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both**)**_

_**Never regret or look back**_

_**(**Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon**)**_

_**Fight on, with victory**_

_**(**Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him**)**_

_**Nothing will stand in our way!**_

_**(**Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

* * *

**Chapter 39: Invasion in Both Worlds**

Back in Amity Park, Danny, Jazz, and Andy were walking home. Ever since the school was attacked by that wolf ghost, the children were sent home early. The teachers gave the students their homework assignments, however, so the students weren't completely free of school. But many preferred being at home at this time of ghost crisis than at school.

"We've got a lot of homework, but we also have a lot of ghosts we need to take care of…" Jazz sighed tiredly, her hair was still a mess.

"You're telling me…" Danny grumbled. "My ghost sense is going off like crazy! I won't be able to get any homework done with that going on!"

Takuya 2 was walking with them, though unlike them, he was full of energy. "I know, so many ghosts makes me uncomfortable, being a being made of digital data."

Andy gave a yawn before sighing. "Okay, we're going to have to plan out what we're going to be doing. I don't want all of us to be too tired to do anything after a while. We might have to do this in shifts, or just rest up while we let our parents handle it for a while."

Danny frowned. "I don't like the idea of our parents handling this. You know how… enthusiastic they can get when hunting ghosts…"

"Yeah, I know," Andy sighed. "But if we keep doing this, none of us are going to be capable of doing much. Not me, not our Digimon, and not you either, bro. You may be half ghost, but you're also half human. You still need to sleep and eat like the rest of us."

Danny had to agree. "Yeah… You're right. Even I will get burnt out. I just don't want our parents to get hurt though…"

"They'll be fine," Jazz assured. "It's the ghosts I'm worried about though."

"It almost feels like we're in the Ghost Zone with this many ghosts here," Dorimon grumbled.

"Not to mention I still can't shake the feeling something just as big is going on in the Digital World. Takuya still hasn't come back yet, and it's been 2 days since he was called…" Lopmon frowned.

Jazz looked down. "But what could be wrong in the Digital World? Shouldn't it be something that can be handled with little trouble?"

"I don't think so." Lopmon frowned.

"Let's not worry about it right now, we have our own problems to deal with," Andy sighed.

"How about we all take a nap, then we figure out what to do?" Danny suggested as they started walking up the stairs to Fenton Works' front door.

"Sounds good to me!" Takuya 2 agreed as Danny opened the door.

But when Danny opened the door, he saw not only their parents, but also Calvin, Kwan, and Paulina there as well. Jazz, Takuya 2, and Andy came up from behind Danny, and stopped when they saw the group.

"What the…?" Andy narrowed his eyes, he was too tired to deal with this crap right now.

"The first official after school meeting of the Amity Park's Ghost-Keteers is now in session!" Jack announced proudly, before Calvin came up to Jack and kneeled down like one would do to a king or a queen. "I dub thee, Ghost-Keteer Member number 1!"

Jack placed a rolled up paper on Calvin's shoulder, as if he was knighting him. Calvin gave a smirk as he looked at Danny and Andy.

Danny blinked. "Okay…? I'll… be in my room, doing my homework…"

_Something is off about them… Why the heck would Calvin, Kwan, and Paulina be here?_ Andy questioned. _I highly doubt they would ever be caught dead wanting to be a part of Mom and Dad's ghost hunting squad._

Behind the group, Takuya 2 was tense, shivering slightly. "I… will be upstairs as well…" However, it was not hard to hear the harshness in his voice.

"Come on, kids, why don't you join us while we sing the Ghost-Keteers battle song?" Maddie suggested, looking like she was having as much fun as Jack was.

"Nope," Andy said as he quickly went upstairs.

Danny and Jazz decided it was wise to follow the boy upstairs before the singing could begin.

Takuya 2 followed them, keeping close to Andy and Danny.

Danny looked at his siblings and cousin/copy/clone… whatever Takuya 2 was. "That… was weird…"

"It's not just weird, it's downright out of character," Andy muttered as they went into their room. Jazz followed them even though she had her own room, so did Takuya 2.

Takuya 2 made sure to close the door once they were all in the room.

"Think about it, why would those three, the most popular kids in school, want to come to our house of all places, in order to join the 'ghost-keteers'?" Andy questioned.

"Not to mention how cheesy Mom and Dad were being. Though I think they were just excited to have people interested in joining their ghost fighting team." Jazz rolled her eyes.

Danny frowned. "I don't know… But I think something is off."

Takuya 2 huffed. "I'll say. I sensed something different about them."

"Who exactly?" Andy asked.

"Those popular kids." Takuya 2 clarified.

"I sensed it too," Dorimon said, jumping out of Andy's backpack now that they were away from the public eye. "Something wasn't right with them, it made my body tingle."

"Yeah, same here," Lopmon agreed, hopping down from Jazz's backpack as well. "I don't think they're the kids you know from school."

"How so?" Jazz asked.

"We're not exactly sure yet," Dorimon said. "But it would be best to keep a close eye on them from now on."

"I have to agree. For all we know they've either been replaced by shapeshifters, or ghosts had overshadowed them." Andy frowned. "If it's any of those cases, they could be here to keep an eye on us… or our parents… or maybe all of us."

Takuya 2 growled. "That can't be good." He clenched his fists.

Danny sighed. "So much for a normal week…"

"Normal? You've lost normality the second you stepped into that portal!" Andy snapped, and Danny winced a little. "We can't worry about having a 'normal' week or day, what we should do is find out what the hell is going on with this invasion, and make sure those shapeshifters or ghosts or whatever they are downstairs, don't hurt anyone!"

Danny held up his hands. "Okay, okay, bro! You've made your point! We'll keep an eye on those ghosts or whatever they are!"

Andy sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. With all this going on, and Takuya being gone dealing with another kind of threat, and all of us getting wiped out from this invasion, and what reason this invasion is going on in the first place, I'm just a little bit of a nervous wreck right now."

"I don't blame you, Andy," Jazz said softly, putting her hand on her brother's shoulder. "We're all a little stressed out right now."

Lopmon nodded. "I understand how you feel, Andy. But we have to find a way to deal with these ghosts before we can do anything else."

"I think your original idea to have everyone rest, then deal with everything else, is a good one," Takuya 2 stated. "I can keep an eye on them while you guys take a nap."

"You shouldn't be by yourself though, what if they catch wind on what you're doing and try to take you out?" Danny asked in concern. "I'm also sure they'll be able to sense you're… well, made of data, and not actually Takuya."

Takuya 2 frowned. "Oh yeah… That is a good point…"

"We can back him up," Dorimon spoke up. "We were able to get a nap in while you were at school, so we're more awake then you guys are."

Lopmon nodded. "Yes. So if anything happens, we can help defend Takuya 2."

"But you two can't digivolve without us, are you sure you'll be alright?" Jazz asked in concern.

Lopmon nodded. "We can get you if we need you. Your D-Arcs will tell you if we are in danger as well."

"We'll keep our D-Arcs nearby then," Andy said. "Maybe after I get a nap in, I can think without feeling like I'm overwhelmed by everything."

Dorimon grinned. "Then get that nap in!"

Jazz nodded. "I'll be in my room in case anyone needs me."

Jazz walked out of the room. Andy walked over to the bed. "Come on, Danny, you too."

Danny nodded. "Okay, bro. I'll be there."

Takuya 2 decided to go and stand by the edge of the stairs so as to not get seen, but also to keep an eye on the people in the living room.

* * *

Calumon was looking at JP as he was tormented in his sleep. Calumon was currently inside the barrier with JP since he was one of the Digimon doctors working on him. Calumon tried to see if there was a way to see into JP's mind, just to see if he could send the Nightmare Syndrome out, but every time he tried, he was blocked by JP's Spirits. They weren't trying to keep him out because they didn't want him in JP's head, they wanted to keep him out because they wanted to keep Calumon safe from the Nightmare Syndrome. Calumon knew the Spirits wanted to keep him safe, but it was frustrating to not have any ways to interact with the Nightmare Syndrome directly.

"Okay, I think we're all ready now," Takuya spoke up, having had a backpack filled with stuff.

Koji grumbled. "There had better not be any bugs in there for us to eat…"

"Heck no! We'd be eating meat apples if we get hungry," Takuya groaned. "I mostly just packed things like a first aid kit, some mirrors, and extra clothing."

"Mirrors?" Koichi asked.

"Hey, if we're going to set up a trap for the Tapirmon, we need to make sure it thinks it's with other Tapirmon to let its guard down," Takuya shrugged.

Koji smirked. "That's using your head."

Dash snickered. "He tends to do that, especially when in combat."

Takuya groaned. "You're never going to let me live down the fact I just charge in, are you?"

Dash grinned. "Nope~"

Takuya sighed. "Whatever. We should have everything we need for this Tapirmon hunt now anyways. … Um… has anyone seen Tommy?"

Calumon turned to Takuya, sweating a little.

Koichi frowned. "No, I haven't… Where _is_ he…?"

"Wasn't he with us a while ago? Where could he have gone?" Dash scratched his head. "Doesn't he seem to disappear a lot?"

Koji frowned a bit. "Yeah, that _has_ been happening lately. We're going to need his help if we are to catch a Tapirmon."

Calumon gulped, he couldn't just suddenly leave, they would get suspicious.

"Hey Calumon, any luck with JP?" Takuya asked, noticing the little Digimon was looking at them.

"O-oh!" Calumon stiffed. "N-no, sadly not. His Spirits are keeping me out. I think they're worried about me ending up like JP if I tried to interact with the Nightmare Syndrome in his mind."

Takuya frowned. "That sounds familiar…" _It sounds like what happened with my Spirits and Danny, except the Spirits didn't know Danny was trying to help at the time…_

"Why are you trying to interact with the Nightmare Syndrome anyways? Wouldn't you just fall under if you did?" Koichi asked in concern.

"That's… a possibility, yeah, but if I could interact with it, even briefly, I would be able to get more information on it and how to counteract it," Calumon sighed. "Sadly though, that doesn't seem to be possible."

Koji frowned. "Maybe it's for a good reason. The Spirits wouldn't do something like that if they felt someone could be affected by the Nightmare Syndrome."

"I suppose it was a bit too risky," Calumon sighed again. "Maybe we'll have better luck once you bring back a Tapirmon."

Calumon tapped on the magical barrier before he slipped out of it.

"Have you seen Tommy? We need him before we leave to get a Tapirmon," Takuya questioned the little Digimon.

"Uh… I think I saw him outside earlier. You could probably meet with him out there since you're all ready to go," Calumon answered. "Now I gotta go, bye."

Calumon quickly flew away before anyone could say anything.

Takuya frowned. _Why does this feel like Danny all over again?_ He shook his head. _I can't worry about that now. We have a Tapirmon to catch._ Sighing, Takuya picked up the backpack. "Okay… let's go meet with Tommy I guess."

Koji, Koichi, and Dash followed Takuya as they went outside of the castle, though they were running since they were in a hurry to get going.

As soon as they were outside, they saw someone wrapped up with fractal code before it was revealed to be Tommy. Tommy was panting, like he had been moving quickly.

"Tommy? Where were you?" Takuya asked as he came to a stop. "We were about to leave without you!"

"Sorry… was… just… practicing my… um… skills," Tommy panted, likely knowing they had seen the fractal code that had him wrapped up when he reverted back to his human form.

Takuya blinked. "So you were training? Why didn't you just say so?"

"It's…" Tommy let out a sigh. "It's not important right now… didn't you say you were ready to leave now?"

Takuya blinked. "Oh! Yeah, I did. We're ready to go catch a Tapirmon. We have things we'll need too. And no, there are no bugs that we will be eating either."

"Heh, that's good to know," Tommy chuckled.

* * *

BurningGreymon flew to the TV Forest with everyone else riding on him. If he hadn't been working out, he would say he would be breaking a sweat having to carry four people. Koji, Koichi, Dash, and Tommy all had their D-Tectors out, scanning for any possible hidden Tapirmon as they were flying, not wanting to get ambushed on their way to TV Forest.

Thankfully, BurningGreymon was able to reach the TV Forest with nothing bad happening. He came down to land in a clearing, before putting the other 4 down. Once everyone was off of him, BurningGreymon reverted back to his human form.

Takuya, now human again, looked around. "Okay… So where do we start the search?"

Koji frowned. "I don't know, but I would assume we start where you and the others left from a few days ago."

"That's probably a good idea, it seems to be the spot where at least one Tapirmon likes to mess with us," Tommy chuckled.

"Let's just hope we managed to get one and escape without losing another one." Koichi frowned.

Dash sighed. "I hope so too. That would not be good."

Koji looked back with a grunt. "Whatever."

The group began walking through the forest, trying to find the spot where they camped out on the first night. They were also keeping their ears open in case they heard anything unusual. The forest seemed to be unusually quiet.

The group soon found the spot they were looking for.

"Okay, looks like this is the spot we'll be setting up the traps," Takuya whispered.

Koji nodded. "Sounds good. It's open enough for the traps, but enclosed enough to hide them. Not to mention it's large enough to place a few of them."

"Yeah, so let's get started." Dash smiled.

The group took out some ropes and nets from the backpack Takuya brought, as well as the small mirrors. They started to set up the traps around the trees, hoping that they'll be able to catch a Tapirmon. Dash used a little bit of his Spirit's power to cover up the traps with grass and soil. The mirrors were easier to hide in the cover of the shadows, but they needed to remain visible for the Tapirmon to see themselves in.

"Okay, now all that's left is to wait," Takuya stated.

"I should go hide and get ready to jump on one in case our traps don't work," Koichi spoke up.

Takuya nodded. "Okay, just be careful."

Koichi nodded as he turned to do so. Before he did though, he looked back at Tommy. "Are you coming, Tommy?"

Tommy's stomach growled, he hadn't had any actual breakfast since he skipped out on the bug feast. And using his Calumon form, while it didn't eat up as many calories as his other Spirits did, it still did eat up his calories more than if he was human.

Tommy blushed at his stomach's reminder that he hadn't eaten. "Yeah… but maybe I should eat something first."

Koichi chuckled. "You do that. I'll be waiting over by those trees." He pointed at the location where he would be. "Just don't take too long."

"We'll set up a campfire then," Takuya chuckled.

"I'll go with Koichi to back him up until Tommy had something to eat," Koji decided.

Dash smiled. "Sounds good. You two be careful while in hiding."

Koji nodded before he followed his twin brother into the bushes. Dash looked over at Takuya. "Maybe one of us should go with Tommy just to make sure he doesn't get attacked."

Takuya sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. I think it would be best if you went with. I mean, you have the ability to sense if others are in the area thanks to your Spirits, so that would make you the best one to go with him."

"Okay. You just be careful yourself," Dash said before he stood up and started to follow Tommy.

When Dash caught up to Tommy, it was then the jock realized it was the first time he was alone with the kid. Tommy looked back at Dash, though Tommy didn't seem as nervous around Dash as the jock thought he would, instead, Tommy gave him a smile.

"Hey, want to help me gather up some meat apples?" Tommy inquired.

Dash smiled. "Sure. I don't mind helping with that."

It was a pretty nice stroll through the forest. Tommy led Dash up a small hill that had a pretty big tree where a lot of meat apples were growing.

"There it is," Tommy pointed. "Zoe and I came here to gather up a lot of meat apples."

Dash whistled. "That is a big tree. And it has a _ton_ of meat apples!"

Tommy gave a chuckle. "Come on, I'm sure you can gather a lot with those big arms of yours!"

Dash gave a fake pout. "I'm the football captain back home! Of course I can carry a lot of stuff!" But then he couldn't help grinning in response as well, making his fake pout even more obvious.

Tommy laughed as Dash showed off his muscles by flexing his arms a bit before he began to gather up as many meat apples as he could carry. Tommy started to pick up some meat apples himself.

"I'll take weird tree growing meat apples over insects any day!" Dash remarked.

"Me too," Tommy agreed. "Come on, let's take this back to the campsite."

As Tommy and Dash were heading back, Tommy decided to ask the jock a question. "You said you're a football captain, right? You must be quite popular at your school."

Dash frowned a bit. "Yeah, I am. But… popularity isn't all it's cut out to be. The school I go to has the popular kids, but they tend to pick on the nerds, or those they see as losers." He sighed here. "I was once one of the worst bullies, but after someone helped me, because _I_ was being bullied myself, I began to change my ways. And well… after a while, I had apparently changed enough to be considered worthy of wielding the Spirits of Wood, and being a Legendary Warrior."

"Yeah? That's good. I'm glad that you were able to turn away from your bullying days," Tommy commented. "Though… why do the popular kids want to pick on others?"

"I'm not really sure myself. It's been an unspoken rule for as long as I could remember," Dash admitted with a sigh. "It wasn't something we ask, we just do it. If we don't, we're seen as becoming too soft and not worth our position."

"That's silly," Tommy huffed. "You've earned your spot with or without picking on the other kids. Besides, the Legendary Warriors are made of kids who are usually picked on themselves, or are just ordinary nice people."

Dash blinked. "Huh… Does that mean you were once picked on yourself?" He then realized that sounded insensitive. "Oh… Sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

Tommy frowned, but shook his head. "Yeah, I was picked on a lot. A lot of kids my age were. To some extent, I do still get picked on at school, though it's not as bad as it was a few years ago."

Dash sighed. "Well, that got awkward fast…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "But, it's good to hear you're not picked as much anymore."

"It's not your fault. I'm just glad to hear you've turned over a new leaf yourself," Tommy remarked. "You can't stop bullying, but you can at least stop yourself from hurting more people."

Dash smiled. "That's nice to hear. I will admit, it feels… better to help others and to not be a bully." He then frowned. "Unlike some of the other popular kids."

"Yeah… I'd imagine just because you change, it doesn't mean others would," Tommy agreed. "But hey, if you were able to change, maybe the others could do so if given the right push."

Dash smiled a bit. "It's nice to hope for that, but it won't be so easy."

"Never said it was going to be easy." Tommy gave a small smile. "I had a couple of bullies who changed because of what happened 4 years ago. They were in the Digital World, but they didn't have Spirits. I was able to save them from a nasty Digimon. They've been my friends since then."

Dash blinked. "Wow. That's nice to hear. And to think, all it took was saving them." He then chuckled. "It sounds like they realized you were the braver one and they realized it the hard way."

"Pretty much." Tommy laughed.

The two of them soon made it to the campsite where Takuya was waiting.

"Hey, glad to see you're back," Takuya greeted. "Was getting worried you might've fallen asleep or something."

Though Takuya said it as a joke, he was actually worried about them being hit by a sneaky Tapirmon.

"Nah, we're fine, Takuya," Tommy chuckled. "I kept an eye on Dash to make sure he was safe."

Takuya chuckled as well. "Good to hear. Did you find any meat apples?"

Dash grinned. "We found a whole bunch of them!"

"Awesome! Let's get them cooked so we can have a proper meal." Takuya smiled.

The three of them sat around the campfire Takuya made. Being the Warrior of Flame, fire came pretty easy for him. They had their meat apples on a stick while putting them near the fire.

"So I was thinking… what do you think will happen if that Dreammon catches all of us?" Dash asked. "Is there a reason why he would want us out of the other thousands of Digimon he's catching in his Nightmare Syndrome?"

Takuya frowned. "I don't know. It could be because the Legendary Warriors are seen as the protectors of the Digital World. I mean, we _did_ defeat Lucemon, so that is a very big target on our backs."

"Well, you guys did, I wasn't around when you fought with Lucemon," Dash sighed.

"Still, you do hold the Spirits that helped in that battle," Tommy pointed. "I'm not sure what Dreammon is hoping to accomplish by doing what he's doing, other than what he told us, but I can't help but feel it's more than just because he wants to."

Takuya frowned again. "Yeah, that seems like it could be the case. There's no way it is just because he wants to. He did mention something about being recognized by his creator, whoever that is. Do you think that could be the reason why?"

"But why would his creator want the Digital World to be plunged in a world of nightmares?" Dash questioned. "It doesn't make much sense."

"I suppose it depends on who the creator is, and why they made Dreammon in the first place," Tommy commented thoughtfully. "I guess with the Celestial Digimon gone, and Lucemon being no more, the Legendary Warriors are technically the strongest known Digimon in the Digital World."

Takuya groaned. "Great… Now we have an even _bigger_ target on our backs!"

"Oh wait… I guess there are the Royal Knights, but… most of them are either hidden or babies right now…" Tommy muttered thoughtfully.

Takuya blinked. "You know there are more Royal Knights, Tommy?" _Up until I met with Agumon, and Bokomon told me, I thought Crusadermon and Dynasmon were the only Royal Knights._

"Well… yeah, I mean… I doubt there would've only been two Royal Knights, right?" Tommy sweatdropped.

Takuya frowned. "Yeah… that does make sense. I think the majority of the Royal Knights just… weren't able to defeat Lucemon, so maybe they were also turned into Digi-Eggs."

Tommy frowned a little, seeming to want to say something, but kept his mouth shut.

"Regardless, we're still the ones being targeted, so we need to be more careful," Dash spoke up. "But I'm sure we'll be okay. If you guys were able to go through everything you did 4 years ago in this world, I'm sure we'll be able to defeat Dreammon and wake everybody up from their nightmares."

Takuya smiled. "Yeah, you're right. We can and will defeat Dreammon."

"Hey! Are you guys going to eat your meat apples before they burn up or what!?" They heard Koji's voice calling.

Takuya gaped before he lunged for his meat apple and pulled it off of the fire. "Okay… Koji has a point. We _really_ need to keep an eye on these things before they get burnt. I don't want to try a burnt meat apple…"

Tommy and Dash had lunged for their meat apples as well, quickly pulling it away from the fire.

"Good idea. Cooked insects might be better than burnt meat," Dash chuckled. "... Maybe."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Let's not find that out."

The small group began digging into their meal. Tommy was feeling a lot better after having eaten. The sun was starting to go down as they were chatting and eating. There were still no signs of any Tapirmon however.

Takuya looked around. "Okay… I think either the Tapirmon are hiding and waiting for us to fall asleep, or we may have to find a way to lure them out because they know we are in the area."

"If the Tapirmon know we're waiting for them, how else could we lure them out?" Dash asked. "I get the feeling Dreammon is controlling them, so anything he knows, they would know too, right?"

"That _is_ how hiveminds usually work," Tommy agreed. "Dreammon did say the Tapirmon lost their free will when he came into the Digital World."

Takuya frowned. "Then what do we do? We need to catch a Tapirmon, but if they aren't coming out, how can we get one?"

Tommy crossed his arms as he thought for a moment. Takuya wondered if Andy would figure something out, until he realized that Tommy had been acting like their tactician since they started on this whole mission. It was unusual, Tommy had always just been the brave little kid when they came into the Digital World 4 years ago, a tactician was the last thing Takuya would've described Tommy as. While 4 years was a bit of a long time, it shouldn't have been long enough for someone to just change like that, unless something happened to them.

_Okay… Tommy is acting quite a bit like Andy is… At least, in terms of thinking tactically. It's a bit scary…_ Takuya thought to himself.

"I think I might have an idea," Tommy spoke up just as Takuya finished thinking to himself. "You might be right, Takuya."

"I… am?" Takuya blinked, wondering what he was right about.

"The Tapirmon may be waiting for us to fall asleep. We would be much easier targets then," Tommy stated. "So… perhaps that's what we need to do then."

Takuya blinked. "Huh?! Are you serious?!"

"Calm down, Takuya, maybe Tommy has an idea," Dash spoke up.

"Just hear me out," Tommy said. "We won't actually fall asleep, but we have to act like we did if we want to draw out any Tapirmon out of hiding. We may also need to do something flashy to get their attention just in case they're unaware we're even here."

Takuya frowned. "Like a spirit evolution? The light from that can get quite bright."

"Yeah, a spirit evolution, maybe show off an attack or two, then change back and 'fall asleep'," Tommy answered.

"Just a note, it might be best that Takuya sits this one out, because his fire would easily burn the forest," Dash spoke up.

Takuya pouted. "I have better control over my flames than that!"

"I'd rather not take any chances if we don't need to," Dash grumbled. "I'm the Warrior of Wood though, so this is pretty much my domain. I'll be the beacon to lead the Tapirmon to us."

Takuya sighed. "Okay, fine. Just be careful. Koji and Koichi are still out there."

"Don't worry, I'll be able to sense where they are, so I know not to aim an attack there," Dash reassured. "Another reason why I'm volunteering for this. I would cause the least amount of damage."

Takuya chuckled. "Then go ahead."

Dash held up his D-Tector as the tan digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he held up his hand with the fractal coding around it. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "_Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Dash felt his body increase in strength and power as he felt his skin become more like wood and he felt his senses increase in sharpness and sensitivity. His eyes turned a golden color as he finally landed, crying out his name as he did so. _"Arbormon!"_

Now as Arbormon, he looked up at the sky. _"Blockade Seed!"_

Arbormon shot out several glowing seeds from his mouth and into the sky, making sure it would be easy for anyone to see, before the seeds began falling back into the forest. The seeds were either absorbed into the forest, or dissipated.

"Think that's good enough?" Arbormon asked after a while.

Takuya frowned. "I hope it was. That… was quite flashy for sure."

"Then we make our beds, lay down, and hope for the best," Tommy remarked. "We have traps everywhere, we also have Koji and Koichi hidden to keep an eye on things. I'm sure we'll be okay, but keep yourself on guard at all times, even if you're trying to look like you're sleeping."

Takuya nodded as Arbormon reverted back to his human form of Dash. "Okay, let's get to 'sleep' then." Takuya said as he began to arrange some leaves on the form of a bed.

When everyone had their makeshift beds ready, they all laid down in it. The campfire was dim and small, but Takuya kept it burning so the Tapirmon would still be able to see their reflection in the mirror. It was tense for all of them as they closed their eyes and waited. Their hearts were beating in their chests, each of them worried that if they fell asleep, they would only be greeted by endless nightmares.

While the others pretended to be asleep, Koji and Koichi were watching the group with tense bodies.

It was quiet in the forest. Though the longer the silence, the more anxious everybody was feeling. They were starting to wonder if the Tapirmon would come at all, or if maybe the Tapirmon were already there, surrounding them, waiting for them to let down their guard before they strike.

However, before they could start spiraling down into paranoia, they heard something moving between the trees. Ironically, this sudden noise made everyone relax. They now knew a Tapirmon was likely nearby now.

Koichi looked around. "Oh boy… We're definitely not alone…"

"Yeah… but now the question is… how many are there?" Koji whispered.

Tommy, Dash, and Takuya peeked open one eye, waiting. If they so much as heard the word 'nightmare' or 'syndrome', they were going to move quickly.

A shadow started floating closer to the group, but then stopped when it reached the mirrors.

Looking around, Koichi paused. "I'm… not sure. But I think there are at least 5."

Koji frowned. "That's about our number right now." He noted in a whisper.

"Look, one of them stopped by the mirrors," Koichi whispered, pointing at the shadowy figure that was floating by the mirrors. "This could be our chance to try to catch it while it's distracted."

Koji looked ready to pounce on the shadowy form. "Let's do it then…" He crept a bit closer, trying to remain as silent as possible.

Koichi had one of the nets with him. They couldn't afford blowing their cover by spirit evolving now, they would have to do this the human way.

The Tapirmon was looking at her own reflection. She did always think she looked better than the other Tapirmon, and these mirrors proved it. She would totally make a much better pack than being on with the other Tapirmon, but what the boss wanted, the boss got. She looked over at the humans who were 'asleep', completely defenseless and unaware of the nightmare she was going to trap them in. Tapirmon grinned to herself before she started to slowly float closer to the group of 'sleeping' humans.

"Now!" Koji and Koichi jumped the unsuspecting Tapirmon, and trapped her in a net.

"We got a Tapirmon!" Koichi exclaimed.

The other three quickly stood up from their beds.

"Great, now let's get the heck out of here before-" Takuya began to say before they suddenly found themselves surrounded by clouds of darkness.

Koji and Koichi quickly ran to the others, carrying the net that had the trapped Tapirmon in it. They were all back to back.

"We need to get out of here now," Dash hissed.

"But how can we get out of here?" Takuya asked. "If we try to fly, we are easier targets, if we try to tunnel away, we could get attacked by another inescapable Nightmare Syndrome, and running through the clouds is not an option."

"We have to try something, or we're going to get caught either way," Koji hissed.

"Maybe we should split up," Dash suggested. "Two could go underground, while the other three go into the air? They might be surprised and hesitate enough to let us get away."

Takuya looked at Dash. "Are you sure that could work?"

The clouds of darkness were getting closer to them.

"Do you have any better ideas, Takuya?" Dash questioned.

More Tapirmon began to show themselves, they were the ones using the Nightmare Syndrome surrounding them.

"No, I don't have any other ideas." Takuya admitted. "Okay. We'll split up."

Dash and Takuya took out their D-Tectors.

Takuya invoked the power of his Beast Spirit. The red outline of his second Spirit roared and appeared on the screen of his D-Tector as he invoked a ball of fractal coding on his left hand. Takuya swiped the D-Tector over the coding and called out the phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!"_ He felt the primal power of his Beast Spirit flowing into him as his clothes ripped away and his body became surrounded by the coding. Takuya cried out as the power flooded into his body. His body grew in strength and power as well as size, with red, yellow, black, and white armor forming on his body. A tail extended out from the base of his spine as two large orange wings appeared on his body. His head became like a dragon's almost, but not exactly, and the top of his head was white. His eyes turned sky blue, but had a feral edge to them as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"BurningGreymon!"_

Dash took out his D-Tector as the dark green Beast Spirit roared before appearing on the screen of the tan and brown device. He invoked the ball of fractal coding on his hand before swiping the D-Tector across the coding. _"EXECUTE! BEAST SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"_ Dash cried out as the coding surrounded his body. He could feel his skin becoming bark, with the leaves forming on his back. A tail sprouted from his spine as his body took on a quadruped form, and the leaves around his neck formed as well. Finally, the coding vanished as he landed, swishing his tail around before calling out his Beast Spirit name. _"PETALDRAMON!"_

"Better decide who's going where now!" Petaldramon quickly said.

Tommy went over to Takuya, Koji, who was carrying the captured Tapirmon, also went to Takuya out of instinct than anything else. BurningGreymon picked them both up. Koichi jumped onto Petaldramon's back. There was no time to think, no time to question if this was a good idea, no time to ask if they should've stuck together, they only had time for action. Petaldramon burrowed underground with Koichi while BurningGreymon quickly flew up high with Tommy and Koji in his claws.

"It's coming!" Tommy called out.

BurningGreymon looked down, seeing the Nightmare Syndrome was starting to fly up towards him. It was time for some evasive maneuvers.

Taking action, BurningGreymon flew in a sharp turn to the left before he did a slight dive, then climbed at a sharp angle before weaving right. Tommy and Koji had to hang on tight to keep from falling as BurningGreymon was doing his best to get away from the Nightmare Syndrome.

BurningGreymon was able to fly out of the forest. The Nightmare Syndrome tried to chase him, but since Dreammon wasn't nearby, they eventually had to stop chasing BurningGreymon. They were strong, but not endlessly strong that they could chase them even being far away from their owners.

"Looks like the Nightmare Syndrome stopped chasing us," Koji noted.

BurningGreymon looked back. "Yeah… I hope the others are safe like we are."

BurningGreymon kept going until they were out of the forest entirely, he looked down, seeing something was tunneling out. They noticed it was Petaldramon, he was crawling out of the hole with Koichi on his back.

"Hey… I think they're okay!" BurningGreymon noted as he saw the two, looking no worse for the wear.

"Hehe." The Tapirmon in the net grinned.

"Wait… why is this Tapirmon grinning?" Tommy frowned, suspicious.

Koji felt a tingle run down his spine, one that he did not like. It felt like the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, and he had a chill in his gut. His eyes were wide as he looked at Koichi and Petaldramon, a feeling of dread coming up on him.

Koichi stood up from Petaldramon's back and jumped off of him. He looked up at BurningGreymon. "What's wrong? Why don't you come down here? Don't you want to make sure we're alright?"

Koji shook his head. "No… Don't do it…" He looked shaken up.

"Why not? What's wrong, Koji?" BurningGreymon asked.

Koji looked worried. "I… something's wrong… It's… hard to explain but… I feel like… something is off… Like Koichi is… not himself…"

Tommy frowned as he looked down at Petaldramon and Koichi. Petaldramon had been unusually quiet since they surfaced, he wasn't looking up at them either. Tommy squinted his eyes as he looked at Koichi. It was a little hard to tell from where they were, but Koichi's eyes looked… lifeless.

"Takuya… we need to get to Seraphimon's castle, now," Tommy whispered urgently.

Hearing Koji's words reminded BurningGreymon of how Andy had described what he felt when Danny had something happen to him, and with Tommy's urgent warning to him, he had the feeling something was wrong and that he needed to get out of there.

"Don't leave… after all, isn't leaving what caused me to become Duskmon in the first place?" Koichi asked.

Koji was hit hard by those words, his heart clenched. Koichi held up his dark D-Tector. The purple digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector and he formed the ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes vanished as his body became digital, and coding surrounded his body as the power of the Spirit coursed through him. Grey and gold armor formed on his body, his strength increasing as well. He seemed to grow in height, and his eyes opened to reveal them a reddish color. He landed, forming a staff in his hand and a shield in the other. With two swings of the staff, he called out his name. _"Loweemon!"_

"Koichi! No! Stop this!" Koji frantically yelled.

"I won't let you abandon me again, Koji! Not ever again!" Loweemon shouted.

BurningGreymon looked down at Lowemon and Petaldramon. "Koji, we have to leave… They're under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome."

Before BurningGreymon could fly up, however, Petaldramon buried his two tails underground. _"Thorn Jab!"_

Large tree roots and vines came up from the ground, quickly grabbing onto BurningGreymon's body, preventing him from flying. Loweemon jumped onto BurningGreymon, heading straight for Koji.

BurningGreymon grunted as he tried to escape the vines. "NO! Don't!" He was _very_ tempted to use his Wildfire Tsunami to break the vines, but with Koji, Tommy, and the Tapirmon on his body, he couldn't take the risk of hurting them.

Koji gasped as he jumped off of BurningGreymon and began falling. But still, the boy wasn't taking this lying down. Koji grabbed his own D-Tector as he was falling. Pulling out his D-Tector the boy was quick to act next. He held up his D-Tector and the white digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!" _His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the energy of the Spirit entered his body. His eyes became red as his hair shortened and turned almost platinum in color. A white helmet covered his head as white and blue armor covered his body. He grasped the familiar beam sabers and swung them a few times before clasping them around his waist and firing off his arm laser. _"Lobomon!"_

Loweemon was falling towards Lobomon with his spear. Lobomon quickly summoned his laser swords to block the incoming attack. Both brothers fell to the ground.

"I'm weak, I will always be weak, I could never be the hero. Why? Why do all of you judge me? For every move I make, I can tell, you will always judge me, always waiting for me to just snap and go back to my bullying ways," Petaldramon hissed quietly.

BurningGreymon looked down at Petaldramon. "No… I'm not judging you. You've… You've been working hard to change. And it shows. Why else would the Spirits of Wood choose you to wield them? You've been getting better as a person, not worse!"

"The Spirits of Wood terrorized people, he's just as big as a bully as I was!" Petaldramon snapped. "Why is it always me? Why am I destined to be like this?"

Petaldramon let out a frustrated roar before he began to pull BurningGreymon down with his Thorn Jab. Tommy grabbed onto the Tapirmon.

"I'm getting off of you, Takuya," Tommy said to BurningGreymon.

BurningGreymon nodded. "Okay… Just be careful, Tommy."

"You too," Tommy said before he jumped off of BurningGreymon's shoulder, still holding onto the Tapirmon.

Now with Tommy and Tapirmon off of him, BurningGreymon could now burn off the vines that were holding him.

Relieved he wouldn't have to hurt Tommy now, BurningGreymon began to channel his flames into his body. _"Wildfire Tsunami!"_ The flames coursed out from the gaps in his armor and around the vines, burning them away and allowing him to spread his orange wings once more.

Petaldramon growled. "If I'm always going to be the villain of the story, then I might as well embrace it! _Leaf Cyclone!_"

BurningGreymon was surrounded by a tornado of sharp leaves. Thinking fast, BurningGreymon spun around and began to fire his arm cannons. _"Atomic Corona Blaster!"_ The cannons fired, unleashing a slew of red fiert bullets at the leaves as he spun around in the air, setting the leaves ablaze.

BurningGreymon felt a bit off balance after that, though Petaldramon was hissing in pain from the fire. Still, Petaldramon wasn't going to go down that easily. He brought out leaves around his wounds, which were quickly healing up. Petaldramon had always been quite the threat 4 years ago, but in the hands of a proper Legendary Warrior, he was even tougher.

Regaining his senses, BurningGreymon shook his head before he looked back at Petaldramon. "Okay… I won't be doing that move again…" He muttered to himself.

Lobomon and Loweemon were fighting each other sword to spear. Lobomon didn't want to hurt Loweemon, but Loweemon had no such reserves. Lobomon knew he couldn't reason with Loweemon while he was in a nightmare state, but he still wanted to keep trying nonetheless.

"Please stop, Koichi. We're brothers, don't you remember?" Lobomon begged.

"I remember. But I also remember you abandoned me!" Loweemon shot back, venom in his voice.

This hurt Lobomon's heart more than any of Loweemon's attacks ever did. "No, I never abandoned you… you're under the influence of a Nightmare Syndrome!"

"You did abandon me, just as you were going to abandon me again!" Loweemon hissed as he thrust his spear at Lobomon's chest.

Lobomon let out a cry as the spear seemed to pierce through his armor.

Then something surprising happened, Loweemon stopped his assault on Lobomon, and pulled his spear out. Loweemon's eyes, though still glazed, did widen in horror. "I'm… so sorry… Koji…"

Loweemon suddenly fell to the ground, reverting back to Koichi.

Lobomon panted, looking at his unconscious and sleeping brother. His chest armor had not been penetrated thankfully, but the dent was quite painful. He knelt down and picked up Koichi, feeling bad for fighting his brother. But he also felt the emotional pain that had come from Koichi's claims of being abandoned.

"Don't worry… Koichi… I promise, we will… find a way to… get you out of your nightmare…" Lobomon promised.

Meanwhile, BurningGreymon was having trouble fighting against Petaldramon. All their sparring sessions had paid off, though in Petaldramon's favor it would seem. Petaldramon knew all of BurningGreymon's moves, and not only did he dodge and heal himself, but he was attacking relentlessly, while BurningGreymon was trying not to hurt Petaldramon too much. His flames could end up seriously hurting Dash if he wasn't careful.

Tommy was watching from a small bit of distance, he knew he had to do something before this got out of hand. The Tapirmon was grinning.

"What's wrong? Afraid to leave me alone? Think that I would escape?" Tapirmon asked.

Tommy glared at the Tapirmon. "No. I didn't want to have to get involved, but this fight needs to come to an end."

Tommy took his D-Tector out of his pocket. The light green digital form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector and he formed the familiar ring of fractal coding around his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. He lost his hair and his body became white as snow. His fingers became like paws almost and he gained a more cub-like appearance to his body. Green chest armor formed on his body and his feet gained green and red boots. A headband that had the image of a bear on it formed on his head, and he gained a shoulder pad on each side, but one was red while the other was grey in color. He slid down and landed as a mushy pile before he reformed and grinned, calling out his name. _"Kumamon!"_

"Oh? What's a little teddy bear like you going to do? I'm surprised you didn't go for your much bigger and stronger Beast Spirit," Tapirmon snickered.

Kumamon looked at Tapirmon. "If I was in my beast form, I couldn't do this. _Crystal Breeze!_"

Kumamon froze the Tapirmon in ice, hoping that would keep her from escaping. Now sure the Tapirmon wouldn't be able to escape, Kumamon hurried to the battle between BurningGreymon and Petaldramon. _Hang on, Takuya, I'm coming!_

BurningGreymon was feeling a bit exhausted now. Even though he had good stamina, against Petaldramon and his healing, it was getting difficult.

Petaldramon was getting ready to attack again, when suddenly… _"Crystal Breeze!"_

Petaldramon's glazed eyes went wide as his front leg was suddenly frozen. Then another one of his legs got frozen. Then another one. He growled and struggled.

Kumamon was running underneath the behemoth that was Petaldramon. Petaldramon managed to use his one free foot to stomp on the icy bear. However, Kumamon's body was liquified, so Petaldramon's stomp didn't hurt him too much. Then Kumamon had his liquid body jump over Petaldramon's head. The body suddenly turned into a giant icicle tundra.

_"__Frozen Tundra!"_ Kumamon's sharp ice body slammed into Petaldramon's neck.

BurningGreymon saw the Warrior of Ice making his attack, and his eyes widened. "Kumamon! Be careful!"

Petaldramon threw off the bear, who landed on the ground nearby. Kumamon liquified his body again, before returning it to normal. Petaldramon growled as he broke the ice on his feet and began to storm towards Kumamon.

Seeing the charging Petaldramon, BurningGreymon sprang into action. Fire coated his body as he flew at Petaldramon. _"Drag Fanger!"_ The charge impacted Petaldramon, sending him stumbling back from Kumamon's location.

Petaldramon let out a shout of pain from the burning impact, his body writhing around as it burned. Kumamon ran over to Petaldramon, taking out his Launcher. "I'll cool you down! _Blizzard Blaster!_"

Kumamon shot out rapid snowballs at the burning Spirit of Wood, cooling off the flames. Petaldramon groaned, being hit by both fire and ice weakened him greatly. He groaned as he laid there on the ground before he was covered in fractal code, turning back into Dash.

Panting, BurningGreymon slide-evolved into his Human Spirit form and cautiously approached the unconscious Dash. Agunimon knelt down and gently nudged Dash, but all he got was a groan.

Kumamon sighed in relief, glad that the fight was over before any real damage could be done. "We should go…"

At the same time, Lobomon came staggering over while holding onto the sleeping Koichi. "Yeah… we should. Both Dash and Koichi are under the Nightmare Syndrome…" He was panting slightly, and he had a good-sized dent on his chest armor.

Kumamon rushed over to Lobomon, seeing the injury, but stopped himself suddenly. He frowned, realizing that if he wanted to help Lobomon with his injuries, he would have to expose who he was as Calumon. Kumamon decided to go over to where the Tapirmon was. He was relieved to see she was still there, frozen. He picked up the frozen Tapirmon and the net. "I still have the Tapirmon. If we hurry, we can get back before anything else happens."

Lobomon nodded. "Let's do that then…" He hissed at the pain of his injury. "I don't know how long we could keep fighting if more Tapirmon come this way…"

Agunimon nodded in agreement. He hoped these two would be the last of their friends to fall to the Nightmare Syndrome.

* * *

It was lunch time at Casper High in Amity Park. Takuya 2 had kept an eye on the three 'kids' in the house, but they didn't do anything other than chat with the Fentons about ghost fighting. They had to leave eventually though.

Andy had noticed that despite the town being invaded by ghosts, the ghosts didn't seem interested in really hurting anyone. They caused a lot of trouble, and property damage, but they hadn't done anything to the humans themselves, as far as the boy could tell. There hadn't been any news of people suddenly going missing, or found dead or injured somewhere. Although the property damage and the chaos the ghosts were causing was definitely a cause for concern, it wasn't an emergency that they had to sacrifice their own health and sanity over. They mostly rested yesterday, and were going to go over a plan at school the next day, which they planned to during lunch.

Unfortunately, they didn't expect the Fentons to be at school as well.

Maddie was waiting when Danny, Andy, Jazz, Sam and Tucker came out for lunch. "Alright kids, hurry up and eat your nutritious meals!" Maddie said to the students through her megaphone.

"Oh crap!" Andy quickly backed away the second he saw Maddie standing there with the megaphone.

Danny cringed. "Oh boy…"

Jazz looked like she wanted to either forget she was related to these people or she wanted to hide in a hole.

Maddie turned to them and smiled. "Hi sweetie! Here's a nutritious bag lunch! … Where's your brother?"

Maddie was still speaking through her megaphone, letting the entire student body hear her as she was talking to Danny, who would've turned invisible by now if it weren't for the fact his parents were ghost hunters. Andy was being smart and decided to hide out of sight from Maddie by going in between Tucker and Sam. He put his finger to his lips, making sure they got the message to keep quiet.

Sam and Tucker nodded, not even saying a word. Jazz didn't see Andy, but she had the feeling he was nearby, just hiding.

Danny looked at his mom. "Oh! Uh… Andy will be out soon. I can give him his lunch when he gets here."

"Great, you do that, sweetie!" Maddie grinned as she gave Danny another bag lunch that belonged to Andy.

"Move, move, move," Andy whispered.

The group quickly walked away from Maddie and headed to an empty table.

Now at the table, Tucker and Sam moved aside so Andy could sit down. "Wow, Andy. I didn't think you would be one to hide like that." Sam joked.

"When it comes to having your parents at your school, you take whatever measures you can to avoid embarrassment," Andy grumbled, keeping his head low at the table as Danny passed him his bag lunch.

Danny chuckled as he sat down. "It's fine, bro. Mom didn't see you."

"That doesn't mean she won't see me eventually…" Andy grumbled as he took out a chicken sandwich from his bag lunch, a container of yogurt, a box of apple juice, and a spork for his yogurt.

Danny had pretty much the same thing in his bag lunch.

Then Jack drove up his Fenton Assault Vehicle into the area before he turned on the portal Ghost Shield to cover up the school. Jack came out of the RV and shouted in the megaphone. "This portal Ghost Shield only has enough power to last for 15 minutes! So chew, chew like the wind!"

Danny was looking somewhat nervous as he ate quickly.

Sam noticed this and became concerned. "Danny? Are you okay?"

"No. Why would I be?" Danny asked as he ate quickly some more before he ate something he shouldn't have. "Just because the town is on high alert, our parents are at our school, Takuya is in the Digital World doing who knows what, and-" Danny was eating his yogurt before he pushed the entire spork into his mouth, and accidentally swallowed it. "-I'm eating so fast I swallowed my spork!"

Andy, who was also eating his yogurt with his own spork, saw that. He stopped in mid bite, before he silently moved his spork over to Dorimon. Dorimon happily ate up the metallic spork. Andy would rather Dorimon eat his spork than swallowing it himself.

Danny turned his arm intangible before he reached into his stomach and pulled out the spork. "There we go."

Dorimon saw that and gave a disgusted look. "Is he going to eat with that even though it was in his stomach?"

"You probably don't want it, Dorimon. It's been contaminated…" Andy whispered.

Dorimon's eyes widened at that. "G-good point."

"Well how are you going to eat your yogurt now?" Jazz asked Andy.

"... Uh… lick it?" Andy sheepishly grinned.

Jazz sighed before she handed Andy a spoon. "Use a spoon at least…"

Dorimon snickered at the response. Andy just grumbled.

"So what are we going to do about that wolf ghost?" Sam asked.

"We're going to try to talk to him," Andy said. "He seems like he needed help. Though he was speaking in a language we're not familiar with."

Tucker perked up. "What did this language sound like?"

"I only heard him say 'silvi' or something like that," Danny answered.

"I SAID KEEP CHEWING!" Jack shouted at them, which caused them to quickly start scarfing down their food.

"That sounds like Esperanto." Tucker said as he set down his sandwich.

"Esper… wawa?" Sam blinked, never having heard that language before.

"Esperanto. It was a language developed in the late 1800s, it was originally proposed to be a universal language, but it died out." Tucker explained. "Now nerds use it to talk to other nerds mostly."

"So that's the language I hear you using with Mikey sometimes," Andy noted.

"I'm very interested in that, how did it become something only nerds use to talk to each other?" Jazz questioned.

"It just never caught on I guess." Tucker replied with a shrug. "I don't know the details on why it died out, just that it did. Though we nerds thought it would be useful to have a language that no other people know about so we could warn each other if a bully was coming nearby or something. It's also good to keep our secrets."

"We may have to learn how to speak that at some point ourselves…" Danny noted.

"But for now… we did discover something helpful," Andy spoke up. "Digimon can understand the language just fine."

Tucker blinked as he processed this information. Then his eyes went wide. "Of course… Being made of data, Digimon can understand any language since most cultures and nations use computers to communicate!"

Jazz's eyes went wide. "Really? Wow! This is amazing! I wonder how that affects a Digimon psychologically to be able to understand any language…"

"It makes it easier to understand any language and culture," Salamon remarked. "I couldn't say if it really affects us any differently from you though."

"At least we don't have to worry about not understanding someone because they speak a different language," Lopmon chuckled.

Sam smiled. "Yeah, and we can use that to our advantage if we are to find out what that wolf-ghost is doing here."

"Yeah, but that wolf ghost could be anywhere," Terriermon noted. "How are we going to find him among the hundreds of ghosts that are already here?"

As if on cue, a blue mist came out of Danny's mouth. Though the Digimon didn't shiver due to having already sensed a lot of ghosts all day and night.

Danny looked around. "I think we got our answer…" He muttered, looking around for the ghost. "Because I think the ghost is here…"

"But we're inside an anti ghost shield, how could the ghost be here?" Tucker asked.

Andy looked back at the RV for a moment, then suddenly it broke down, the device that made the ghost shield suddenly broke off, shutting off the shield.

Danny saw Andy looking back at the RV and groaned. "Oh no… The ghost took out the ghost shield!"

Jack began to cry a little, seeing his pride and joy had been destroyed while Maddie was trying to comfort him. Then suddenly, the wolf ghost came up from under the ground, and floated up there while everyone looked up in surprise.

"Well… we found our wolf ghost…" Andy grumbled. "In public… where our parents are."

Suddenly, the wolf ghost let out a cry of pain, the collar around its neck just shocked him. There were a few ghosts not too far away. One of them looked different from the other soldier ghosts. He had purplish skin, an eye patch on his left eye, and had spiky arm bands near his wrists. He wore a red cape and had camo-patterned pants on as well as combat boots, and he had a cyan tail as well. His other, uncovered eye was red, and he had sharp teeth. On his head was a bandanna or head covering of some kind as well. He was holding a remote and pushing some buttons.

The wolf ghost looked at them fearfully before he started flying away.

"Get him!" The red cape wearing ghost shouted, who was likely second in command of these soldiers since Andy was pretty sure Walker, who had likely reformed by now, was still in charge.

The wolf ghost hit the table they were using, causing Andy's sandwich to hit his face, and Jazz's yogurt to slam into her forehead.

Jazz grumbled as she reached up and pulled off her yogurt container from her forehead. "We need to help that ghost wolf. It looks scared."

"Yeah… yeah, I'll get right on that…" Andy groaned, rubbing the food off his head and shirt. "Ugh… Danny, maybe you should go on ahead. The rest of us aren't exactly… well equipped to catch fast flying ghosts."

Danny nodded. "Okay, bro." He then turned and ran to hide behind a tree so he could transform. "I'm going ghost!" The white rings formed on his torso before splitting horizontally and moving up for the upper ring and down for the lower ring, showing his Phantom form. His eyes were now ectoplasmic green and his hair was white as snow.

Now as a ghost, Danny flew up into the sky to catch up to the other ghosts. What he didn't notice, however, was that Jack was training a new kind of weapon on him.

"One blast and you'll find yourself teleported back to the empty dimension you call home," Jack stated as he began to power up the bazooka.

Jazz and Andy, seeing this, quickly ran at their dad, all but tackling him. This caused Jack's aim to miss Danny and hit the other soldier ghosts instead. They were quickly sucked into a ghost portal before it disappeared.

Danny blinked. "Whoa… Portable Ghost Portal… That's new…" He had barely come to a stop and avoided it, so he was a bit shaken up.

Jazz couldn't believe it. "Okay… that is a bit scary…"

"Jazz, Andy, be more careful! I know you're scared of the ghosts, but you should be watching where you're running to," Jack scolded.

Jazz gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry, dad…" _That was close..._

_I'm considering having Dorimon eat that bazooka…_ Andy pondered.

Danny flew after the ghost that was still chasing after the wolf ghost. The ghost chasing the wolf used some kind of device that sent out some kind of purple ectoplasmic rope that wrapped around the wolf's tail, shocking him. Danny frowned before he dove towards the wolf ghost. Danny punched the ghost that was hurting the wolf ghost, making him spin around, causing the ecto rope to get caught up on him. Then Danny shot a ghost ray at the rope, cutting it off of the wolf's tail. Danny then grabbed onto the rope and sent his own ghostly energy into it.

Andy looked up and was surprised to see Danny turning the ecto rope green with his own ghost ray, and the ghost that was chasing the wolf got zapped by the rope. The ghost let out a scream before he suddenly vanished.

"How the heck did he do that?" Andy questioned. "Could he do that before? Did he know he could do that?"

Jazz blinked. "I… don't know. That is a neat trick though."

"Hey, this is no time to be standing gawking! They're landing," Lopmon pointed out.

Jazz blinked, seeing the two ghosts were indeed landing. Well, Danny and the wolf ghost were anyway. "Let's go see if Danny's okay."

"Be careful with the wolf ghost, we don't know if he's friend or foe yet," Andy spoke up as he followed Jazz to where the two ghosts landed.

Danny was looking at the wolf ghost, who was looking back at Danny curiously. "I'm a friend… uh… you know… 'friend'?"

In response, the wolf-ghost wound up giving Danny a big fat lick to the face.

"Danny!" Jazz and Andy came running over.

The wolf ghost growled at them, stopping them both. Dorimon hopped down from Andy's backpack and let out a growl of his own.

"Don't hurt them, they are with the ghost boy," Lopmon spoke up, hopping down from Jazz's backpack.

The wolf ghost stopped growling as he looked at the two Digimon. He said something that the humans didn't understand. The Digimon, however, understood perfectly.

"Yes, yes, we're here to help you," Dorimon answered.

**_"_****_Why would you help me? You two are Digimon, are you not? Aren't our two species enemies?"_** The wolf ghost asked in Esperanto.

Lopmon nodded. "We may be, but we will not let someone get hurt, even if they are a ghost."

**_"_****_If you're willing to help me, then I don't care what you are. Just get me away from Walker and his soldiers. You may call me Wulf,"_** The wolf ghost stated.

"Uh… 'Wulf'? Isn't that like calling a human 'Human'?" Dorimon questioned.

**_"_****_I like to keep my name simple and easy to remember,"_** Wulf answered.

Lopmon looked back at Jazz and Andy. "So his name is Wulf, and he's on the run from Walker. That's about all we got from him though."

"Maybe we should take him somewhere safe and ask him about Walker," Andy suggested. "In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the most-"

Just then, Jack Fenton came popping out of the brush. "AHA! Now I've got you!" He declared, only for the Fenton Fisher line to be a tangled up mess. He noticed and began to work on untangling the line. "As soon as I get this untangled, you two beasties are going down! And… Jazz? Andy? What are you two doing here with these ghosts?"

"We're… just… checking them out," Andy said.

"You know… to prepare ourselves for… future ghost hunting…?" Jazz smiled sheepishly.

"No! Don't say that!" Andy hissed.

"Wait… really? You two are interested in ghost hunting!?" Jack all but boomed happily.

Jazz realized her mistake and tried to correct it. "You know… in case we get attacked. Not that we are _really_ interested like you and mom! It's just more of a side thing so we aren't caught off-guard."

"We should probably leave," Danny sighed before noticing a red laser dot pointing at his chest. "What's this-"

"Move!" Andy yelled suddenly as he tackled his brother down to the ground.

Danny's entire body felt cold and light, something Andy hadn't noticed before whenever Danny was in his ghost form, it disturbed him a little how easy it was to knock Danny over, due to how light his body was. They both hit the ground just before a large blast of ecto laser went right past them.

Jazz dove to the side as well, shoving Wulf to the same side she was diving to. The large ecto-laser hit the ground, creating a large crater from the impact. Jazz looked back and felt her face pale. "Oh crud…"

"Jazz! Andy! What are you two doing with these ghosts? Get away from there, they're too dangerous!" Maddie scolded, holding an even bigger bazooka than Jack did and was still able to carry it around just fine.

Jazz looked at Maddie before looking at Wulf. "We'd better run…"

Maddie was about to demand that Jazz and Andy get away again before something loud disrupted her thoughts. She tried to see where the sound was coming from. Dorimon and Lopmon could see it was Salamon using her Puppy Howling to distract the adult Fentons.

"Now's your chance, take Wulf and get out of here! We'll meet you at Tucker's place later," Andy whispered to Danny.

"Why Tucker's-"

"Do you really want to bring a ghost fugitive to _our_ house?" Andy asked.

Danny nodded. "Right… Okay. I'll do that." He got to his feet before taking flight and grabbing hold of Wulf, fleeing the area with him.

With Danny and Wulf gone, Salamon stopped using her howling attack and quickly went back to Sam who quickly picked her up and put her in her backpack. Andy and Jazz quickly picked up their Digimon partners as well.

"Jack! We better do a sweep around the school, there could be more ghosts here. One tried to melt my brain with a loud burst of ghostly noise," Maddie warned her husband. "And stop using the Fenton Fisher if you're just going to tangle yourself up!"

Jack pouted. "But it was not tangled when I grabbed it!" He protested. "I think a ghost did it!"

Maddie looked at her two kids. "We're going to have a talk about this when we get home."

"Y-yes, Mom…" Andy gulped. _And Takuya thinks I'm evil?_

Jazz felt nervous, as she never got scolded due to her diligence and following the rules, so this was a first for her. "O-of course, Mom…" _Oh man… Who knew being involved with Digimon and ghosts could be so complicated…?_

Andy went over to Tucker and Sam when Jack and Maddie began to look around the school. "Tucker, we're going to be meeting up with Danny and Wulf, that wolf ghost, at your house."

Tucker blinked. "My house? Why-" He cut himself off as he remembered what the Fentons did for a living. "Oh… right. That makes sense then."

"Thanks for distracting them Sam, Salamon," Jazz said gratefully.

"It's the least we could do," Salamon remarked. "It's… painful to see one's parents hunting their own child, even if they don't realize it."

Jazz then froze. "Wait… Mom said a 'ghost tried to melt her brain with a loud burst of ghostly noise'. I think she thought Salamon's Puppy Howling was a ghost attack."

"It's not that surprising," Sam sighed. "They likely don't know anything about Digimon. For all they know, all the Digimon sightings were just ghosts."

"They should have an idea there's more than just ghosts around, especially after that incident with ShadowSeraphimon," Andy pointed out. "But… I have to admit… it's been a while since we saw any Digimon in this world, other than you guys of course."

Jazz frowned. "Yeah… That _is_ odd…" She began thinking. "Could it be tied to the crisis in the Digital World that Takuya had to go help with?"

"It might be…" Lopmon frowned.

"I wish I knew what was going on in the Digital World in our absence." Salamon frowned as well.

"Should we go back there and check?" Terriermon suggested, also worried since he had served in the military to try to keep the Digital World safe before.

Andy looked up for a moment. "Let's focus on one thing at a time first. We have a ghost problem we need to solve here first. After that, and if Takuya still hasn't returned, we'll go to the Digital World and see what's going on there."

"I agree with Andy, Takuya can take care of himself in the Digital World. He's got friends there helping him too, I'm sure. For now, we're needed here," Dorimon added.

Jazz nodded. "That's a good plan. We take care of these ghosts first, and then go help Takuya in the Digital World."

"Then we better head to my place soon," Tucker sighed. "I hope Mom and Dad aren't home right now…"

"Too bad my parents are home _all_ the freaking time, otherwise I'd say we take the ghost fugitive to my place," Sam grumbled.

Jazz gave a sad smile to Sam. "We can't have it our way all the time, you know."

"When is it ever?" Sam frowned.

* * *

With the chaos going on at Casper High, it was easy for Andy and his friends, including Takuya 2, to sneak off to Tucker's house. Tucker's parents weren't home right now, so it made it easy for Tucker to get Danny and Wulf to hide in the attic.

"My parents never come up here, so it should be safe to hide out here for a while," Tucker explained.

Jazz nodded. "That's good. But now what? Do we get that collar off or something?"

"That collar is likely what's keeping Wulf from truly escaping Walker and his goons," Danny grumbled.

"Well, now that we're here, maybe we can ask Wulf if he knows anything about what's Walker trying to do by sending all his soldiers into our world," Andy suggested.

Jazz looked at Lopmon. "Why don't you ask Wulf, Lopmon? You can clearly understand this Esperanto language, so it should be easy for you."

"Very well. For the sake of convenience, I will be the translator for Wulf and the rest of you," Lopmon decided as he hopped down from Jazz's lap and landed in front of Wulf. "So tell, Wulf, do you know what Walker, your captive warden, is up to here?"

**_"_****_I'm not too sure, since I do not speak the same verbal language as he does,"_** Wulf answered.**_ "Though as ghosts, we do have our own unique way of communicating universally. Walker did not give me a lot of details. He mainly told me if I used my ability to claw myself, and him and his soldiers, into this world, this town specifically, he will free me from this collar."_**

Lopmon frowned at the information. "So he never mentioned what he needed your ability for?"

**_"_****_He just told me to go into this world and cause a bit of havoc. He also told me to sniff out the unusual ghost boy, though when I first saw him, I couldn't tell which boy it was,"_** Wulf stated, looking particularly at Andy and the now obvious ghost boy floating next to him.

"So Walker wanted you to find Danny Phantom is what it sounds like." Lopmon noted as he looked at Danny as well. "But why bring all of his soldiers here for one ghost boy?"

**_"_****_He said something about wanting to turn this world into a prison for the ghost boy,"_** Wulf replied. **_"But that is all I know about it. You have to understand, I was desperate to get this collar off. I didn't know much about the ghost boy,, but I wasn't happy about it. Ghost children are very valuable in our world. So few could produce children of their own. I came back to look for the ghost boy, but I didn't realize Walker's assistant, Bullet, and his soldiers were around the area."_**

Lopmon frowned again. "It sounds like Walker is hoping to make this town Danny's prison somehow…" He mused in concern.

Jazz became a bit worried. "But how could this Walker plan to do that?"

"Wulf doesn't know, but we may have the pieces to the puzzle, we just have to put them together," Lopmon stated.

"So what we do know is that Wulf apparently has the ability to claw his way into this world and the Ghost Zone," Dorimon spoke up. "And Walker had been using this ability to bring his soldiers here to create chaos and havoc."

"Ironic for someone who's so deadset on following the rules." Terriermon rolled his eyes.

"That would be a hypocrite, Terriermon," Salamon informed.

"But why would that turn this place into a prison for Danny? Sure it would make things a lot harder for him, and us, but I wouldn't say it would be a giant prison for him," Tucker questioned.

"There's likely more to it than just causing trouble in Amity Park," Sam noted

Jazz nodded in agreement. "There's never just one reason. If you think about it, maybe this could be some part of this Walker ghost's obsession."

"What do you think, bro? You've been pretty quiet," Danny asked, seeing his brother was thinking.

"I'm not sure yet, but it sounds like this might be a multiple step plan," Andy said.

"What do you mean?" Tucker questioned.

"Like… how step 1 is to cause chaos and panic with his soldiers, step 2 is bringing Wulf out here to sniff out Danny, and so on," Andy listed. "Likely there's a step 3 and onwards before his plan is complete."

"I just want to say, remember those kids who were at your house the other day?" Takuya 2 spoke up. "And how weird they were acting?"

Andy furrowed his eyebrows. "Could that have been related to one of Walker's plans?"

Jazz frowned. "If the kids at our house were acting odd, do you think they were overshadowed? I mean, there's no way the popular kids would just come over, right?"

"If they are overshadowed, then Walker must not want Danny to know he's there," Andy guessed. "But I can't think of why yet. This whole plan seems convoluted."

Lopmon frowned again. "I think it's odd yes, but then again, ghosts don't seem to be predictable. We should keep an eye on Walker's goons to see what they have planned."

"Where do you think they are right now?" Sam asked. "Think they might be back at Fenton Works playing 'Ghost Keteers'?"

"I doubt it. Mom and Dad will be patrolling the city all night," Jazz answered.

"They could be at the school. I doubt they'd want to go home to the kids' they're overshadowing house. They'd have to deal with their parents and all that," Takuya 2 pointed out. "The school is the next best thing for them."

"I have to agree." Sam noted. "The homes of the popular kids would be out because their parents would know if something was wrong. School on the other hand, is a larger place with more people, so that means less people to notice their odd behavior." Sam's eyes then went wide with realization. "Or that could mean more victims to overshadow as well!"

"Maybe we should go storm the school," Terriermon suggested. "Like how you do in that video game to save all the kids from the nasty parasite monster!"

"You play too many games," Lopmon grumbled.

"Besides, these are ghosts, not parasite monsters, how do you plan on fighting those?" Dorimon pointed out.

Tucker looked at Terriermon before looking down in thought. "Terriermon has a point. But at the same time, we need to be stealthy. We can't just barge in there. We need to gather information before we take action. I mean, this is a ghost _army_ we are facing down. We need to act carefully."

"Perhaps we should send in one or two people at the school to try to get information or analyze the situation," Salamon spoke up. "A small group is less likely to get caught than a big one."

Danny nodded. "That's a good idea. But now the question is, who do we send in the group to the school?"

"I think that you're probably one of the best candidates, bro," Andy spoke up. "As a ghost, you have better stealth than any of us here. You can go invisible, fly fast, and go intangible."

"That's true," Takuya 2 agreed. "Who would be better at stealth than a ghost?"

Danny blinked. "But I'm the one Walker is after! If I go, his goons may find out where I am!"

"And if any of us goes, they'll find us due to our Digimon partners. And unlike you, the rest of us can't fly, go through walls, or go invisible," Jazz pointed out. "You have the best chance of outrunning them if you are caught."

"If it will help, Danny, Dorimon and I will go with you. Dorugamon is the only Digimon here who can fly if needed, so at the very least, I'll be able to ride on a fast flying Digimon if we need to make a fast getaway," Andy stated.

Danny smiled. "That would be nice, bro." He then frowned. "But Walker may mistake you for me, so I want you to be extra careful if we do go as a group."

"Walker… did think I was you, didn't he?" Andy remembered. "Maybe we can use that to our advantage."

Danny blinked. "Oh? How so?"

Dorimon blinked. "I gotta hear this."

"If Walker does see us, he would be confused as to who to go after," Andy said.

"But if he sees you flying on Dorugamon, wouldn't he just know you're not Danny?" Sam pointed out.

"Not necessarily. Danny can make it so it would look like I was flying if he was holding me invisibly. He would be close enough to me that the ghosts wouldn't be able to tell his ghostly aura isn't coming from me," Andy noted.

Dorimon was snickering at the idea while Danny blinked. "Hmm… That… could actually work. Ghosts don't seem to know twins when they see them, at least, as far as we know, so we can use that against them."

"But it'll be easy to tell if Danny is in ghost form since he does look different enough in that form," Lopmon pointed out. "Not to mention the ghostly aura he's putting out makes it unmistakable that he's the ghost boy they're looking for."

"That's where the invisibility comes into play," Andy said. "Danny… listen, this is what we'll do…"

* * *

"I don't know, bro, I still don't feel like this is the best idea ever. You could get seriously hurt," Danny Phantom said for the upteenth time as he was flying towards the school with Andy riding on Dorugamon.

Andy was wearing his own hazmat suit, though surprisingly enough, his usually black hair was currently white. Andy's hazmat suit looked identical to Danny's black and white hazmat suit. "It'll be fine. This wig that Sam put on me fits like a snug bug, so it won't fall off so easily. And this spray paint on my hazmat suit should keep the other ghosts fooled… as long as I don't get it wet."

Danny frowned. "I still think this is a bad idea." He then sighed. "But, if you think this will work, then let's at least give it a try."

"We're coming up to the school now," Dorugamon announced.

"Alright, go ahead and land, Dorugamon," Andy instructed.

Dorugamon did as instructed and landed just outside the school. Andy swiped a degeneration card on his D-Arc, letting Dorugamon return to his In-Training form, Dorimon.

"There, this way as less data, you're less likely to get sensed," Andy said as he picked Dorimon up into his arms.

Dorimon frowned. "That's true, but I don't like this idea myself. You never know what could happen."

Then Dorimon paused, remembering how Andy had visions of the future, even if the boy would keep denying it. "Do you?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. It's either that or let Danny go on his own or put someone else in danger instead," Andy sighed. "Or we do nothing and let Walker get away with whatever it is he's planning."

Dorimon sighed. "I guess we'll just have to hope for the best then…"

"Okay, bro, hang on," Danny whispered as he picked up Andy, turning them both intangible as he flew into the school.

Following his ghost sense, Danny flew through the dark school. Andy couldn't help but notice how much creepier the school was at night.

Danny looked around before coming to a hover and setting Andy down carefully. He made sure to not land himself, lest he make any noise. "Okay… we should be good to go now…" Danny looked around again. "This place is creepy at night. Makes me wonder if the school itself is haunted, not just locker 724."

"Of course the school is haunted," Andy whispered.

"Really? What makes you say that?" Danny asked.

Andy looked at his ghostly brother, raising an eyebrow. Danny looked down at himself, seeing his own ghostly self, and the fact his legs were currently a ghostly tail instead of legs.

"I meant by other ghosts, not me…" Danny muttered with a sweatdrop.

Dorimon had to stuff his small legs into his mouth to keep himself from laughing out loud.

"Considering how often this school had been attacked by ghosts, or had ghosts already inside it like Spectra and Bertrand? I would say yes still," Andy replied.

Danny sighed. "Okay, let's just get this over with… I don't want to be here longer than necessary, bro."

"There's a bit of light over there," Dorimon pointed out with his little legs.

Andy looked at where Dorimon was pointing. Sure enough, there was a door into a classroom that was wide open, and there was some kind of eerie blue light coming from it. They also heard voices coming from the classroom.

Andy had a shiver go through his entire body. "Suddenly I feel like I'm in a horror movie…"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Welcome to my world, bro." He then made sure to hover over to the door slowly, turning himself invisible so as to not get seen.

Andy quickly made his way over to the door. He slowly peeked through the door along with Dorimon. They were surprised to see Calvin standing in front of a group of people, not just students, but adults too, including Mr. Lancer and Principal Ishiyama. What was even creepier was the fact they weren't using the school lights, they were using torches that were burning unnatural blue fire. Andy was convinced now more than ever that he was in a horror movie.

_Of course I had to live with a family of ghost hunters, one of my siblings IS a ghost, and now I'm seeing some kind of ghostly meeting with people they have possessed! … Well technically overshadowed, but still, it's very disturbing!_ Andy inwardly gulped.

"Okay, is everyone clear with the plan?" 'Calvin' asked as he looked at the assembled group.

"Yes," 'Paulina' said with a sinister smirk. "It should all go down tomorrow after the town meeting."

Andy frowned before he felt something tapping his shoulder. Andy normally liked keeping a cool head in tough situations, however, he was already on edge with how creepy everything was, and with all these ghosts that had clearly overshadowed these people, one could forgive Andy for reacting the way he did.

Andy gave a scream as he jumped away from the tap, which turned out to just be his invisible brother, unfortunately this also caused the other ghosts to notice him.

Every ghost possessing a human had their human host stand up and give sinister smirks at poor Andy. Andy looked at all the ghosts that had all stood up, their eyes glowing red as they stared him and Dorimon down. Dorimon's golden eyes were wide as tears of fear came down on his cheeks.

"... Uh… hi?" Was all Andy could say before 'Calvin' suddenly grabbed the front of his hazmat suit and picked him up, hitting him into the chalkboard. "Oof!"

'Calvin' sneered before his body suddenly fell to the floor, revealing the white ghost with green eyes that Andy had seen before in the Ghost Zone. "Gotcha punk!"

The other overshadowed people were laughing.

Somehow, Andy was less scared of Walker now that he revealed himself outside of Calvin's body. Something about Calvin being overshadowed was far creepier than the actual ghost himself.

Walker sneered at poor Andy. "How does it feel to have no place to run, no place to hide? I'm gonna turn your whole world against you, and not just the human world, but the Digital World soon as well, and by the time I'm done, you're gonna _beg_ for the safety of my prison."

"Walker, maybe you don't remember, but I was the one who made you explode," Andy remarked. "Shall I remind you?"

Dorimon gave a devilish grin as data surrounded him. Dorimon digivolved into Dorumon, which Walker immediately recognized as the Digimon that had blown him up back at the Ghost Zone a few months ago.

"You… You're the Digimon that nearly destroyed me!" Walker frowned before his sneer came back. "Well, this will be very interesting, since I could turn your world against your digital pet as well."

"What's your plan here?" Andy asked. "You're trying to turn this world against Danny?"

"You don't need to know the details," Walker stated. "But perhaps I could use you against your own brother~"

Dorumon jumped and scratched Walker's face, making him let go of Andy quickly.

"You leave him alone!" Dorumon exclaimed before he then bit down on Walker's arm, hard!

"Come on, Andy," Danny whispered, grabbing onto Andy's waist and began to fly him out the window.

"Dorumon! Come on!" Andy called out to his partner.

After Dorumon gave Walker one more kick to the chest for good measure, he ran over to the open window and jumped out, using his little wings to fly after Danny and Andy.

Walker looked up, anger on his white face as his solid green eyes blazed with fury. "Don't just stand there gawking at me! Get him!" Walker roared as he pointed after the three fleeing figures.

The other overshadowed people flew out of the classroom to give chase. Walker took over Calvin's body again, and had him fly out as well to join the chase.

Danny was still invisible as he kept flying while holding onto his brother. The other ghosts only saw Andy. They could also sense the ghostly energy Danny was outputting, but they thought it was coming from Andy. Andy had been right, the ghosts were completely convinced Andy was Danny Phantom right now.

Danny didn't like the plan, but it seemed to be working so far. "What now, bro?" Danny whispered to Andy.

"Keep flying for now," Andy whispered back. "Dorumon, it's time for a little bit of exorcising!"

Danny chuckled. "You know, bro, you can make some good witty banter when you want to."

"Oh shut up," Andy groaned before he got his cards and D-Arc ready.

Dorumon, seeing what Andy was doing, turned around in midair to face the incoming ghosts, or rather, the overshadowed humans.

"Alright, now!" Andy then held up the device and his card. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. _"Etemon's Dark Network activate!"_

Dorumon summoned several black wires from the ground around the school that immediately came up to the ghosts flying towards them. The wires wrapped around the ghosts, trapping them as well as shocking them a bit to keep them from being able to concentrate enough to go intangible.

Dorumon grinned as he saw that. "It worked!"

Unfortunately, there were more overshadowed people still flying towards them.

"Not enough!" Andy frowned.

Dorumon yelped as he quickly flew after Andy. Danny flew up higher, trying to get further away from the other ghosts. It was then Andy noticed that the sky was currently a blood red color, and it was also a full moon tonight. The time of day showed that it was currently twilight, but the blood red sky made him very uneasy.

Danny looked back at where Andy was looking and frowned. "Why is the sky red with a full moon when it is twilight out?"

"I don't know! Maybe some of the ghosts made it red? This isn't important right now, just keep-" Andy gasped when 'Calvin' suddenly flew up in front of them, grinning evilly with his eyes as red as the sky.

"Oh crap…" Danny muttered. "This is _so_ not good…" He looked around, seeing a few other ghost-overshadowed people coming up from behind them.

"You're not getting away, punk!" 'Calvin' snapped as he flew right at Andy.

Dorumon flew in front of Andy quickly. _"Metal Cannon!"_

Dorumon shot out an iron ball at 'Calvin's' face, knocking him away.

"Hey… Calvin is going to be alright after this, isn't he?" Andy asked in concern as he saw 'Calvin' falling.

"I think so." Danny replied. "Ghosts can give their hosts they overshadow fast healing and higher endurance. But… I'm not sure to be honest. I'm just guessing…"

"More are coming! We have to keep moving!" Dorumon spoke up.

Danny flew down with Andy, and Dorumon was moving to keep up. 'Mr. Lancer' and 'Ishiyama' were now coming after them. 'Mr. Lancer' managed to get a hit in by tackling Andy, this caused Danny to accidentally let go of his brother, and released his invisibility. This caused 'Mr. Lancer' and the other ghosts to look in shock and confusion at the appearance of another ghost boy.

Danny looked at himself, realizing they were no longer invisible. "Uh oh… Looks like the jig is up..."

Then Danny realized he had let go of Andy, and Andy was currently falling. Danny gasped and was about to go after his brother when a mechanical claw grabbed his chest and zapped him. Dorumon dove after his partner while Danny was dealing with the overshadowed Ishiyama.

"I got you, Andy!" Dorumon shouted as he reached out his claws towards the back of Andy's hazmat suit, grabbing it quickly. "Gotcha!"

"Thanks, Dorumon," Andy said in relief.

Dorumon wasn't able to carry Andy far as he was, but he could at least glide them down to safety. Unfortunately, however, the confused overshadowed ghosts were also going after him. As Andy had predicted, they weren't sure which brother was the actual Danny Phantom, so they were splitting their group to go after each one.

"Looks like Danny is on his own from here," Andy noted, seeing that an overshadowed Paulina was coming after him.

'Paulina' flew at Andy, grabbing him and Dorumon as she flew them over a building.

"You won't get away from me!" 'Paulina' declared as she held onto the front of Andy's hazmat suit. "You or your digital pet!"

"Awesome, just what I wanted, for Paulina to say that to me," Andy hissed before he moved his feet under 'Paulina's' stomach and pushed her off of him, her grip wasn't on as tightly as she thought, because he was able to kick her off.

Dorumon flapped his wings harder to keep them from hitting the building that 'Paulina' had them almost up again. Unlike Danny, and Takuya when he was in his Digimon form, Andy was completely human, and he was not as durable as they were. If he hit the building, especially at the speed they were going, he could be seriously injured.

Dorumon was able to keep them from hitting the building, but 'Paulina' was not so lucky, as the overshadowed teen was thrown against a billboard with the image of the mayor on it and the words 'Say yes to Amity' on it.

Dorumon managed to fly them to the ground, however as soon as they landed, an overshadowed Kwan landed in front of them. 'Kwan' was holding some kind of neon green baton in his hand. From the corner of Andy's eye, he saw Danny landing on the side of a building, duking it out with another overshadowed person.

_Huh… guess ghosts do give gravity the middle finger…_ Andy noted.

'Kwan' began to spin the small green baton in his hands in an effort to intimidate Andy and Dorumon.

Dorumon stared in disbelief while Andy decided to make a better use of his time than to show off. He swiped another card on his D-Arc. _"Digi-Modify! Frigimon's Icy Breath activate!"_

Dorumon took a deep breath and let out the Icy Breath onto 'Kwan', freezing the overshadowed boy into an icicle almost.

With 'Kwan' currently frozen, Andy looked up, seeing a larger group of overshadowed people flying towards him. "Okay, I think it's time we leave now."

Andy held his D-Arc to Dorumon. "Digivolve, quick!"

Dorumon nodded as the words 'DIGIVOLUTION' appeared on the D-Arc's screen.

_"__Dorumon, digivolve to…"_ Dorumon was surrounded by fractal code as he felt the energy of Andy's will fill him. His skin began to peel away from his face and head, then his stomach and his tail was last to lose the skin. But as he regained his skin, his claws and legs came back first, then his wings came back with skin, flaring open to reveal their larger size, his tail swung around once as it regained the skin, and then his head and face were last to regain their skin. _"Dorugamon!"_

Now as Dorugamon, Andy hopped onto the Champion's back, and Dorugamon opened his wings before flying up into the sky.

"Head over to Danny," Andy instructed. "We have to get him to leave too before he gets overwhelmed by these incoming ghosts!"

Dorugamon nodded. "You got it!" With a flap of his wings, Dorugamon was airborne in no time and making his way over to where Danny was having to fight the overshadowed principal and Mr. Lancer.

"Danny! We need to get back to Fenton Works and put up the Ghost Shield!" Andy called out to his brother. "There are more ghosts coming this way! We can't handle them all!"

Danny looked back at his brother. "That's exactly what I was thinking! Let's scram out of here!" With that, Danny took off towards Fenton Works, hoping to get away from the ghosts that were now after him.

Dorugamon was right behind Danny. Dorugamon was a very fast flyer, he could easily keep up with the ghost boy. Andy looked back, seeing the overshadowed humans chasing them in the air. The other people they were fighting with earlier, like 'Paulina', 'Calvin', and 'Kwan' were also coming after them.

Andy looked into his D-Arc. "Jazz! Come in, Jazz! Do you read me?" On Andy's D-Arc screen, what looked like an odd symbol appeared. One circle side was larger than the other, with a smaller circle inside the bigger one, connected by a line to a smaller circle.

_"__Andy? What's wrong?"_ Jazz asked. _"And why did a heart appear on my D-Arc screen?"_

"Nevermind that right now! Listen, Danny and I are coming in. We have ghosts, well ghosts overshadowing people on our tails right now! Get the Ghost Shield ready to go up!" Andy quickly instructed.

_"__Okay, Andy. Just get in before I press the button."_ Jazz replied. The symbol faded as Jazz hung up.

"Jazz should put up the Ghost Shield as soon as we get in the house," Andy informed Danny.

"Good! Let's hurry!" Danny said.

Danny and Dorugamon flew faster as the ghosts were getting closer. Andy was ready to use another card if he had to, but he was already tired, he hoped he wouldn't have to. Luckily, they had made it to Fenton Works. Unluckily, Dorugamon would not be able to fit into the door.

"Danny! Grab hold of us!" Andy called out before he swiped a degeneration card on his D-Arc.

Dorugamon gasped as he suddenly degenerated into Dorumon again. Danny, seeing this and hearing Andy's instructions, quickly flew down and grabbed onto them. He then turned them all intangible as he flew into the house. Danny wasted no time getting into the lab where Jazz was waiting with Lopmon.

As soon as both her brothers and Dorumon were back in the house, Jazz hit the button for the Ghost Shield, activating it over and around the house. As soon as the shield was up, the overshadowed people slammed into it, the ghosts inside their bodies unable to pass through.

Danny looked out the window to see the ghosts were just staring back in annoyance. Danny then turned back to his human self before closing the curtains so he wouldn't have to look at the overshadowed people anymore.

"Looks like it's working, they can't get in," Danny said in relief.

"Yeah… but we can't exactly leave with this town being filled with people who are overshadowed with ghosts." Andy frowned, who was with Danny as well. "There are too many out there, more than we thought… and without Takuya here helping us… I'm not sure what our chances are… I hate to say it, but Takuya is the strongest one we had here…"

Jazz came up from the lab. "Did the ghosts leave?"

Danny looked back at Jazz and sighed. "Yeah, they left us alone for now. But there are way too many ghosts to handle, at least for all of us who have Digimon partners, and me…"

"We're going to need to do something soon." Andy frowned.

"Why? Did you find something out?" Lopmon asked.

"We didn't find out a lot, but from what we've heard, something is going to happen at a town meeting tomorrow," Dorumon stated.

Jazz blinked. "Huh? What does that have to do with all these ghosts?"

"I don't know, Jazz, if I did we would've solved this crisis by now!" Andy snapped.

Jazz winced, and Andy frowned. "Sorry… I think most of my nerves are shot after the creepy vibe and the chase earlier…"

Jazz sighed. "It's okay… Anyone would be on edge if they were in your situation." She said reassuringly.

"Yeah, you actually jumped and screamed when I just tapped you," Danny reminded his twin.

"I don't blame him," Dorumon sighed. "There were a lot of unnatural vibes going on. The ghosts can give off this atmosphere that makes the living feel incredibly uneasy and restless. It probably didn't affect you as much because you're half ghost yourself."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Haha, very funny, Dorumon."

"What's funny? I wasn't joking." Dorumon frowned. "Look at how Andy reacted back there. He's usually pretty calm and collected, even in tough situations, but he completely lost his cool when you just tapped him at the school. What does that tell you?"

Danny sighed. "I was being sarcastic. I know ghosts can make the living feel on edge and restless."

"Is that true?" Jazz frowned. "But we fought with a lot of them the night before."

"Fighting them is one thing, but actually sneaking around in what feels like their territory, inside other humans especially, can wear on a person's mind," Lopmon spoke up. "When you fight with them, you're not thinking about that, you're just focused on fighting."

Andy sighed, and rubbed his head. "I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I try to sneak around a place full of ghosts… It was like I was a mouse scurrying around in a den of lions. I felt bad for the poor mouse."

Jazz frowned in thought. "This is a very interesting development. I will have to make note of how humans feel around ghosts."

"Not just that…" Andy looked at Danny for a moment. "We might have to see if half ghosts give off the same kind of vibe too."

"Come on! I'm too tired for this! Don't start analyzing me now!" Danny complained.

Jazz chuckled and rubbed Danny's hair in an affectionate manner. "You know we're just teasing you, right little brother?~"

Danny just pouted.

Though Andy was genuinely curious about Danny's biology, it was more out of worry and fear than scientific curiosity. Andy gave a sigh. "Dorumon and I will be in the living room if you need us."

Before anyone could say anything, Andy walked downstairs, Dorumon frowned before he went after his partner.

Dorumon looked up at Andy as they made their way to the living room. "Is something on your mind?"

"I finally know why I still get uneasy chills around Danny when he's in his ghost form… It's not just the fact he isn't human anymore, it's also because his half ghost nature naturally creeps me out. I hate feeling like this around my own twin brother," Andy sighed softly.

Dorumon frowned. "That must be hard… But, I don't even want to know how Takuya feels when around Danny, given his ability to become a Digimon."

Andy gave an expression of thoughtfulness before sighing. "In a way… Takuya isn't all human either. With his Spirits, sometimes he seems to act more like a feral animal, especially when his emotions get the better of him."

Dorumon shook his head. "Well, that got depressing quickly…"

"Sorry… these were things I've been keeping at the back of my mind for a while," Andy sighed. "I guess this experience just brought them back up."

Dorumon gave Andy a concerned look. "You're not worried or scared of me, are you?"

Andy looked at Dorumon before giving him a small chuckle. "You? Nah, you're my partner, and you were always a Digimon. I guess I'm just… not sure how being a Digimon or being half ghost affects a human being or their psyche. Call me a worrywart if you must."

Dorumon chuckled at that. "You wouldn't be my partner if you weren't such a worrywart, Andy."

"Heh… well, I need to change out of this hazmat suit… get it washed before Mom and Dad sees it… and take off this wig," Andy sighed.

* * *

Danny and Jazz frowned when Andy walked away earlier.

"Is he okay?" Danny asked.

"He's your twin brother, have you noticed anything bothering him lately?" Jazz asked.

"I guess you could say that, yes, I have noticed Andy has been jumpy lately." Danny sighed.

"Around the ghosts in general or…" Jazz paused as she looked at Danny, seeming to not want to finish her statement.

"Or you?" Lopmon finished for her.

"Just… in general I guess." Danny shrugged. "I mean, he was on edge the whole time we were in the school. But… the way he jumped when I tapped him makes me think it's not just the ghosts. I am worried Andy might be feeling more uneasy around me as well."

Jazz frowned a little. It hadn't been that noticeable, but Andy did seem to be looking at Danny a little more cautiously lately, but it was easy to ignore due to everything else that had been going on.

"What about you, Jazz? Do I make you feel uneasy?" Danny suddenly asked.

"What? Oh… I haven't really thought about it much," Jazz admitted. "Honestly, I was just happy you would tell me your secret, and that I could help you in your battles. I was also trying to help Lopmon get through some of his… darker thoughts about his past."

Danny sighed. "I guess I can take that as a 'no' then. I wonder if Andy feels more uneasy around me because I am his twin and I am half ghost."

"Well, twins are said to share the same soul," Jazz remarked. "I think Andy said something about a link you two have? He didn't really go into detail about it though. That might be what's been making him more… sensitive around you."

"Twins are very close beings, even Digimon twins. Terriermon may not technically be my twin, but we are pretty close, even despite what had happened before," Lopmon added. "I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case with Andy and you."

Danny smiled a bit. "Heh… That makes some sense. I didn't even know Digimon _could_ have twin siblings."

"Oh yes, there are some rare cases that an egg could hatch twin Digimon," Lopmon remarked. "There's an old story about a Terriermon and a Lopmon, they were partners with a kid named Willis. But then the Lopmon was infected by a virus that turned him evil, and he began hunting down Willis and his own twin brother Terriermon. And… ah… well, I guess the story isn't that important. The point is Digimon do have twins."

Danny blinked before sighing. "At least you know what I mean I guess. I just… sometimes feel like Andy is pushing me away because he is uneasy."

"Is he though?" Jazz suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" Danny questioned.

"Andy let you overshadow him when you two came to recuse me when Lopmon and I accidentally… uh… merged I guess. If Andy wanted to push you away, he wouldn't have let you do that," Jazz pointed out. "I think Andy isn't trying to push you away, more like he's trying to understand you, even if he's scared of what he might find."

Danny sighed again. "That is true… I just… I don't know! I don't want Andy to feel scared around me! He's my twin brother! I don't want him to feel that way!"

Jazz sighed sadly. "I get the feeling Andy doesn't _want_ to feel that way either."

"Hey… how about we all turn in for the night? It's been a long day, and we need to prepare whatever it is that Walker ghost is planning for tomorrow," Lopmon spoke up, hoping to break the tension.

Danny sighed again once more. "Yeah, that would be best. I feel like I need some sleep, and maybe it would do Andy some good too."

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** The bug meal _was_ quite funny. XD

**DarkFoxKit: **I'll be honest, it was something I added in last minute just to be funny.

**Ct7567Rules****: DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, the episode is called Public Enemies. I remember watching a lot when I recorded the episode way back then. I liked the idea that Danny Phantom was now known to the public, when before, he was unknown except to a few people.

**ZAFT:** I will update the Gundam Seed story more often now that things are calming down. :)

**Luna Lillyth****: DarkFoxKit:** The episode is called Public Enemies. As for your guess… heh, well, I won't say anything to it, but it is very likely to happen that way.

**ZAFT:** You can never tell what twists we will take~! :3


	40. A Small Ray of Hope

**DarkFoxKit: **I am freeeeee! Well… for now. Hopefully I won't have to go back for treatment anymore.

**ZAFT:** Yay! :D That's great!

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup! Now I just have to readjust my sleeping time back to being a night owl so it won't be such a struggle planning out the schedule. Most of my co-writers are night owls, so the whole morning bird thing was just not working out for me.

**Andy: **I can tell. ***Yawns*** I am tied to-

**DarkFoxKit:** Shhhhhhhhhhhhh! The audience doesn't need to know about _that_!

**ZAFT:** I am sort of a night owl myself, but I tend to go to sleep around 11-midnight. XD

**DarkFoxKit:** Yeah, though we still need to figure out a better writing time ourselves. But anyways, let's get to the story.

* * *

_**(**Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley**)**_

**_Three worlds, connected side by side_**

_**(**A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that**)**_

**_Connections, with many secrets to hide_**

_**(**Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself**)**_

_**Is one always chosen by fate?**_

**_(_**_Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius_**_)_**

_**Or can one make their own destiny?**_

**_(_**_Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc_**_)_**

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen**)**_

_**The power is deep inside!**_

_**(**Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance**)**_

**_Digital Phantom!_**

_**(**The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod**)**_

_**Destiny is unbound!**_

_**(**The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Fight on, without regret**_

_**(**Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it**)**_

_**Two sides never rest**_

_**(**Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, with a shadowed form above it just as an evil version of the shadowed form appears beside Vlad, both transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both**)**_

_**Never regret or look back**_

_**(**Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon**)**_

_**Fight on, with victory**_

_**(**Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him**)**_

_**Nothing will stand in our way!**_

_**(**Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

* * *

**Chapter 40: A Small Ray of Hope**

It had been almost a full day since Takuya, Koji, and Tommy brought in the Tapirmon, as well as Dash and Koichi, who were currently asleep on hospital beds in the private medical room along with JP and Zoe. They too had magical barriers around them.

Tommy had been pacing around, looking a little agitated about something. Koji was looking at Koichi, feeling angry at himself for letting this happen, and sadness that Koichi had to suffer again. Koichi had suffered far too much in his book. Takuya was on a chair, trying to remain patient, but his worry was building. He still hadn't gotten a call from anyone in the real world, and now four of his friends were trapped in an endless nightmare. Nobody had heard anything from the doctors about the Tapirmon or her Nightmare Syndrome yet.

He gripped his D-Tector before deciding to at least attempt to call Andy, Jazz, Sam, or Tucker. Takuya began to mess with his D-Tector, pressing the 'call' function. "Andy? Can you hear me?"

But there was no response. After failures with contacting the other three, Takuya groaned as he stuffed the device back into his pocket. "Ugh… This is so nerve-wracking!"

"You're telling me?" Koji hissed. "If I could, I would trade places with Koichi in a heartbeat."

"What is going on? I need to see what they're doing…" Tommy muttered, still pacing. "I wish Sorcermon didn't ban me from the examination room. I could help out too… he doesn't need to keep protecting me."

Takuya sighed. "Sorry… It's just… this is getting to be too much! This Dreammon is unlike anything we have ever faced before!" He groaned as he put his head in his hands. "Now I'm beginning to have doubts about beating this Dreammon… This is _nothing_ like our fight with Lucemon…"

"This is no time to be talking like we've already lost, Takuya!" Koji snapped. "Our friends need our help more than ever, and you're saying we might not be able to defeat Dreammon!?"

"Cool it you two!" Tommy spoke up. "We're all a little stressed out right now. But fighting each other isn't going to help anyone, certainly not Koichi."

Takuya and Koji each huffed, but stopped arguing, much to Tommy's relief. Takuya sighed. "I guess I shouldn't be such a downer, but this guy is much smarter than Lucemon was. We _have_ to find a way to beat him, but it has to be in a way he won't expect."

"I know that! Why do you think we spent so much time trying to bring back a Tapirmon here? It's so we could _have_ something to counter Dreammon," Koji grumbled.

Tommy sighed. "I'm going to go for a walk. Staying here is just going to stress me out more." _I don't care what Sorcermon said, I need to check that Tapirmon's Nightmare Syndrome. The doctors are taking way too long._

As Tommy left, Takuya sighed. "Maybe a small walk will do us _all _some good. I feel like I need to let out some stress as well."

"You go on ahead, I'll stay here," Koji said, refusing to leave his twin brother for even a second without a damn good reason.

Takuya gave a nod to Koji. "Okay. Let me know if his condition changes or improves." With that said, he turned and walked into the hall, closing the door behind him and sighing.

Takuya just let his mind wander and his body walk, no destination set in mind. _Maybe we can try to… No… Dreammon is too strong for that. Could we… No, we need all the Spirits for _that_. And… it _might_ be a _bit_ overkill..._

However, Takuya was interrupted out of his thoughts when he saw Calumon flying down the hallway quickly, almost flying right into him.

"Wah!" Calumon flew around Takuya when he almost crashed into him. "S-sorry, Takuya!"

Calumon kept flying on though, not even stopping to hear Takuya's response.

Curious now, Takuya decided to follow Calumon. _I wonder what's got him in such a hurry…_ He ran after the small Digimon, wondering what was making Calumon so worried.

Calumon didn't notice Takuya was following him, or didn't care. The little Digimon didn't slow down. He suddenly had a bad feeling that something wasn't right. When Calumon finally made it to the door that would lead to the examination room, he opened up the door and let out a shocked gasp.

Inside the examination room, all the medical Digimon were on the floor, each of them under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome. Even MarineAngemon and Lillymon were on the floor, writhing around in their sleep. Calumon looked at where they were supposed to be keeping the Tapirmon. She was still in a magical barrier, but she was grinning.

"Did you really think that I'm alone?" Tapirmon asked when she saw Calumon. "Thanks for bringing me here by the way. Now Master and my comrades know where you are hiding."

"No…" Calumon frowned in horror.

"My Nightmare Syndrome can get past barriers. I only had to bide my time. These doctors wanted my Nightmare Syndrome, they got it~" Tapirmon grinned. "As for you… well… how do you know you're not already trapped in a nightmare yourself?"

Calumon backed away, starting to wonder if he was even awake anymore, and he bumped into someone behind him.

"Oof!" Takuya grunted as he stepped back, only to see Calumon. "Calumon?" The little guy looked shaken up for some reason, and it made Takuya frown to himself. _Why does this feel like I am seeing Tommy all freaked out for some reason?_

Calumon looked back at Takuya and grabbed onto his shirt, shivering. It definitely reminded Takuya how Tommy would react when he was feeling scared.

"Calumon? Are you okay?" Takuya asked, feeling like he was with Tommy now, even though Tommy was nowhere to be seen around him.

"The doctors… they're all trapped in the Nightmare Syndrome!" Calumon stated, still clutching onto Takuya's clothes.

Takuya looked inside the medical room, and his eyes widened at the sight before him. The way Tapirmon was grinning at both him and Calumon was actually terrifying now that he thought about it, and the fact she was in the middle of all the passed out medical Digimon while grinning like that only made things worse.

"Master wanted me to deliver a message; 'I'll be coming for all of you soon, don't think you can escape from me forever'. And as a welcome gift…" Tapirmon took a deep breath. _"Void Nightmare Syndrome!"_

Tapirmon shot out a rather large Nightmare Syndrome, this one was taking the form of Dreammon though instead of looking like a shapeless dark cloud of energy.

Takuya felt his heart rate pick up at the sight of the shape of Dreammon. _Crap... _Without even thinking, he stood up and began to run from the medical room, still holding onto Calumon.

As Takuya was running, Calumon was trying to gather his head and try to control his emotions. Calumon hated it when the little kid inside him took over, he was better than that, and right now, Takuya needed the brave, strategic Tommy, not this scared little kid Tommy when they first arrived in the Digital World.

"T-Takuya… we… we need to issue an evacuation…" Calumon said, trying to stop himself from crying.

Takuya looked down at Calumon. "If we do, then where can and will we go? It's obvious that Dreammon will just keep tracking us down, so we need a place where we can go that he won't find us at."

"Not for us… for the other Digimon here," Calumon said. "We need to save as many as we can."

Takuya frowned. "Good point…" He frowned. "Okay. We issue the evacuation order. Perhaps if everyone else leaves, it will distract Dreammon so we can find a new place to hide as well. Um… how do we issue the evacuation?"

"Take me to the top of the castle, hurry. I'll handle it from there," Calumon instructed, rubbing his eyes a bit, getting back his determination.

Takuya frowned, but nodded. "Sure." It was a bit hard for him to find the way since it had been a while since he was back at the castle, but once he found his way, Takuya was able to take Calumon to the top of the castle.

Calumon then jumped off of Takuya's arms and flew up to the ceiling before he put his claws together like he was praying. The upside down triangle on his forehead then started to glow. Takuya watched, wondering what Calumon was going to do. Then he heard Calumon's voice in his head.

_"__Everyone in this area, this is an emergency evacuation! A dangerous Digimon is on the loose! You must evacuate the castle and find a place to hide immediately! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill!"_ Calumon's voice stated loudly.

Takuya suddenly felt the entire castle shaking. All the Digimon that were awake began a bit of a stampede as they were rushing to get out. The doctors that were still awake were also rushing the sleeping patients out.

Calumon then floated down to Takuya. "We need to hurry and leave. Koji likely would've heard that as well."

Takuya blinked. "What about Tommy?"

Calumon frowned. "Yes, I'm sure he heard it too. Now let's go, that Nightmare Syndrome is likely going to swallow this castle whole soon!"

Takuya nodded. "Okay, let's go then." He grabbed Calumon and held him close as he began to run down the stairs to the main entrance. "Do you know where we could go?"

"Let's just focus on getting away from here fi- LOOK OUT!" Calumon suddenly shouted.

Takuya quickly stopped and jumped back, narrowly avoiding a dark cloud that was the Nightmare Syndrome. It was still expanding, and it had blocked the main entrance. Any Digimon that were unfortunate enough to run into the Nightmare Syndrome were quickly put to sleep and locked in a nightmare.

Takuya continued to run, avoiding the cloud where he could. "Geez! That Nightmare Syndrome is everywhere! Can we even _get_ out of here?!"

"If you have to, Spirit Evolve and break through a wall and fly!" Calumon replied.

"R-right!" Takuya would've slapped himself if he could right now for not thinking that. He began to reach into his pocket for his D-Tector when he heard some kind of muffling under some rubble that the stampede of Digimon left.

Calumon looked in that direction too. "Someone's stuck under there!"

Looking over, Takuya frowned and groaned a bit. "I guess we have to help them then…" He sighed before he held out his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed the familiar fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he knew by heart. _"Execute! Spirit Evolution!"_ His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. _"Agunimon!"_

Calumon was blinking. Takuya had been holding onto him while he was Spirit Evolving. "That… was… a very strange… experience…"_ So that's what it's like to be on someone when they Spirit Evolve._

Ignoring Calumon's remark, Agunimon let the little guy go as he ran over to where the rubble was. He quickly dug the rubble out with ease while Calumon looked back, seeing the black cloud starting to make its way towards them.

Agunimon managed to pull someone out. It was Sorcermon, he looked a little beat up, but was otherwise fine.

"Sorcermon? What happened?" Agunimon asked as soon as he got the other Digimon out from the rubble.

"We were… taken by surprise… the Tapirmon… had the other Digimon attack… Kyuubimon saved me… but…" Sorcermon shook his head. "We have to leave… hurry. The emergency exit… should still be there."

Agunimon frowned. "Okay… If you think you're able to move..." He stood up, making sure to keep Sorcermon steady just in case the smaller Digimon felt too exhausted to move.

Calumon quickly floated over to Sorcermon. The triangle on his forehead glowed slightly and Calumon closed his eyes. Sorcermon's wounds all began to heal up. It was then Agunimon remembered that Calumon was also a doctor himself.

"Thanks… Calumon…" Sorcermon said as he stood up straight again. "That was quite helpful."

The shadows of the Nightmare Syndrome began to cover the room they were in. Sorcermon grabbed onto Agunimon and Calumon. "Let's get out!"

Using his wand, Sorcermon teleported them before the Nightmare Syndrome could get to them. Sorcermon didn't teleport them out of the castle, however, instead, he had taken them to Seraphimon's room. Sorcermon then hurried over to a wall, pushing a button. A door on the wall suddenly slid open.

"Hurry, this will take us to the escape Trailmon!" Sorcermon urged.

Agunimon remembered this exact same scenario from four years ago and shook his head. "We're not leaving you behind like last time." Agunimon said.

"Don't worry, I have no intentions of staying behind this time," Sorcermon reassured.

Agunimon ran after Sorcermon down the long tunnel, Calumon flew behind them, keeping an eye on what was behind them. His eyes widened when he saw the Nightmare Syndrome was quickly going through the tunnel as well.

Daring a glance back, Agunimon saw the Nightmare Syndrome was closing and swore under his breath. "Damn it… That thing is still following us!"

"We're almost there! Don't look back, it'll only slow you down!" Sorcermon warned.

Calumon quickly latched onto Agunimon's shoulder, not wanting to get left behind while they were running.

They soon came up to the Trailmon that was waiting for them. There were also a few Digimon on board already, having likely believed the Trailmon would take them somewhere safely instead of leaving the castle and running aimlessly on their own. To Agunimon's surprise and relief, he saw Koji there as well. Koji was also carrying Koichi with him.

Agunimon noticed that Koichi was the only one that Koji had brought with him out of their group. Part of him wanted to run back and get the others, but the appearance of the Nightmare Syndrome only sealed the fate of the other Legendary Warriors. Realizing there was no time left, Agunimon turned away one last time, jumping onto the Trailmon just as it began to leave. He didn't see Tommy on the Trailmon, and horror began to settle into his being when he realized that Tommy was likely still in the castle when the Nightmare Syndrome hit.

The Warrior of Flame looked back as the Trailmon sped away from the castle, only to lower his head in realization at the fact that he, Koji, and a few other Digimon were the only ones remaining free of Dreammon's rule. He could see the castle was being overtaken by the Nightmare Syndrome, which had grown into the giant shape of Dreammon, which seemed to almost match the real thing.

Agunimon sat down as he reverted back to his human form. Calumon hopped off his shoulder, giving Takuya a look of concern.

Takuya groaned as he put his head into his hands before reaching up and wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "I shouldn't have left him alone…"

Koji carefully put Koichi down on the floor and looked over at Takuya. "What do you mean? Where's Tommy?"

"He… He was in the castle when we left…" Takuya said, his voice a bit raspy from his emotions. "I couldn't go and find him before we had to leave…"

Koji frowned at that. Not only did they lose another Legendary Warrior, but losing Tommy also hurt him, and now Takuya was an emotional wreck. With them being the only Legendary Warriors left, Koji wasn't sure if there was anything they could do at this point.

"Do not fret, Takuya," Sorcermon spoke up. "There is still some hope."

Takuya looked back at Sorcermon, his face full of doubt now. "What hope would that be? In case you don't know, with five Legendary Warriors down and only two left, we don't stand much of a chance against Dreammon."

"Who said there's only two of you left?" Sorcermon asked, glancing at Calumon for a second, who was torn about telling Takuya who he really was.

"What? Who else could there be?" Takuya asked.

Sorcermon sighed. "Listen… I have the notes the doctors were able to take when they examined the Tapirmon and her Nightmare Syndrome before Dreammon took it over. We might still be able to develop a cure."

Takuya blinked. "Wait… we can?" A smile crossed his face. "That's great!"

"Finally there's a small sliver of hope out of all this," Koji sighed.

Sorcermon held up his wand as he manifested the papers of notes. "Unfortunately, most of our best doctors were caught up in the Nightmare Syndrome. It might take a little while before we can develop a cure, but we at least have a way to make one now."

"May I read it, Sorcermon? I might be able to help, I am a doctor too, and we need all the doctors that we have left," Calumon requested.

Takuya looked at Calumon. "Do you think you are up to the task? You did mention you were still in training to be a doctor."

"I might still be in training, but that's better than nothing. Besides, I feel like I need to make it up to you since you saved me instead of Tommy," Calumon said softly.

Takuya put a hand on Calumon's head. "You don't need to make anything up to me. It was my fault for not going back for Tommy when I should have."

"But I'll admit, it's a heavy loss to have lost Tommy as well." Koji frowned.

Sorcermon gave Calumon the notes. "I wish you the best of luck, Calumon."

Calumon nodded as he took the notes. If any good came out of this, it was that he now didn't have to keep splitting himself as Tommy and Calumon anymore. As long as Takuya and Koji thought he was a victim of the Nightmare Syndrome, Calumon could focus on being the doctor that he was to help cure the Nightmare Syndrome.

It was a long night as the Trailmon kept moving on the tracks. The other Digimon had fallen asleep, though most of them were too afraid to sleep. Koji stayed by Koichi's side as he closed his eyes. Takuya laid down as well, but his mind was plagued by thoughts on how Tommy was trapped in the castle. The boy likely had nowhere to go, and was terrified and alone as the Nightmare Syndrome got to him. Takuya felt responsible for Tommy, and he felt horrible for escaping without him. He rolled over, seeing Calumon was using a candle as a light source to keep studying the notes.

Takuya sat up. "Calumon? Aren't you going to get any rest? You've been studying those notes for a while now."

Calumon sighed. "A part of me wondered if I had already been a victim of the Nightmare Syndrome and I just didn't realize it. This entire thing feels like a nightmare… How can you tell if you're truly awake or not? How do you know this whole thing isn't a dream?"

Takuya frowned. "To be honest, I feel that way a bit myself, but I know I'm not in a dream." However, now _he_ was beginning to think it was all a dream himself, which, considering what they were up against, was ironic.

"Sorry, I suppose I'm just being a bit depressing right now," Calumon sighed. "These notes along with what that Tapirmon said to me makes me question my reality right now."

"What are the notes saying anyways?" Takuya asked, knowing he wouldn't be able to get any sleep tonight.

"To put it in simple terms… they seem to be talking about how the Nightmare Syndrome is mixed with not just data, but another substance called ectoplasm. The data is condense, and almost alive. It's enough to almost be considered sentient. If it was anymore complex, I would even say it was a Digimon itself," Calumon explained.

Takuya frowned upon hearing that. "That sounds a bit like Techatamon…" He murmured to himself.

"Yeah… data and ectoplasm mixing together to create something… unnatural," Calumon agreed. "And powerful. Dreammon likely has ectoplasm in his being, that might explain why he's unnaturally powerful. I still can't tell you who created Dreammon, but the Nightmare Syndrome is definitely not normal."

Takuya sighed. "Great… Another ghost-Digimon hybrid… What else could go wrong?"

"Don't ever say that, please," Calumon groaned.

Takuya sighed, but didn't say anything. Calumon looked at Takuya.

"You… seem pretty pale…" Calumon noted in concern. "Are you unable to sleep? Are you feeling sick?"

"I'm fine…" Takuya sighed. "I just… I guess I need to get over what happened to Tommy. It kinda shook me up a bit…"

Calumon frowned.

"Tommy was… someone I saw like a little brother. He's the same age as my actual younger brother actually, though Tommy is a lot less bratty, that's for sure. I always felt like I needed to watch over the little guy, you know? He was the youngest of our group… and even though he's older now, I still can't help but see him as that 8 year old boy," Takuya reminisced. "And now… I can't stop thinking about how scared and alone Tommy was in that castle when the Nightmare Syndrome took over. And how I wasn't there for him…"

Calumon wished Takuya would stop. The more Takuya went on, the more the feeling of heavy guilt weighed on Calumon's heart, so much so that it was starting to sink into his stomach.

Takuya sighed again. "I just hope that we _can_ beat Dreammon. This guy is _way_ worse than Lucemon ever was…"

Calumon put his claws on Takuya's hand. "I'm sorry, Takuya…"

Takuya blinked, he could have sworn that, for just a second, Tommy was the one apologizing to him.

"I promise I'll do everything in my power to find a cure for this," Calumon said softly.

Takuya shook his head to rid himself of the feeling that he was with Tommy. "Just do what you can, Calumon. I don't want you to overexert yourself if you can help it."

Calumon just gave Takuya a small nod. _Maybe I should tell him… but it would be hard to tell him now… he'll be so mad…_

Though Calumon also felt guilty and worried at how heartbroken Takuya was over 'losing' him to the Nightmare Syndrome.

_Master… what would you have done if you were in my position…?_ Calumon questioned as he looked back at his notes.

* * *

Takuya didn't know how, but he had somehow fallen asleep. Though he wasn't hit by a Nightmare Syndrome, his dreams were anything but peaceful. He had dreams of Andy, Danny, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker being heavily injured somewhere, all their Digimon partners were turned back into Digi-Eggs and couldn't help them anymore. They began to fall to the ground, unable to move. Andy reached up an arm, calling out for Takuya before he fell to the ground as well. Then Takuya's dream shifted to Seraphimon's castle, seeing Tommy running as fast as he could from the Nightmare Syndrome, only to end up hitting a dead end. Tommy would then turn around, looking back in fear and horror, calling out for Takuya.

Takuya jolted awake when the dream was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of flames, which startled him, but it also calmed his nerves. The flames meant his Spirits were trying to calm him down.

"Takuya…?" Takuya heard Tommy's voice again, but this time Tommy didn't sound like he was in trouble trying to call out for him, he sounded concerned. "Hey… Takuya, wake up."

Takuya opened his eyes and groaned. "Aw man… That was an odd dream… Or more like a nightmare…" He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"You were groaning in your sleep. For a moment there, I thought you were hit by a Nightmare Syndrome too," Tommy's voice said.

Takuya looked over, only to see Calumon there. Guilt hit him full force as he remembered Tommy wasn't with them anymore. "Oh… Hey, Calumon…"

Calumon gave a saddened expression. "It's morning now. The Trailmon will stop at a station soon."

Takuya groaned as he looked out at the scenery going by. "I hope it's away from Dreammon's influence. We've had more than enough of that going around already…"

Calumon gave a tired yawn. "Yeah…"

"Did you even sleep?" Takuya asked in concern.

"Maybe for an hour or two," Calumon said as he walked over to Koji, who was currently sleeping. "This is no time for me to be sleeping anyways."

Takuya frowned. "I know you don't want to, but you _need_ to. You'll be of no use to anyone if you aren't rested enough."

Before Takuya could say anymore, his D-Tector suddenly started beeping. His heart leaped as he hadn't heard a call from anyone on his D-Tector in a long while.

He reached down and took out his D-Tector, hoping it was Andy, Jazz, Sam, or Tucker. "Hello?"

A heart appeared on the D-Tector's screen. _"Hey…"_ Andy's voice said before what sounded like a yawn followed. _"How're you doing?"_

Takuya groaned. "Ugh… All I can say is that this mission for the Legendary Warriors has proven to be _much_ harder than anticipated…" He put his head in his hands.

_"__What's been happening? You sound pretty tired,"_ Andy asked.

"First off, what's been going on with you? I haven't been able to get a hold of any of you!" Takuya spoke up.

_"__Oh… right, sorry. Been a bit distracted by the…"_ Andy stopped. _"It's just been a bit busy here lately."_

Takuya frowned. "What is going on, Andy? You sound tired yourself."

_"__Just didn't get a very good night sleep is all. School stuff, you know?"_ Andy said. _"Don't worry about me. It sounds like you've been dealing with some crap though."_

"Don't go there, Andy…" Takuya sighed. "We've just been dealing with a difficult opponent. Nothing we can't handle of course." He said this last line with a strained grin, not that Andy could see it anyway.

_"__Are you sure? We could come and help you out if you need it. You and Dash have been gone for 3 days now,"_ Andy inquired in a bit of a worried tone. _"Lopmon, Salamon, and Terriermon are getting restless about what's been going on in the Digital World."_

"It's fine. We can handle it. But if we need you, we will ask for your help." Takuya said. _I don't want Andy to come here with this Dreammon running around. Not to mention the Celestial Digimon are not at full strength so they would be easy to take down._

_"__Okay… well, we'll be on standby if you need us then. Good luck with whatever it is you're facing,"_ Andy sighed before hanging up.

Takuya groaned as he put his D-Tector back into his pocket. "Great… Now my cousin wants to come and help if we need it. I _don't_ want them to get hurt because of this Dreammon!"

Takuya frowned as he looked at Koichi. Koji was already awake. Calumon was looking pretty tired himself. _We've already suffered enough losses because of this Dreammon._

The Trailmon was starting to slow down as it started to enter a train station.

* * *

_Meanwhile, back at Amity Park in Fenton Works._

Andy put his D-Arc back into his pocket. He was in the living room, and turned on the TV. There were cameras and reporters all gathering around City Hall. The Mayor was making some kind of important announcement. But they were still preparing for it.

"You think we should go to the Digital World to check on Takuya?" Dorumon asked, who was sitting on the couch.

"Yeah. I doubt Takuya was telling me the whole truth, knowing him, he didn't want to worry me. Something big is going down in the Digital World. But… something big is about to go down here too," Andy sighed. "We'll have to wait until we get Walker and his stupid ghosts out of here before we can even go to the Digital World."

Dorumon looked down. "That will be easier said than done. We need to find a way to get Walker out of here, but he is after your brother and won't stop until he does whatever he needs to do."

"I know, that's why I have the TV on," Andy said. "Whatever's Walker up to, it's likely going to be revealed here."

Andy then picked up his D-Arc again and started to call for Tucker. On the screen came an odd symbol, one that looked like the yin-yang symbol, but with two curves, one per side, the left one facing down and the right one facing up. _"Hello?"_

Andy didn't know what these symbols meant, he figured they likely had something to do with each of them, though he didn't know why his was a freaking heart. "Tucker, I need you to either turn on the TV and turn it to the live Amity news broadcast, or come over here as quickly as possible."

_"__Okay, I'll turn on the TV."_ Tucker replied. _"Why do you ask?"_

"I think the next stage of Walker's plan has something to do with the Mayor or City Hall. Keep an eye out for anything strange," Andy informed.

_"__I will see what I can spot."_ Tucker replied. _"But what could Walker want with the mayor? That doesn't sound good for any of us."_

"Just keep an eye on things. I'm going to call Sam now," Andy sighed before he hung up, then he called for Sam.

On Andy's D-Arc screen, the symbol of a teardrop with a smaller circle inserted near the bottom showed up. _"Andy? Is that you?"_

"Yes, it's me. No, I don't know why my symbol is a heart," Andy grumbled. "If I could change it, I would. But that's not important right now. I need you to turn on the TV and make sure it's on the Amity news. I think Walker's next stage of his plan involves the mayor or City Hall."

_"__I can do that."_ Sam said. _"But with Walker planning something with City Hall…? I don't think we should take this lightly."_

"No, we shouldn't," Andy agreed before he yawned. "Just keep an eye on things, see if anything weird happens. I'll let you know if there's something we can do."

_"__Okay, Andy. I'll let you know what I find out."_ Sam promised Andy.

"Thanks," Andy said before he hung up.

"You suspect something, don't you?" Dorumon asked.

"Yeah…" Andy frowned. "I have a theory on what Walker's trying to do… and I don't like it."

"What is it?" Dorumon asked. "Um… Your theory anyway…"

Before Andy could answer, Danny and Jazz came downstairs, both of them yawning. Lopmon was on Jazz's head.

"Hey, about time you guys are up," Andy chuckled.

Lopmon looked down at Jazz. "Jazz was out like a light. I had to push her alarm clock near her head to get her to wake up since she wouldn't wake up when it went off."

"And that hurt my ears, you know…" Jazz replied with a bit of a scowl before she yawned again.

"I can't believe I woke up so late," Danny grumbled. "If you were already up, why didn't you wake me, bro?"

"Didn't want to disturb your slumber. You looked like you needed it," Andy shrugged.

Danny sighed. "Well, I certainly feel better now that I actually got some sleep."

"Too bad Andy didn't sleep much," Dorumon muttered.

Andy threw a pillow at Dorumon's face. "And you don't need to make comments like that."

Danny frowned. "Why couldn't you sleep, Andy? Is it because of what's been going on? Or… maybe you didn't… feel safe sleeping…?"

Andy shook his head. "I was trying to figure out what Walker's trying to do."

Danny frowned. "So you have a theory on what Walker has planned?"

"I think… it's likely he's trying to turn the town against you, or at least Danny Phantom," Andy answered.

Danny frowned again. "Are you sure that's the case?"

"It makes the most sense," Jazz spoke up. "Considering that Walker's been overshadowing everyone around you, and he even said he's planning to turn this world into a prison for you."

"What better way to do that than by making the entire town against you?" Andy added.

Danny paled at hearing that. "Then… Oh gosh…"

Suddenly, the mayor of Amity Park stood on the podium with several microphones pointed at him.

"It's starting," Andy noted.

**"****We only have one piece of business today; defeating the ghosts that had infested our town. And to do that, I'm calling for a vote to cede all ghost policing and security decisions to Maddie Fenton!" **The mayor stated as he held up a photo of Maddie, though she had her hood and goggles on her face in the photo.

"I suppose that makes sense… nobody else is a known ghost hunter in this town, and Mom is… well, definitely better at what she does on the field," Jazz remarked.

Danny gave a nod. "Yeah, I suppose it does."

However, Lopmon shivered as his fur bristled. "Something's wrong…"

Dorumon narrowed his own eyes. "I feel it too."

The mayor, for a second, suddenly turned away from the cameras, then he suddenly smiled. He put down the photo of Maddie then brought up a photo of Jack. **"I mean Jack! Jack Fenton! The completely competent Jack Fenton!"**

"Okay… Now _that_ is weird…" Jazz noted. "First he says security is deferred to Mom, and now he says to refer to Dad for such decisions?"

"He turned away from the camera for a moment as well," Andy pointed out. "Why do you think that is?"

Danny frowned. "I don't know… But did you see anything odd with his eyes? I thought I saw his eyes turn red for a moment."

"Really? I didn't see anything wrong with his eyes," Jazz said, surprised.

Andy narrowed his eyes. "Neither did I…"

Lopmon frowned. "I saw it too… The mayor's eyes were red for just a split second, but it was there." He then gasped. "I think Walker or one of his goons overshadowed the mayor!"

"Shh, he's saying something," Dorumon shushed.

**"****And we've located the ghost responsible for all the terror inflicted on our town,"** The 'mayor' continued, now giving a much more sinister smirk before he held up a picture of Danny Phantom. **"This one."**

Lopmon felt his fur bristle as he growled lowly in his throat. "So _that's_ his plan! He is trying to frame Danny as the one behind this invasion!"

"I had a feeling that was the case." Andy frowned. _I also saw this in my head the other night. I was hoping I was wrong though._

Danny grabbed the remote just as the camera showed the shocked people's faces, including their parents, when they saw the photo of Danny Phantom, and shut off the TV. Danny couldn't stand to see anymore.

Jazz looked at Danny. "Danny, are you okay?"

Danny sat down on the couch, and buried his head with his hands. "No! No, I'm not okay! I'm getting my butt kicked all over the place. At school, at home, and now _this_!? I'll be public ghost enemy number 1!"

Jazz looked down at the floor, feeling bad for Danny. "Danny… We'll find a way to stop this and get Walker out of here. We'll find a way to clear your name."

Andy picked up a Fenton Thermos in Danny's backpack. "You'll be needing this."

"What? Bro! Are you kidding? If I leave this house, I'm _dead_! I don't mean half dead, but fully, no-coming-back-from dead!" Danny emphasized.

Jazz looked back up at Danny. "Danny, if you don't stop this, then who will? You have to do this. But you won't be doing it alone; Andy, Sam, Tucker, and I will be backing you up."

"But what can I do?" Danny asked. "Who's going to listen to me? They all think I'm just a bad ghost who brought all this trouble to this town!"

"Then stay here if you want," Andy said. "The rest of us will go to City Hall and take down Walker once and for all."

Jazz nodded. "That's our mission, Danny. Whether you are involved or not, we will be doing so. But…" She gave him one more look of sympathy. "I know it is hard to do, but if we don't have your help, we may not be successful."

Danny sighed, rubbing his head. "Fine, I rather you guys didn't go without me."

Andy smiled. "Good. Jazz, you call Sam and tell her to meet us at City Hall, I'll do the same with Tucker."

"You got it!" Jazz grinned.

* * *

Jazz was driving her brothers towards City Hall. Lopmon was on the passenger seat while Dorumon was sitting in the middle of the backseat between the twins. They couldn't have Danny flying right now, especially with all the panic that was going on.

"I think I liked flying better…" Danny grumbled, only for Jazz to look back at him in the rearview mirror.

"And risk you causing a panic? No thanks, Danny. We have enough to worry about, and you being out there in your ghost form is not one of them." Jazz replied. "Besides, it's safer for you right now to be with us, and even if you can turn invisible, Mom and Dad's inventions will go off around you. They could have a device that can see if ghosts are invisible for all we know."

"And we need to approach this cautiously, one wrong move and everyone will be instantly against you," Andy warned. "What were you going to do? Go into City Hall as a ghost and try to tell everyone you're not a bad ghost?"

Danny looked down. "Um… Maybe I was…?" He rubbed his head sheepishly.

"... You are… hopeless sometimes…" Andy groaned.

Jazz felt like slapping Danny upside the head for that. "Danny, you can be so clueless sometimes…"

"Hey! It was the best I've got, okay?" Danny huffed.

"Try to remember that you are a ghost, you are scary to humans, and as far as they know about you, you're just another ghost causing trouble," Lopmon spoke up.

"It's why Walker's plan is so brilliant, he's overshadowing humans in order to convince them to be afraid of you rather than trying to get you himself." Dorumon frowned.

Jazz frowned. "If that's the case, then what can we do? It's not like we can have Danny overshadow everyone in town to make them respect him. That is wrong and an abuse of his powers, not to mention Danny would never agree to it anyway. And it would make him the ghost Walker wants the town to think he is. We have to find a way to stop Walker without resorting to such tactics."

"Danny wouldn't be capable of doing that anyways, it takes a lot out of him just to overshadow an entire school, let alone an entire town by himself," Andy remarked. "I wasn't planning on him doing that anyways. If we want to clear Danny's name, then the best thing we can do is expose Walker. If he's overshadowing the mayor, then if we can expose him to the public, they'll realize they've been fooled. They may not take too warmly to Danny still, sure, but at least they won't be after his head."

Jazz looked ahead at the road again. "But the question is… _how_ can we expose him?"

"Danny… you have a way to take a ghost out of a person's body, don't you?" Andy asked his brother.

Danny looked at his twin. "I can go into their body while intangible and push them out of the host's body. I did that with Vlad when he overshadowed Dad. I can also shoot a ghost ray at someone with the intention of only aiming at the ghost in their body."

Andy crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "Probably not a good idea to shoot at the mayor, especially if he dodges. It'll just make you look bad. So maybe let's go for the intangible, and preferably invisible, tackle."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a better idea anyway."

"We're almost at City Hall. I'll have to stop the car here since I doubt I'm allowed to get too close while there's an emergency meeting going on," Jazz spoke up.

After Jazz parked her car near City Hall, everyone started coming out.

"Hey, glad to see you guys can make it!" Tucker greeted.

"Traveling by car was safer." Jazz said as she shut the driver's side door. "And it got Danny here unnoticed."

"That was a good idea," Sam approved.

Andy noticed that Salamon and Terriermon's fur looked a little burnt. "Uh… what happened to Terriermon and Salamon?"

"They… uh… helped me get the collar off of Wulf while it was shocking him," Tucker sheepishly answered.

"Remind me to never touch a shock collar ever again," Terriermon grumbled.

"I agree." Salamon frowned.

"Wulf was being shocked by it, so we had to get it off," Sam explained. "And Terriermon and Salamon helped, but not without being shocked themselves."

"Using their digital data and my D-Arc, we were able to override the collar and have it deactivated and released from Wulf's neck," Tucker informed. "Of course, Wulf ran off to who knows where after that."

Danny looked surprised and impressed. "Wow… That D-Arc and the Digimon sound really handy."

"Speak for yourself, at least you didn't get zapped," Terriermon grumbled.

"Let's never speak of this again," Salamon remarked.

"Heh… right…" Danny sheepishly chuckled.

"So what's the plan here? I doubt waltzing in on City Hall is going to do us any favors," Sam asked.

Jazz frowned. "I… don't know. It's not like we can sneak in. Mom and Dad have no doubt set up some kind of invention to detect ghosts, so Danny can't sneak us in via his intangibility."

"Well he could actually," Tucker said.

"Really? How?" Danny questioned.

"Their inventions may be spot on, but that doesn't mean they're perfect. With a little bit of digital interference, their devices won't be able to detect you at all." Tucker grinned.

Danny blinked. "You mean you can mess with their inventions? How? Hacking them or what?"

"With Digimon," Tucker said. "I discovered something surprising with Terriermon."

"What's that?" Andy asked.

"Digimon can convert their body into pure data, and slip into electronic devices," Tucker explained.

"Meaning if the device has data or electricity, I can go into it. Computers are probably the easiest though," Terriermon informed.

Danny blinked before a grin crossed his face. "That's awesome!"

"How many do you need for this?" Dorumon asked.

"Hmm, let's see…" Tucker frowned. "I'm not sure how many devices they put up."

"Is there a smart computer that's monitoring the scanners?" Andy asked.

Jazz frowned. "I'm not sure, but I think they might have one set up somewhere."

"I'll go look for it," Tucker said.

"Meanwhile, we'll see if there's another way in. Danny shouldn't go in alone after all," Sam stated.

"There might be other ways for us to get in too," Andy agreed.

Jazz nodded. "Okay, I think that will work. Tucker will look for the computer while the rest of us look for a back way in."

"Wait, someone should stay with me," Danny spoke up as the others were about to scatter. "I mean do you really want to leave me alone with this?"

Jazz sighed. "Okay… I think I will stay with Danny. Andy, you and Sam can go look for the back way in while Tucker does his thing."

Tucker had a better idea though. "Actually, why not have Sam and Salamon stay with Danny?"

Upon hearing that, both of said teens blushed red in the cheeks.

"What!?" Sam all but shouted, only keeping her voice low due to the nature of the plan.

"Dude, that was not cool, Tuck!" Danny hissed, but Jazz had other ideas.

After considering things, Jazz had to agree with Tucker. "Actually, Tucker's plan had more merit. Andy and I have the ability to defend ourselves more effectively due to these cards that can modify our Digimon's attacks, not to mention Salamon hasn't been able to digivolve to her Champion form yet. We would be better able to scout out the area."

Andy gave a smirk at Danny. "Besides, bro, I would think you'd like to spend some time with Sam~"

Danny blushed beet red at that. "Andy!" He squeaked out. "That's not funny!"

"It totally is~" Dorumon smirked.

"You children and your human hormones," Salamon remarked, though she was inwardly giggling.

"Can we _please_ focus!?" Sam growled. "The more time we waste, the more time Walker has to enact his plan!"

Jazz giggled a bit, but was able to calm herself down. "Okay. Enough teasing. We have a mission to complete." She then looked at Sam. "You stay here. The rest of us will get in contact with you and Danny when we get inside and jam the sensors."

"Just be careful, don't do anything stupid," Andy warned before everyone but Sam, Salamon, and Danny scattered around the City Hall.

Andy and Dorumon were looking around the City Hall carefully. Though it was difficult for them to get too close, there were too many people around. Reporters and cameras especially were a problem. Andy and Dorumon managed to find a way behind City Hall. They did have to squeeze through some tight spots to avoid most of the crowd. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be anyone behind City Hall, most of them were paying more attention to what was going on at the entrance or inside.

Dorumon sniffed the wall as Andy noticed a small device that was clinging to the wall. "What is that?"

"I don't know…" Dorumon replied, still sniffing it. "But I'm sensing a digital presence from it, like it's sending data."

Andy studied the device for a moment. "Hmmm…"

Andy then pulled out his D-Arc and called Tucker. "Hey, Tucker, can you hear me?"

The symbol that had appeared when Andy had first called Tucker on his D-Arc appeared. _"What is it, Andy? Have you found anything?"_

"Dorumon and I found some kind of device behind City Hall. I think it might be a computer of some kind," Andy answered.

_"__You did? I will be right over!"_ Tucker exclaimed.

Just as Tucker hung up, Jazz and Lopmon found their way to the back of City Hall as well.

"Oh, well it looks like we had the same idea in mind," Jazz noted, seeing one of her brothers here.

"We figured there might be a back entrance somewhere," Lopmon stated. "Though there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy…"

"Except for maybe this device," Dorumon pointed.

"Tucker's coming over to check it out," Andy added.

Jazz looked at the device. "Yeah, we'll need Tucker to identify this. It _looks_ like a computer link-up, but I'm not sure."

"If it is a computer though, who put it back here and why?" Andy wondered.

Tucker finally made it to them, though he was panting quite a bit. Terriermon was on his shoulder.

"Sorry we're a bit late, it was difficult for Tucker to squeeze himself back here," Terriermon chuckled.

"Maybe you should lay off the meat snacks for a little while," Jazz suggested.

"Yeah… very funny Jazz…" Tucker panted, but he didn't give her a glare or anything. "So… Where is this device…?"

"Right here," Andy gestured to the device.

Tucker stumbled over to it. He began to study it for a bit. "Yeah… it's definitely a computer."

"A computer to what though?" Dorumon asked. "And why is it behind City Hall?"

Jazz frowned. "I don't know…" She then looked at Tucker. "Can you trace back its signal or something to find out what it is linked to?"

"Yeah, I was about to do that," Tucker answered as he held up his D-Arc to the computer.

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam, and Salamon were waiting. They weren't sure what they were waiting for, but they hoped someone would call them when it was safe for them to go in.

"So… how have things been with you and your parents lately, Sam?" Danny asked, wanting to make some small talk.

"About as well as you would expect…" Sam sighed. "As usual, they try to make me be the model child they want without respecting me as a person."

"They seem to have their own way of thinking, and they believe their way is the correct way," Salamon remarked. "It is a foolish, arrogant, and selfish way of thinking. They fail to realize every individual sees the world differently, and it's important to keep an open mind, lest they will bring conflict upon themselves."

Danny frowned. "Yeah… That's kind of how they are, Salamon." He admitted. "No matter what, nothing seems to change their mind."

"Something can make them open their eyes. Unfortunately it would take something big to do that," Salamon sighed.

"Yeah… but it does help to have Salamon to talk to whenever I'm feeling frustrated," Sam admitted.

Danny gave a curious look. "Do you think I could get a partner Digimon even though I'm half ghost?"

Sam blinked. "Well, I don't see why not. I mean, from what you mentioned, Vlad has a Digimon partner as well so it could be possible."

"But… that Digimon with Vlad isn't all… stable. Neither is Vlad. There's a reason why I called him Fruit Loop. Besides, it seems that fusing Digimon with ghosts usually end up creating a monster… like ShadowSeraphimon and Techatamon…" Danny frowned. "Maybe I shouldn't have a Digimon partner."

Sam frowned. "That may be true, but each Digimon is an individual. I mean, not all of them may be stable, but that doesn't mean it is normal for them." She then put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Look at Lopmon. He was a Celestial Digimon who was corrupted. He is a nice Digimon, like he was before then."

"Wasn't Seraphimon the same? Maybe fusing with Vlad corrupted _him_," Danny pointed out.

"I'll admit, most of us don't know what happened to Seraphimon that corrupted him, but I assure you, Danny, he was corrupted before he even went to the real world," Salamon informed. "And while we don't understand the nature of ectoplasm and data mixing together, that doesn't mean they shouldn't mix. They just haven't mixed well yet, that's why Techatamon was so unstable even if he was powerful. As for Vlad and Seraphimon, they seem to be able to stabilize their ghostly nature enough to not have it hinder them, at least from what I've heard from you, Andy, and Takuya."

"In other words just because we had a few bad experiences with Digimon and ghost hybrids doesn't mean they're all bad," Sam said, hoping to reassure the boy.

Danny sighed. "I guess… I just have doubts about having a Digimon partner because of those experiences I suppose."

"Let's not worry about that right now, you have other problems to deal with before you can even think about having to take care of a Digimon partner," Sam remarked.

Meanwhile, behind City Hall, Tucker just finished analyzing the computer. "Okay… I don't know who planted this device back here, but it's convenient for us."

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked.

"This little device is connected to cameras inside the City Hall, likely hidden cameras. A spy or something likely put this here to spy on the mayor for whatever reason," Tucker explained. "But this makes it convenient for us because we can use this computer to send our Digimon in, and shut down the sensors that detect ghosts."

"Do you think that will work?" Andy questioned.

Tucker looked back at Andy. "It should. If what I found out about Digimon being able to mess with electronic devices is correct, we will have the sensors shut down in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. It all depends on how secure the firewall is."

"Do you think you can do it, Lopmon?" Jazz inquired, looking at her partner.

"It's worth a shot," Lopmon answered.

"Dorumon?" Andy looked at his partner.

Dorumon nodded. "You can count on me."

"Don't worry, we'll be able to do this no problem!" Terriermon encouraged.

"So what do we have to do to send our Digimon through?" Andy asked Tucker.

"Hold your D-Arc up to the computer, just like you would to a monitor to open the gate to the Digital World," Tucker instructed.

Tucker held up his D-Arc to the small computer to show Andy and Jazz what to do. The D-Arc glowed a green light, and Terriermon's body was suddenly sucked into the computer.

"He's inside it now," Tucker said as Andy and Jazz gasped in surprise.

"Wow…" Andy held up his D-Arc to the device and so did Jazz.

Andy's D-Arc's screen glowed purple while Jazz's glowed pink. Both Dorumon and Lopmon were suddenly sucked into the device themselves.

"Good luck, guys!" Jazz called.

* * *

Inside the computer device, Dorumon and Lopmon were surprised that they were floating in what appeared to be electronic wireframes around them. There were complex wires connected to the walls, as well as bursts of electrical pulses that were sending information between the device and the cameras. The device was acting like the camera's brains.

"Whoa… so this is what it's like to be digitized inside a human's technology…" Dorumon whistled.

"This is so different from the Digital World." Lopmon noted. "There we have trees, rocks, water, you name it. But this is wireframe and other things we would never see in our world."

"That's because this isn't meant to be a world, Lopmon," Terriermon explained. "It's the inside of a computer. It's like being inside a Digimon, I guess, in a way."

"That's… kind of creepy when you put it that way," Dorumon shivered.

"Whatever the case may be, we should get a move on, the others are waiting for us," Lopmon spoke up. "Terriermon, since you are the tech expert here, you'll have to lead us on where to go."

Terriermon nodded. "I can do that." He began to float down towards where the wires were getting more complex. "The transmission signals seem to be coming from this direction."

Dorumon and Lopmon floated after Terriermon. There didn't appear to be any sort of gravity in this place. It was easy to get lost among all the data and information, but thankfully Terriermon seemed to know where to go. If Dorumon had to guess, he would say they were currently travelling through one of the wires straight into one of the cameras right now. Lopmon mused to himself, wondering if the Legendary Warriors would be capable of being digitized into human technology like this.

"There's the camera," Terriermon pointed out at something ahead.

The three of them floated into a big open area. It had all sorts of machinery and electricity inside it. There was a window that was showing what was going on outside the device they were currently in.

Sure enough, the three Digimon could see everything going on, from the stuff inside City Hall to what was going on outside the camera.

"Okay, we have to find a way to jam the sensors from in here." Terriermon said as he began to look over the transmission location.

"Would we have to jam the signal then? Or perhaps the information data that's controlling the camera's feedback?" Lopmon asked.

Terriermon looked over the signals some more as he responded. "We could jam the signal, but manipulating the information would be better. It would make them think the sensors didn't work in the end. Not to mention the sensors would not go off if we did that. Jamming the signal could possibly trigger the sensors to go off if not done right."

"Then how do we manipulate the information?" Dorumon asked.

Terriermon floated to the back of the camera they were in. "Here, this is where the camera is getting the information, and how it's sending the feedback. We can manipulate the data going back out so they'll receive false feedback."

"Okay, but this would only work for whatever spy or snitch that placed the device here in the first place. Our main goal is to shut off the ghost sensors inside City Hall," Lopmon reminded.

Terriermon nodded. "I'm aware, Lopmon, but this computer is linked to not just the sensors, but the camera as well, and will trigger an alarm if the sensors pick up Danny as well as having these cameras focus in on him or his location when he enters."

"Whoever put this device together was really thorough…" Dorumon frowned. "Alright, let's get started here…"

The three Digimon began to use their own fractal code to manipulate the data. Their fractal code was their being, they could send in whatever they wanted with it, but they had to be careful not to send too much or they would risk losing their body. The camera began to shut off due to the lack of information from the computer.

Once they were done with the camera, Terriermon began to lead Lopmon and Dorumon through the wires again so they could do the same to the other cameras in City Hall, slowly shutting off the cameras, as well as the ghost sensors.

While the others were waiting outside, Andy looked at the crowd outside of City Hall, seeing a lot of cameras. "Should we do something to shut down all the cameras out there too?"

Tucker looked back at the crowd. "I don't think we could just shut down the cameras of the crowd. They're most likely not hooked up like this computer is."

"Besides, it would take too long to have to get our Digimon into those individual cameras one by one," Jazz added. "Not to mention having to sneak up on every single one."

"Yeah…" Andy frowned. "But those cameras are going to be a problem…"

Then suddenly, the computer shot out Dorumon, Lopmon, and Terriermon right on top of the group.

"Wow, that was a fun ride!" Dorumon smiled.

"Get… off of me… you heavy metal eating tank!" Andy groaned from under Dorumon.

Dorumon looked down at Andy. "Now that's just rude." But he moved off of Andy nonetheless.

"Uh… yeah, should've warned you that would happen…" Tucker sheepishly grinned, who had Terriermon in his arms.

Jazz was just glad Lopmon was light, or she'd be squished like Andy was. "Um… so how did it go?"

Lopmon looked up at Jazz, who was holding him in her arms. "We managed to shut down the sensors as well as any cameras inside City Hall."

"That's great. Now Danny can get inside without being detected," Andy said as he stood up and began calling Sam on his D-Arc.

"So what will he do once he gets inside?" Tucker asked.

"Try to push Walker out of the mayor's body," Jazz answered.

As soon as Andy saw the teardrop symbol on his D-Arc, he said, "Sam, it's time. Tell Danny he can go inside City Hall now. The rest of us will find a way in."

_"__Okay. I will do that."_ Sam replied from the D-Arc.

* * *

Sam looked over at Danny. "They said you can go in now."

"Alright," Danny sighed before he, Sam, and Salamon went behind a building. "I'm going ghost!"

Danny tapped into the power of his core, a white ring appeared on his torso before it split horizontally, changing him into his ghost form. Once Danny was now a ghost, he carefully picked up Sam. Sam held onto Salamon in her arms as Danny turned all of them invisible and intangible before he flew into City Hall.

As soon as Danny flew into City Hall, he could see the place was filled with people inside, and the overshadowed mayor was in front, talking about getting rid of Danny Phantom. "All in favor of declaring martial law, and allowing the completely competent Jack Fenton to mobilize a massive ghost hunt, please say 'Aye'."

Danny flew Sam and Salamon down behind the stage. "Are you sure you want to do this? It might be dangerous."

Sam nodded. "I'm sure, Danny. If we don't, then Walker's plan will succeed."

"I will protect her if Walker tries to hurt her," Salamon promised.

"Let's hope it won't come to that," Danny said, knowing if Salamon did move to protect Sam, the public will know she's not a stuffed animal or a normal dog.

The audience were starting to vote when Sam suddenly came out from the curtains of the backstage. "I might be too young to vote, but I'm casting one anyways. And my own speech!"

The audience were shocked to see a teenage girl coming from behind the stage and interrupting an important meeting.

"How did this teenage girl get here?" The mayor asked.

Sam didn't give him a response, but she did glare at him. "How I got in is none of your business!"

Sam turned to the audience. "Everyone, listen up!"

"Sam? What are you doing up there?" Maddie asked, being one of the few who recognized the girl.

"This is important grown up talk!" Jack stated.

"You're going to want to hear this," Sam informed. "This isn't actually the mayor! He's been overshadowed by a ghost!"

The room went silent at that, but it didn't stay silent for long. The people were now talking among each other, some were asking if that were true, others were dismissing Sam's claims, saying that she was lying because she wanted attention. The Fentons seemed to be unsure though.

"How can you be sure, Sam?" Maddie asked. She didn't want to believe it, but something _had_ been off when the mayor had suddenly decided to name Jack as the head of a ghost hunting team, she loved Jack, but even she had to admit he was a better inventor than a ghost fighter.

"Hah! You honestly think this girl's claim is true?" The mayor laughed. "Guards, just get her out of here, she's wasting important voting time."

"Just watch! It'll be proved to you in a minute!" Sam quickly said.

Danny was invisible, and he had been slowly floating towards the overshadowed mayor. He had to keep his movements slow so as to not alert Walker to his presence. He began to gather some energy in his hands to try to push Walker out.

Sam was continuing her speech so as to draw things out now. "If you want to believe this ghost's lies, then you are all foolish!"

Danny was close behind the mayor now, his hands glowing with ecto-energy. He readied to push Walker out, hovering just behind him now.

Unfortunately for Danny, Maddie saw him with her goggles. The goggles were capable of seeing invisible ghosts, and she gasped when she saw the ghost boy about to 'attack' the mayor. She quickly took out a Fenton Gun and shot an ecto blast at Danny. Danny was hit by the ecto blast, causing him to fall a few feet away from the mayor, and also losing his invisibility.

Sam looked back in shock. "Uh oh…" She silently cursed at Maddie for ruining their plan.

The sudden appearance of Danny caused the audience to start panicking. As far as they knew, he was the 'big bad ghost' and in their eyes, he almost got to their mayor.

"No! Wait!" Danny called as he quickly stood up. "I'm on your side! I'm not the bad guy here!"

"You almost hurt the mayor, ecto-scum!" Maddie shouted as she aimed her gun at Danny Phantom again.

"You're not fooling anybody, ghost boy!" Jack accused, taking out the Fenton Fisher before seeing it was tangled. "Oh come on! I just untangled this thing!"

"Wait!" Sam yelled, getting between Danny and Maddie. "He wasn't going to hurt the mayor! He was going to show you the mayor was overshadowed when you shot him!"

Maddie however, didn't believe her. "Sam, get away from that ghost!"

"No!" Sam protested. "I won't!"

During the chaos, Walker, still overshadowing the mayor, had 'run off', but in reality, he was under the stage. While the Fentons were distracted, Walker phased up from the stage, grabbed onto Danny's leg, turned him intangible, and dragged him down.

Sam turned when she heard Danny's yelp and saw he was gone. "No!"

Suddenly, more soldier ghosts started to fly into City Hall. They were grinning sinisterly.

Sam looked up at the ghost soldiers and gulped as her face paled. "Oh crap…"

With the people in a panic, the Fentons busy looking for their own son without realizing it, it was time for Sam and Salamon to do some action.

"Here they come, Sam!" Salamon spoke up as the people were quickly clearing out.

Sam gulped, but held up her D-Arc. "Right… Get ready, Salamon!"

As the soldier ghosts started to close in on them, Salamon jumped to the ground, growling. _"Puppy Howling!"_

Salamon let out a soundwave of barking that pushed the soldier ghosts back. The ghosts gripped the sides of their heads at the howling attack. A soldier ghost tried to grab Sam from behind.

"Let me go, you big creep!" Sam snapped.

Salamon turned before she jumped at the soldier ghost's face. _"Petit Punch!"_

Salamon's front paws slammed into the soldier's face, making him let go of Sam.

Sam looked back at Salamon with a look of gratitude. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet! We have to drive these ghosts out first!" Salamon said seriously.

The soldier ghosts had them surrounded however.

"There's too many of them though." Sam frowned.

Salamon tried to make the soldier ghosts back off with her Puppy Howling, but there were too many. They were quickly being surrounded.

Suddenly, they heard some windows breaking. Lopmon and Terriermon were gliding in before they grabbed each other's claws. They began to spin each other around,

_"__Double Typhoon!"_ Lopmon and Terriermon shouted as they created a double twister attack that sucked in all the surrounding ghosts.

Sam watched this in awe, surprised that the two were able to use such a move. "Wow… Talk about perfect timing…"

Tucker and Jazz ran over to Sam and Salamon.

"Are you okay?" Jazz asked.

"When we saw people running out of City Hall, we figured this was the best time to come to your rescue." Tucker grinned.

"Thank you for that," Salamon said in relief.

"Hey… where's Andy and Dorumon?" Sam questioned.

"They said they found a way to get here by going under City Hall," Tucker stated.

"They went underground?" Sam asked, surprised.

Salamon looked below them at the ground. "Then that must have been the reason for Danny's yelp! He was pulled under by Walker!"

"He did?" Jazz frowned. "Was that why Andy and Dorumon went underground despite it being faster to just come through the window?"

"Wait, how could Andy possibly know that Danny was underground in the first place? He wasn't even here when that happened!" Tucker pointed out.

"Andy and Danny are twins…" Sam realized. "They would know if the other was in danger because of that."

Terriermon and Lopmon finished their double twister attack and landed back with the group.

"We need to stay focused, more ghosts are showing up," Lopmon warned.

"We'll have to try to fight them off while Danny deals with Walker," Terriermon said.

Sam frowned, but nodded. "Okay. I just hope Danny is doing alright against Walker though…"

* * *

Andy and Dorumon were running down the stairs. Thanks to Dorumon's nose, they were able to find a hatchet that led under City Hall. Andy wasn't even sure why he wanted to go down under City Hall, something was just telling him to.

When Andy and Dorumon reached a boiler room, Andy soon found out why. Danny was surrounded by overshadowed people, people they actually knew; Principal Ishiyama, Mr. Lancer, Paulina, Kwan, Calvin, and the mayor himself.

Danny was looking a bit nervous, but he was also giving off a confident air. The reason was clear. He was holding a Fenton Thermos in his hand, which made the ghosts, even in their human hosts, nervous.

They split, though 'Paulina' and 'Calvin' stuck around. 'Paulina' slid forward herself at Danny to grab his head, while 'Calvin' was about to grab the Fenton Thermos from him.

"Dorumon! Go!" Andy quickly shouted.

_"__Metal Cannon!"_ Dorumon shot out iron balls at 'Calvin', sending him back a few feet while at the same time, Danny's hands glowed and he shoved them through 'Paulina's' torso, forcing the soldier ghost out of her body.

Danny looked back at his brother. "Thanks, Andy!" He then sucked the ghost he had shoved out of Paulina's body into the Fenton Thermos.

Paulina looked rather confused and surprised, though she did see that Danny, the ghost boy, did just save her from that other ghost. "You saved me? So… you're like a friendly ghost!"

Andy and Dorumon came up to them, which surprised Paulina even more.

"What the? What are you doing here?" Paulina questioned, looking at Andy. "And… what is that creature next to you?"

"How about instead of asking pointless questions, you hightail it out of here?" Andy frowned. "We're not out of danger yet!"

Paulina didn't even bother to question the advice as she turned and ran, just as 'Kwan' came down from the ceiling towards Danny.

Kwan' managed to punch Danny in the face, which caused the ghost boy to drop the Fenton Thermos and hit the wall behind him. Before 'Kwan' could pounce Danny again, Andy and Dorumon tackled 'Kwan' and pushed him down.

"Is there a way for me to get the ghost out of his body…?" Andy asked.

"Try Phantomon's scythe," Dorumon spoke up. "If I remember right, that scythe was originally meant to take souls out of someone's body. I should be able to use it to take the ghost out of this kid's body!"

"Right then, let's try it!" Andy agreed.

Andy then held up the device and his card. The card spun before Andy caught it in two fingers, looking up from the shadows. He then held the device over his head, the card slot facing down towards his head. He stuck the card's edge into the slot and dragged it through, the card being pulled towards the right side of his body and the device towards the left side of his body. _"Digi-Modify!"_ Andy called out. He pulled the device and card apart from each other. _"Phantomon's Shadow Scythe activate!"_

The dark scythe appeared in Dorumon's claws. 'Kwan' tried to give an intimidating roar, but Dorumon slashed the scythe through the boy's body. Thankfully, much to Andy's relief, the scythe itself didn't cut Kwan's body, instead, it forced the ghost out as Dorumon had guessed.

"Good job, Dorumon!" Andy smiled.

Danny had 'Mr. Lancer' in front of him, ready to attack. Danny acted faster, shoving his ghost ray into Mr. Lancer's body, forcing the soldier ghost out of him as well.

Both Kwan and Mr. Lancer were in a daze as the ghosts left their bodies. They gave a yelp, before Mr. Lancer saw Danny, and Kwan saw a weird fox creature holding some kind of large scythe in its paws. That caused both of them to let out a fearful scream before they ran away.

"... With any luck, they will think this was all a dream later…" Andy sighed.

Dorumon blinked. "Did they run from me?"

Danny looked back at Dorumon. "No, they ran because they were scared of what is going on."

"Probably doesn't help that you're holding a giant scythe…" Andy muttered. _And they would naturally be afraid of Danny, who's currently a ghost right now._

Danny was looking around. "Where's the Thermos?" He didn't see it anywhere nearby. But before he could go look for it, a small portal opened up behind one of the soldier ghosts and sucked one in, followed by the same thing happening to the second ghost soldier a moment later.

Danny looked back, somewhat pleased at the development, only for his heart to sink as he saw who was responsible. "Oh… crud…" It was Maddie Fenton.

"Oh double crud." Andy gulped.

Both brothers were in trouble for different reasons.

Maddie frowned when she saw Andy with the ghost kid, and some weird fox creature holding a scythe.

"Andy? What-"

"Now Mom, no need to freak out, I can explain!" Andy quickly said.

Before Andy could even get a word in, Danny was grabbed by 'Ishiyama' and dragged somewhere. Andy groaned. _Why can't we ever get a break!?_

'Ishiyama' and 'Calvin' were standing over Danny. 'Ishiyama' grinned as she held up the Fenton Thermos with a sinister sneer. "Looking for _this_?!" She taunted as she then aimed it at Danny.

Andy gasped when he saw that and tried to run over to Danny, but Maddie grabbed his arm.

"Where do you think you're going, mister!?" Maddie frowned.

Before 'Ishiyama' could suck in the ghost boy, Wulf came down from the ceiling and knocked the overshadowed principal away from Danny.

"What are you doing!?" 'Calvin' snapped.

Wulf looked at Danny, he said some words that Danny didn't understand, but there was one word Wulf said that was in English. "Friend."

With that said, Wulf lunged forwards, his claws glowing blue, he reached into 'Ishiyama's' body, which his claws phased through. He missed 'Calvin' however, who jumped away from Wulf's claws. Wulf was able to tear the soldier ghost out of Ishiyama, and threw him up.

"Mom, let me go! I can handle myself!" Andy argued.

"No, Andy! These are real ghosts, you aren't trained to deal with them!" Maddie retorted before she pulled Andy behind her. "Now stay behind me while I get these ghosts back where they came from!"

Maddie then aimed at the ghost soldier and fired the ghost portal gun again, sucking in the one soldier ghost with another portal.

'Calvin' hissed as he tried to sneak around Maddie to go after the normal kid. He smirked as he jumped to pounce Andy. Andy turned to look at him, and narrowed his eyes. Dorumon came up in front of Andy, making 'Calvin' gasp before Dorumon swung the shadow scythe into his body, forcing the ghost, the one Wulf had called 'Bullet', out of Calvin's body. Dorumon then dissipated the scythe and moved away.

"Mom, there's a ghost behind us!" Andy spoke up.

Maddie heard Andy's warning and turned, firing at Bullet. She hit him in the stomach area with a portal ray, only for the thing to open up _inside_ Bullet's gut, sucking him in that way, with only his head sticking out before that was sucked in too.

Andy sighed in relief, and turned to look at Danny when suddenly, the 'mayor', Walker, grabbed Danny and began to fly him up. _Oh-no! Walker is likely going to put the final phase of his plan into action!_

"Andy, when we get home, we're going to have a serious talk about this," Maddie said to Andy. "For now, you better hurry back home. I still need to take care of the ghost boy before he does something horrible."

"Mom, please listen. That ghost boy isn't bad, he's only trying to help!" Andy argued, hoping to get his mother to listen to reason.

Maddie frowned. "Andy, we have told you, ghosts do not feel real emotions. They are merely a metaphysical afterimage of what used to be alive."

"Says who!? Have you even talked with one of these ghosts?" Andy snapped. "If that were true, then why would the ghost boy go through the trouble of fighting his own supposed 'comrades'?"

At hearing Andy's words, Maddie paused. She looked down as if in thought. Why_ was_ the ghost boy fighting his own kind? _Is it perhaps some sort of power play? To assume the ghost boy is a dominant ghost in its territory?_

There was a lot of commotion above them. Maddie frowned. "We will discuss this later, Andy, for now you need to get out of here."

Andy frowned, but he knew Maddie wasn't likely to listen to him as long as there were ghosts nearby. She was on too high alert to really listen right now. "Fine."

Andy went over to Dorumon. Maddie looked at the creature for a moment. She knew Dorumon wasn't a ghost, he wasn't exhibiting any ghostly aura, nor were her goggles picking up anything ghostly about the strange creature. The creature didn't seem to be hostile, and it did help her child a minute ago. Maddie watched as Andy and the creature ran off, likely to the stairs. Maddie sighed, she knew she would need to figure all this out later. For now, protecting the mayor and City Hall should be her top priority.

As Maddie made her way back to the City Hall, she gripped her weapon tightly. _I will not let any ghosts harm our town, let alone my children and nephew!_

* * *

Walker flew up into City Hall again, he had Danny by the hands to keep him from doing anything. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and their Digimon partners were surprised to see the 'mayor' kicking open the entrance door while still holding Danny.

"I'm making sure your prison is the town you live," Walker whispered to Danny before he shouted to the group of people, mostly reporters and cameramen, outside the City Hall. "Help! Help me! Help!"

Walker floated back, forcing Danny back as well, before he used telekinesis to shut the door. He gave Danny an evil grin. "Now they'll never trust you."

Danny was mad. He flew up and out of Walker's grasp. Walker turned to counter Danny's attack, only to be met with Wulf standing there in front of him. Wulf shoved his glowing claws into the body of the mayor, only to wind up pulling Walker out of the mayor's body and pushing the mayor away from Walker.

Danny caught the unconscious mayor, just as Maddie came running up and saw that. _I knew it, the ghost boy IS evil!_ "Get your hands off of our elected leader, you odd manifestation of post-human consciousness!"

"Wait! It's not what you think, Mom!" Jazz shouted, having seen what happened.

But Maddie already fired the bazooka. Wulf ran in front of Danny with Walker to block the portable portal from hitting him, but now Wulf and Walker were being sucked into the portal. Andy and Dorumon ran in just in time to see this.

"We're too late!" Andy gasped.

"Wulf! NO!" Danny shouted.

"Friend!" Wulf cried out. He then said his next sentence in English. "We will meet again."

Walker growled. "So will we, punk! Feared on Earth, wanted in the Ghost Zone, you've _lost_, ghost kid! LOST!" Then, Walker and Wulf were sucked into the Ghost Zone.

There wasn't much time for Danny to grieve for Wulf, however, because Maddie was suddenly beside him, pointing the bazooka right at his head.

"Mom! Stop!" Andy shouted.

"You don't have to do this, Mom!" Jazz said at the same time.

"Mrs. Fenton, surely you heard what that ghost said before he and the wolf ghost were sucked into the portal!" Sam spoke up. "It was obvious he had planned for this!"

"Meaning that mayor was overshadowed, and the ghost kid was trying to help him!" Tucker added.

Maddie looked at the assembled kids before her, as well as those strange creatures beside them. Her own son and daughter were obviously taken in by the ghost kid's plot, but at the same time, she could not deny what she had heard from that white ghost. She didn't want to admit it, but something _did_ seem plausible about the ghost kid being a victim of some kind. However, she was not about to just lay down and believe the claims of the children.

"You may have a point about what that ghost said… but I will only believe it with my own eyes when I see it for myself," Maddie said at last before looking at Danny Phantom. "For now, consider yourself lucky, spook. You will be spared this time."

Danny was actually surprised that his mom was letting him go, well the ghost version of him anyways. "Oh… uh, th-thank you, uh… Maddie."

"Just get out of here before I change my mind, ghost," Maddie hissed.

"R-right!" Danny quickly flew up into the ceiling.

Maddie looked at the kids. "As for all of you… you have some explaining to do. What are these creatures you have with you?"

Jazz looked nervous now, as did the others. Tucker rubbed the back of his head while Sam looked down at the ground as she moved one of her feet nervously. Salamon walked forward to Maddie.

"I must apologize for this in advanced, Mrs. Fenton… but you are not yet ready to know about us yet," Salamon said calmly.

Maddie was shocked that the little dog was talking, but before she could say anything, the golden collar around Salamon's neck glowed. Maddie stared at the ring for a few seconds before she fell to the ground. Andy and Jazz, who were closest to Maddie, quickly caught her before her body could hit the floor.

"What did you do, Salamon?" Jazz asked in worry.

"Fear not, I did not hurt her. I simply took away her memories of seeing us," Salamon explained. "She will still remember the events of what happened here, she will just not remember seeing us Digimon with you."

Sam frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, I can see why you would do that. Ghosts are one thing, but explaining Digimon is a whole other can of worms."

"I didn't even know you could do that," Andy said in surprise.

Salamon looked at Andy. "Well, I am a Celestial Digimon, so I can do all sorts of things, but my power right now is limited to smaller things like memory wipes or other small things."

Jazz looked down at Maddie. "I hope this doesn't come back to bite us though…"

"We should leave before the cops start surrounding the place. I don't really want to deal with them or the questionings," Tucker sighed.

"Good idea," Andy agreed. "Let me just degenerate Dorumon first. Can't have his Rookie form caught on camera after all, I doubt even Salamon would be able to fix that."

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** You will see if the group succeeds or not~ :3

**DarkFoxKit:** The chapters are only going to get crazier from there.


	41. A Digital Nightmare World

**ZAFT:** We are updating on time today it seems. :3

**DarkFoxKit:** Yup. We have a lot of chapters in reserve and we're also able to write again, so that means we have even more chapters.

**Andy: **Hey, glad to see you two are alright. Takuya here almost caused an explosion.

**Takuya:** I did not! ***pouts***

**Andy:** Then why is your room completely scorched?

**Takuya:** I… was… Uh… Oops?

**DarkFoxKit:** Oh great, now we gotta clean up. Well, let's get the reviewers into the story.

**ZAFT:** I _really_ need to leash Takuya...

* * *

_**(**Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Shows three forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley**)**_

**_Three worlds, connected side by side_**

_**(**A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that**)**_

**_Connections, with many secrets to hide_**

_**(**Andy Fenton is shown with a small purple fox-like creature, Dorimon, in his arms as Takuya Kanbara appears behind him, a form in shadow behind Takuya himself**)**_

_**Is one always chosen by fate?**_

**_(_**_Danny is shown transforming into his ghost form, Danny Phantom, flying towards a vampiric looking ghost, Vlad Plasmius_**_)_**

_**Or can one make their own destiny?**_

**_(_**_Andy is shown looking on as his cell-phone transforms into a Digivice, the D-Arc_**_)_**

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Andy holds up his D-Arc as a heart symbol appears on the screen**)**_

_**The power is deep inside!**_

_**(**Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire just as Dorimon glows and becomes Dorumon, firing off a metal ball into the distance**)**_

**_Digital Phantom!_**

_**(**The metal ball blasts past Vlad Plasmius as he fires off a ghost ray at Andy, who blocks it with his Fenton Rod**)**_

_**Destiny is unbound!**_

_**(**The Fenton Rod is smacked away by Vlad, going spinning before Sam, with a small puppy-like creature next to her, reaches up and catches it, a shadowed form with wings appearing behind her, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Sam throws the Fenton Rod to Tucker, who spins it before throwing it at Plasmius, a big bunny-like being with gun-hands appearing behind Tucker, transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Fight on, without regret**_

_**(**Shows Takuya looking up from his D-Tector as he makes eye contact with his Human Spirit of Agunimon, who give a smile back and reaches out a hand as Takuya takes it**)**_

_**Two sides never rest**_

_**(**Danny is shown reaching for a glowing Digi-Egg, with a shadowed form above it just as an evil version of the shadowed form appears beside Vlad, both transparent in appearance**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

_**(**Jazz is shown with the form of Lopmon beside her, a larger, shadowed form behind them both**)**_

_**Never regret or look back**_

_**(**Takuya is shown looking up as a ball of fractal code covers his hand, surrounding him before it dissipates to reveal his Fusion form of Aldamon**)**_

_**Fight on, with victory**_

_**(**Aldamon fires off a slew of fiery bullets from his cannons, each of those bullets hitting Plasmius before the ghost teleports away, revealing a shadowed form behind him**)**_

_**Nothing will stand in our way!**_

_**(**Andy, Dorimon, Danny, Tucker, Terriermon, Sam, Salamon, Jazz, Lopmon, and Takuya all appear with Vlad above them, sneering evilly as all ten look on defiantly**)**_

_**Digital Phantom!**_

* * *

**Chapter 41: A Digital Nightmare World**

Takuya was on his back, lying on the grass. They had been here since early this morning. It was afternoon now. After the Trailmon stopped, Takuya and Koji were surprised to see that they were on the floating island where the ToyAgumon and Monzaemon lived. The island wasn't actually floating when the Trailmon arrived. They had a distress call from Sorcermon, which was why they were on the ground. Now that the Trailmon dropped everyone off, the ToyAgumon were driving the aircraft that was holding up the big piece of land into the sky, using a cloud machine to keep them hidden.

Takuya didn't like being on the island, however, because it reminded him too much of Tommy. It was here Tommy befriended the Monzaemon, and who was trying to get Koji to lighten up a bit since he was such a stick in the mud at the time. There were a lot of memories about this place where Takuya was trying to comfort Tommy from Koji's attitude, as well as trying to save Tommy from WaruMonzaemon.

Takuya gritted his teeth as he rolled over and punched the ground in anger. _Why didn't I go back for Tommy?! How could I have just left him behind like that?!_

Takuya then looked up, seeing Calumon. Calumon was sitting by a tree. He had fallen asleep at some point though, unable to stay awake after studying the notes on the Nightmare Syndrome all night. Koji had taken Koichi in one of the buildings that the remaining doctor Digimon was using for the other Digimon they managed to take with them, as well as some of the injured Digimon. Not only was Takuya getting eaten away by guilt, he was also bored out of his mind.

Sighing, Takuya sat up, wondering what he could do in the meantime. He couldn't just ask any of the Digimon to play a game with him, and on top of it, Koji was still likely to be with his brother. A groan escaped him. "I'm so _booorrreeeed!"_

"Would you keep it down? Some of us are trying to sleep…" A voice grumbled.

Takuya turned to see who spoke to him. He was surprised to see it was a Gabumon.

"Oh… Uh… Sorry for waking you…" Takuya said sheepishly as he stepped back and away from the Gabumon.

"Oh, hey, aren't you Takuya Kanbara?" Gabumon asked, likely just recognizing him. "One of the Legendary Warriors?"

Takuya blinked. "Uh… Yeah… I am. Why do you want to know?" He was confused now.

"Ah, well, you could say I'm a bit of a fan. I've heard so much about you from Uncle Bokomon and Neemon," Gabumon blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his head a little. "Agumon and I always loved hearing the story about how you human children inherited the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors and defeated Cherubimon and Lucemon."

Takuya blinked. "You… You must be the Gabumon who was found with Agumon when you were just a Tsunomon then!"

"Yup, that's me! I was running an errand for Uncle Bokomon when I came here. But then the whole nightmare thing was going on, so I wasn't allowed to leave," Gabumon sighed. "I hope Agumon, and my uncles are okay. But hey! Maybe that's why you're here. Of course, the Legendary Warriors could handle this threat."

Takuya gave a grin, but only to try and reassure Gabumon. "Yeah, of course we can!"

Gabumon then frowned a little. "But wait… why are you up here then and not down there?"

Takuya sighed. "We… we needed a new base of operations. The enemy found our last one and we had to go somewhere that was mobile and not easy to find."

"I guess this is something even the Legendary Warriors would have a hard time handling…" Gabumon frowned, before he looked at Calumon for a moment, then looked back at Takuya. "So… how many of you are left besides just the two of you?"

Takuya sighed again. "Me and Koji… We're the only ones left… so you were spot on when you said 'two of you'..." He admitted, despite not wanting to upset Gabumon.

Gabumon gave a confused frowned. "Wait, if Koji is still awake, then wouldn't that make three of you then? But that does sound pretty bad..."

Takuya blinked. "Wait… You said three of us. I only counted me and Koji as remaining awake. Who else could be? Tommy isn't with us. He was back at Seraphimon's castle when it fell to this new enemy."

"What?" Gabumon gave Takuya a confused look, before realization came to him. "You… you mean… you don't know…"

"Don't know what?" Takuya asked.

"Ah, nevermind," Gabumon quickly said. "Still, at least having just two Legendary Warriors is better than none. You only lose if you give up after all. Why don't you try to play with some of the toys? It might help relieve your stress."

Takuya smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, I think I will. I could use some stress relief after all that we have been through." Then an idea came to him. "Hey, do you want to play with me? I mean, it isn't fun to play alone, so why not?"

"Me? Play with one of the Legendary Warriors!?" Gabumon's face turned red. "I couldn't possibly!"

"C'mon! I need someone to help me keep my mind off of this issue for a while, and you're the one I picked~" Takuya joked. "So you gotta catch me first~"

"W-what!?" Gabumon blushed.

Takuya tagged Gabumon and he started to run around, laughing. "Come on, Gabumon! You've gotta catch me, you're 'it' after all!"

Gabumon yelped before he started running after Takuya, still surprised that someone like him was playing tag with a Legendary Warrior.

All the laughing Takuya was making started to make Calumon stir from his nap. Calumon opened his eyes before he rubbed them, then stretched up his arms before yawning. _Oh… looks like I fell asleep by accident again._

Calumon then noticed Takuya was running around with Gabumon chasing after him. "Hey… that looks like fun…"

Takuya noticed that Calumon was awake and was looking at them.

A grin crossed his face. "Hey! You wanna come and join us, Calumon?" Takuya asked as he waved a hand. "You need a break?"

Calumon started to walk toward them, though a little hesitant. "Are you sure we should be playing right now?"

"Hey, we can't stay focused on the enemy all the time, can we?" Takuya replied with a shrug. "We need to let loose and have some fun so we don't get overstressed." He then reached out with a grin and tapped Calumon on the head. "Tag, you're it~"

"Hey, I thought I was it!" Gabumon spoke up.

"Well, now he's it!" Takuya grinned.

Calumon blinked as Takuya ran away for a moment. Takuya stopped when he noticed Calumon wasn't chasing after him. Calumon was looking at Takuya, seeming unsure.

"Calumon?" Takuya asked, concerned now. "Hey, don't sweat it so much. You know… Koji was always being so stuffy when we first came here. He was always getting on Tommy's case for acting like the little kid that he was around here. But Tommy taught us something that day; sometimes playing is a good solution to solve things peacefully. Besides, there's no use in stressing ourselves out, it'll only make things harder for us."

Calumon gave a surprised look at Takuya. _It felt like it had been a lifetime since I first came here with Takuya and Koji. I remembered Koji being annoyed with me a lot… I had forgotten that me playing with Monzaemon made him good again when he was corrupted. … And I hadn't seen Takuya smile since we came here._

Calumon then gave Takuya a smile before he expanded his ears then he flew at Takuya. Takuya was taken by surprise by Calumon's sudden movement, and his forehead was tapped by Calumon's claw. "Tag, now _you're_ it~"

Takuya blinked before he realized he was indeed 'it'. "Hey! No fair! I'll get you for that!" Takuya exclaimed as he began to chase Calumon. "I'm gonna get ya!" Of course, he had a big grin on his face as he said that, which betrayed his intentions and his feelings.

Gabumon was smiling as he watched the two of them. "It's good to see them in better spirits. Although… I wonder about Koji..."

While Takuya was chasing Calumon, Gabumon went to the little hospital house where Koji was. Gabumon could see Koji was looking at his sleeping twin brother, who appeared to be in torment.

"Hey…" Gabumon spoke up, looking at Koji. "Have you eaten anything? You look pretty pale."

Koji looked up. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, I've eaten recently." He replied as he looked back at his brother again. "I'm just stressed out over this, especially with my brother being affected by this Nightmare Syndrome as well."

Gabumon looked at Koichi for a moment. "You know… I may not know Koichi on a personal level like you do, but from what I've heard about him… I don't think he would want you to stress yourself out over him like this. I'm sure he appreciates that you care, but he would worry if he found out you've been stressing yourself out over him."

Koji sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard to _not_ stress out. Especially since this enemy, this Dreammon, is so powerful."

Gabumon frowned. "You know… I don't think this Dreammon is powerful."

"How can you say that? Look at what he's done far. Look at the state my brother is in because of him!" Koji frowned.

"Please, hear me out," Gabumon said. "Have you actually fought with Dreammon? Like an actual battle, or were you only running away from him?"

Koji blinked. "Actually… No. We haven't fought him before. We only ran because of the Nightmare Syndrome plague that has been hitting everyone."

"Exactly. Everyone I've heard from always tells me that it's too dangerous, because the enemy is strong. But nobody reported on how Dreammon fought, or how powerful he really was. All they said was that they ran because of the Nightmare Syndrome he made," Gabumon stated. "I think the fear is what makes him so powerful. The mind believes him to be powerful, and therefore, he is powerful. The fear can create something mundane or weak, and turn it into the most powerful or scariest thing you've ever faced. The Nightmare Syndrome picks at your fear and amplifies it. That's what this Digimon is, it's fear, psychology. It's not actually strong, it just makes everyone else think it is."

Koji looked down. "Actually… if taken like that, then we may have a chance after all." He looked back up at Gabumon with a bit of a grin. "You know, that was quite the pep talk from you."

Gabumon blushed. "You could say I've had a similar talk with someone before."

Koji blinked, but he didn't say anything more, figuring it was not his place to ask about it. He then looked back outside. "So if we see Dreammon again, we will have to try and engage him in real battle then. To gauge how strong he really is."

"Well, maybe. Of course, the Nightmare Syndrome is still a big threat," Gabumon admitted. "If there was a way to shield yourselves from it though… you might be able to have a chance. Or maybe…"

Gabumon hesitated a little. "It's possible that the best way to fight with Dreammon is in your own dreams. The reason why he remains untouchable here is because he can easily trap you in his Nightmare Syndrome. But if you were to fight him inside the Nightmare Syndrome, you would have a better chance at actually fighting him. But that can also be the most difficult challenge yet. Dreammon, from what I know, controls the dreams through the Nightmare Syndrome, so he could be as powerful as he wants to be."

Koji sighed. "And when it seems like we have some hope, it gets dashed again…" However, what Gabumon said had some merit too, at least, fighting in the dreams themselves.

"There will always be a risk in whatever you plan to do. Even if you had a cure, what good would it do if everyone falls asleep, right? But sometimes risks need to be taken in order to get anything done. Warriors, knights, soldiers, whatever one wants to call themselves, always have to make these types of decisions. You have a choice, even if they are all dangerous, but not doing anything would be just as bad," Gabumon stated. "Do you think you might be able to face Dreammon head on?"

Koji looked down again. "To be honest, no. But we can still try, because, as you said, doing nothing would be just as bad as failing, but at least we would have tried if we failed."

"I will say this… you Legendary Warriors are at your strongest when you're together," Gabumon said.

"Well, we're not…" Koji frowned.

"I'm sure that when you really need them, you'll find a way back together again," Gabumon remarked before smiling. "After all, you've all managed to pull out impossible miracles before when everything looked bleak. I don't see why things should be different now."

Koji smiled a bit at that. "Heh, yeah. I guess we have pulled off some miracles before." He recalled the evolution to Susanoomon with ease. That had been a miracle in of itself.

"Calumon would be a bigger help than you would think as well. He has the unique ability to digivolve others, and that likely includes you Legendary Warriors. He can seem like a little kid at times, but he knows his stuff," Gabumon smiled. "Just remember… even if you don't realize it… you and Takuya aren't the only Legendary Warriors left."

Koji blinked. "Huh? What does that mean?"

"It means exactly that; you and Takuya aren't the only Legendary Warriors left awake," Gabumon chuckled. "Whether you figure it out or not is up to you. Now how about you step outside for a moment? You can't spend the rest of your days stuck in the doom and gloom."

Koji rolled his eyes. "Whatever." But he did stand up and step out of the room, just as Gabumon had suggested he do. _Maybe some air will do me some good anyway._

Takuya and Calumon finally stopped playing tag in favor of playing with some of the toys they found lying around. Takuya couldn't help but smile as he was playing with the robot toy that had helped him find Tommy before when he was kidnapped by WaruMonzaemon. Calumon was laughing as he was playing with a toy car that moved by itself on a toy track.

Looking back at Calumon, Takuya poked him with a grin. "Seems like you're having fun~" He teased.

Calumon blushed before he picked up a toy pig. "Yeah, well, so are you."

Takuya looked at the toy pig Calumon picked up. It was the same toy pig Tommy had picked up before 4 years ago. Takuya was surprised that he even remembered that.

Takuya couldn't help but let out a small sigh.

"Hmm? Did I say something wrong?" Calumon asked in concern at Takuya's sudden somberness.

"No… no, it's just…" Takuya sighed, trying to think of how to explain it to Calumon. "This place brought back a lot of memories… and you just… remind me of Tommy, you know?"

"I-I do?" Calumon asked, stiffening.

Takuya gave a sad smile. "Yeah… Somehow, you remind me of him, even though he's not here."

"I see…" Calumon sweatdropped. "I'm sorry then… I didn't want to remind you of what happened to… your friend."

"Not, it's alright." Takuya sighed. "I didn't mean to bring it up. Hey, how about I bring us some cotton candy?"

Takuya gave a bit of a fake smile to Calumon before he started walking to the sweets house. Calumon frowned as he watched Takuya walk away.

Calumon's upside down triangle glowed white and blue before the Spirit of Kumamon appeared beside him.

"Why don't you tell him?" Kumamon asked.

"I can't tell him…" Calumon frowned.

Kumamon frowned. "But he's obviously missing you, because he didn't see you escape with the rest of them."

"Yeah, I know…" Calumon sighed. "It's just… I don't think he's ready to know…"

"Tell me something… why are you afraid?" Kumamon questioned.

"What?" Calumon looked at Kumamon.

"It's obvious you're afraid to tell him. You don't have much of a reason to keep it a secret other than you're afraid of how they'll react, that they would reject you," Kumamon pointed out. "But you should know them better than that. You should know they wouldn't reject you like that."

"Maybe not… but if they knew the truth of why I'm like this… they may never forgive me for it." Calumon frowned. "I don't like seeing Takuya like this, but it's only until we defeat Dreammon or make a cure. I'd rather do that then have him never want to talk to me again."

Kumamon frowned, but agreed. "If you tell them when this is over, I can accept that."

Calumon sighed. "Maybe…"

"Come on now, I didn't fuse with you because you were scared. You woke me up because of your courage and bravery. Now show some of that again with your situation," Kumamon stated.

With that said, Kumamon disappeared, and Calumon's triangle stopped glowing. _What are we going to do about Dreammon though? Even after studying those notes all night, I still can't figure out how to make a cure… I feel like I'm still missing something..._

However, Takuya's voice cut through his thoughts. "You hungry, Calumon? I have some treats for us."

Calumon was surprised when he saw Takuya's arms were full of candy. "Are you planning to eat all of that?"

"Nah, I plan to share half of it with you, and eat the other half." Takuya grinned.

Calumon then couldn't help but laugh. Takuya could act more like a child than he could sometimes.

Takuya smiled as he sat down and plopped the candy down where it wouldn't get dirty. "Let's chow down then!"

As the two of them munched on their candies, Calumon began to think about what Dreammon was doing. He remembered hearing Dreammon telling them that he was going to trap all of the Digital World into a nightmare void, but other than Autumn Leaf Fair, and Seraphimon's castle, Calumon never saw Dreammon cover an entire area with the Nightmare Syndrome. It had only been in places the Legendary Warriors had been in.

"Hey, Takuya… do you think that other places have been getting injected by Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome on a large scale like Seraphimon's castle and the Autumn Leaf Fair did?" Calumon asked.

Takuya looked back. "I… I don't know to be honest, but it wouldn't be wrong to assume so since that also happened to the Autumn Leaf Fair and Seraphimon's castle."

"Maybe, but…" Calumon started thinking.

"What is it?" Takuya asked.

"It's just… if Dreammon was really trying to bury the Digital World in his nightmares, and he has all the Tapirmon under his control, wouldn't we have seen more places covered in those dark voids?" Calumon asked. "How long has he been at this?"

Takuya looked down at that. "You do have a point. We _would_ have seen more places in that dark void…"

"Hmm… it might be good to send out some scouts across the Digital World, find out what's really going on," Calumon suggested. "We don't have a lot of information, and the lack of information makes it more difficult to fight against a strong enemy."

Takuya nodded, taking in the information. "That is true. It would be a good idea to send out some scouts, but we would need to be sure that those scouts could get back safely."

"They'll also need to be able to fly to get around quickly," Calumon added. "Maybe small as well, to be less noticeable. Someone like me."

Takuya looked back at Calumon. "Are you saying you want to be one of the scouts?"

Calumon nodded. "There isn't much I can do here. I might as well be able to do something. I can probably find more scouts at the Flame Terminal, I remember there being a lot of Poyomon and Biyomon there who are great at flying."

Takuya remembered that as well. "Yeah, I remember that from the last time I was there." He then looked back at Calumon. "But if you're going to be one of the scouts, I don't want you to take unnecessary risks."

"Don't worry, I promise I'll be careful, and I'll come straight back if it looks dangerous," Calumon promised. "But you and Koji need to stay here where it's safe, okay?"

Takuya nodded. "Don't worry. We will." He assured Calumon.

Calumon gave Takuya a smile before he began to float up. "I'll see you soon Takuya, and then we can play all we want!"

Takuya gave a smile as well. "I'll hold you to that then!"

* * *

Calumon had been keeping a careful look out for any Tapirmon or Dreammon, or any signs of a dark cloud that could resemble a Nightmare Syndrome. As Calumon was flying, he thought he was fine, until he almost ran into a cloud that turned out to be a small group of Taprimon. Calumon yelped as he flew back.

The Tapirmon looked at Calumon.

"Should we trap this little pipsqueak in a nightmare?" One of the Tapiirmon asked the others.

Another Tapirmon shook its head. "No, this one holds no value. This squirt doesn't look that strong at all."

"He might be good bait for the remaining Legendary Warriors, don't you think?" Another Tapirmon asked.

"No, we already trapped enough cute weak little Digimon to motivate them to 'save' them," One of the other Tapirmon stated. "Besides, the Master said he's getting tired after trapping two places in a void of nightmares, he needs to save his strength for the Legendary Warriors."

Calumon blinked at that as the Tapirmon kept flying until they were gone. _With how strong Dreammon kept saying he was, only being able to cover two places before getting tired sounds pretty weak to me. How is he going to cover the whole Digital World in nightmares then? … Could he… is he only able to hold the Nightmare Syndrome for so long?_

Calumon kept flying to the Flame Terminal. He did try to see if there were anymore places covered in a Nightmare Syndrome, but there hadn't been any. If Calumon didn't know any better, he would say things were as peaceful as they had been since they took down Lucemon.

Just then, a small group of what looked like small ghostly Digimon floated by, but they were far from ghostly. In fact, with their small eyes and mouths, they looked like flying marshmallows.

Calumon smiled as he flew close to one of them. "Hey, Poyomon! Could you help me out with something very important?"

The lead Poyomon looked over and saw Calumon. A smile was on Poyomon's face. "Sure! What do you need help with?"

"I need you guys to be scouts. Fly around, listen to what Tapirmon have to say, and this big creepy cloud-like sheep Digimon called Dreammon. And if you see any big dark, scary clouds covering an area," Calumon described. "It'll be a fun game. But don't get caught by the scary dark cloud or you lose."

Poyomon smiled again. "You want us to look for the black cloud? We can do that no problem!"

"Great, once you find something out, go to the floating island of toys. Tell the humans what you found out," Calumon instructed.

Poyomon nodded. "You can count on us!"

The Poyomon began to fly out through the skies of the Digital World, and Calumon smiled before he flew down to the Flame Terminal, and into the village where he and the others first came to in the Digital World for what felt like a lifetime ago now. As soon as Calumon landed, he was immediately surrounded by Pagumon.

"Hey! It's you! What are you doing here?" A Pagumon asked.

"I'm looking for small flyers who are willing to take on an important… and admittedly, dangerous task," Calumon stated. "I take it you all know about Dreammon, right?"

One Pagumon shuddered. "Who wouldn't? The guy is crazy and scary!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if the whole Digital World but us are covered in nightmares!" Another Pagumon shivered.

_I did too, but… from what I've seen, that isn't the case. It's possible Dreammon was making himself seem like a much bigger threat than he actually is._ Calumon thought to himself. "I'm starting to wonder about that. I'm going to try to find out what's really going on, and I could use some help if anyone is willing."

Another Pagumon looked at Calumon. "You want help?"

"I did just say that, yes," Calumon answered.

"Hmm… got any chocolate?" The Pagumon asked.

Calumon stared at the Pagumon before he flew up suddenly and began to look for Digimon that wouldn't demand something stupid like chocolate to help. Besides that, Calumon still remembered how the Pagumon tried to eat him and JP because they were addicted to chocolate.

The Pagumon watched him go in disappointment, but none made to pursue thankfully.

"Maybe we should help. I mean what if that Dreammon tries to come here next?" A feminine sounding Pagumon asked.

"Fine, but only because I don't want to be stuck in a nightmare for the rest of my days," Another Pagumon grumbled.

The Pagumon scattered.

Calumon smiled when he found the Biyomon nests, they were usually pretty good Digimon, so he was confident a few of them would help out.

A Biyomon looked out from her nest and smiled. "Hello~ What brings you here?"

"How would you feel about helping me with something?" Calumon suggested.

* * *

Takuya decided to check in on Koji and Koichi, but he was surprised to see Koji was standing outside. Koji had been glued to Koichi since he fell under the Nightmare Syndrome's spell. He also noticed the Gabumon standing beside Koji.

"Hey, Koji! I see you're up and about now!" Takuya joked when he saw Koji.

Koji looked at Takuya and grumbled. "Yeah, well… I decided being stuck inside too long was bad for one's health."

Gabumon chuckled a little. "The sunshine also does you some good."

Takuya grinned. "So who got you out of your hiding spot?"

Koji just grumbled something while Gabumon was giving a small blush.

"You could say that this Gabumon talked me into it," Koji huffed finally.

Takuya looked at the Gabumon. "Gabumon, huh?" He walked over to Gabumon. Takuya remembered Bokomon mentioning how a Gabumon and an Agumon had been found together before as Tsunomon and Koromon. "It's not easy to get Koji to do something, so I'm impressed you got him to come out of hiding."

"Ah, well, sometimes you just have to know what to say to someone," Gabumon blushed.

"Where's Calumon? Wasn't he with you?" Koji asked the boy with goggles.

Takuya looked back at Koji. "He went to find some help to act as scouts. He thinks it would be helpful in finding out what Dreammon is capable of, as well as how far his influence extends."

Koji frowned a little. "That's awfully brave of the little guy, but he shouldn't have gone out himself. Don't you realize how dangerous it would be if Dreammon got Calumon?"

"Uh… no? What do you mean?" Takuya asked.

"Don't you remember what Calumon is capable of, Takuya?" Koji groaned.

Takuya thought for a moment before he was then hit with the memories of fighting against Techatamon and what happened near the end of the fight. His eyes widened in shock and horror. "Oh… Crap…"

"Exactly! With Calumon, he could soop up his nightmare army with ease! Then we would be in real trouble!" Koji snapped.

Takuya groaned. "Then we should go look for him. Ugh… I can't believe I forgot about that!"

Koji sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. We need to go find him and bring him back before Dreammon does."

Takuya nodded before he started running to the edge of the island.

"Wait!" Gabumon tried to call.

Koji was about to run after Takuya too when Gabumon grabbed his arm. "Stop! If you go out there, you're going to get caught in Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome!"

Koji looked back. "We know, but we need to get Calumon back here before Dreammon gets to him first! If Dreammon gets his hands on Calumon, then he could use Calumon's Shining Digivolution on the other Digimon here in the Digital World! Trust me, you do _not_ want to know how bad that could get."

"I understand your concern, but what if Dreammon doesn't know about Calumon's ability?" Gabumon asked.

"What?" Koji frowned.

"Dreammon sounds like he's not originally from here. Meaning he likely doesn't know what Calumon can do since only a few Digimon know about Calumon's ability, to anyone else, he just appears to be like another In-Training Digimon. If you and Takuya fall to the Nightmare Syndrome, then who will we have left to stop Dreammon?" Gabumon explained.

Koji looked down. As much as he hated to admit it, Gabumon had a point. He looked up, but Takuya was already gone. "Huh?! Oh that blockhead!" Koji groaned.

"Koji…?" A familiar voice suddenly spoke up from behind Koji.

Koji immediately recognized that voice and quickly turned around, his eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Koichi was standing behind him.

"K-Koichi…?" Koji stammered out. As far as he knew, his twin was still under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome… His eyes widened in horror. "Oh no…"

But to Koji's surprise, Koichi gave him a friendly smile. "Hey, what's been going on, Koji? It looks like we're in a completely different place than Seraphimon's castle. What happened to the others?"

Koji gripped his black and blue D-Tector in his pocket. "The others… we had to leave behind because the castle fell. We didn't want to, but it was getting too close for comfort… Why do you ask?"

"Oh… It's just the last thing I remember, I was riding on Petaldramon's back, and I suddenly woke up here," Koichi answered. "Koji… are you the last one left? I don't see Takuya or Tommy with you either."

Koji sighed. "Takuya went to find Calumon, and we… lost Tommy. He was still at the castle when it fell."

"Oh… that's pretty bad. So there aren't many of us left." Koichi frowned.

Koji was watching his twin brother. He seemed sincere enough, but he couldn't tell if Koichi was still under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome or not. But Koichi hadn't attacked him yet, so it seemed promising.

"Koichi… how did you wake up?" Koji asked.

"What do you mean?" Koichi blinked.

"You were under the influence of the Nightmare Syndrome." Koji explained. "And we were not able to wake the others up, which included you."

"I'm not sure… maybe it's because of my connection to darkness that allowed me to wake up," Koichi guessed.

Gabumon was frowning as he looked at Koichi. He started to back away a little.

Koji looked at Gabumon. "Gabumon? Is something wrong?"

Koichi suddenly fell on his knees and clutched his head. "Argh! It hurts! It hurts, Koji!"

Koji ran to his twin, wondering what was going on. "Koichi?!"

Koichi clutched onto his brother before he opened his eyes again, they were glazed over. Koji's own eyes widened as Koichi's grip tightened on him. "I'll make sure you never lead me again, Koji."

A Tapirmon floated over Koichi, smirking at Koji. Gabumon tried to protect Koji. _"Blue Blaster!"_

Gabumon shot out blue flames at the Tapirmon, which caused it to fall back, but more Tapirmon showed up. Gabumon looked around in fear, but the Tapirmon seemed to be ignoring Gabumon and were all aiming at Koji.

Koji looked around, gripping his D-Tector. "Shit!" He had fallen right into a trap!

Koji tried to Spirit Evolve, but the Tapirmon quickly shot out their Nightmare Syndrome at the same time at him.

"I'm sorry!" Gabumon apologized before he ran away, knowing there wasn't anything he could do except warn the other Digimon of the island that the enemy was here.

* * *

Takuya, meanwhile, was currently flying through the sky as BurningGreymon. He knew he had to get to Calumon before Dreammon did, though he was completely unaware as to what happened to Koji.

Looking around, BurningGreymon didn't see any sign of Calumon, but he had a basic idea of where he could possibly be, which was why he was flying directly to the Flame Terminal.

As BurningGreymon was getting closer to the Flame Terminal, he was surprised to see a Biyomon flying by. Biyomon stopped when she saw BurningGreymon. "Oh hey, you're one of the Legendary Warriors, aren't you?"

BurningGreymon nodded. "I am. What are you doing out here? It's dangerous with Dreammon running around."

"Well that's the thing, I'm one of the scouts Calumon recruited looking into this Dreammon," Biyomon informed. "And have I got news for you. There isn't a single area around here that's under Dreammon's influence. We all thought everyone outside of our village had fallen for Dreammon's nightmare, so we had been afraid to check it out, but it looks like everyone else is fine here. They had just been afraid we were the ones who had fallen under Dreammon's Nightmare Syndrome."

Hearing this, BurningGreymon frowned. "So Dreammon isn't spreading his Nightmare Syndrome plague all over the Digital World? I thought for sure he would."

A few Poyomon were flying towards BurningGreymon, they all smiled when they saw him.

"Found you!" The lead Poyomon smiled. "We actually bumped into some Tapirmon while flying, but they completely ignored us."

A few Pagumon came flying by as well. "While they ignored you, they insulted us, calling us weaklings and not worth the energy!"

"I oughta bite their heads off, then they'll see we're a real threat!" Another Pagumon huffed.

Looking around, BurningGreymon was relieved to see everyone so far seemed alright. "It's good to see you all too. But what did you mean by the Tapirmon were ignoring you?"

"They showed absolutely no interest in us," The Poyomon answered.

"Or they just thought we were deadweight!" A Pagumon growled.

BurningGreymon looked down in thought. Then, he remembered something Calumon had told him, something about attacking wherever the Legendary Warriors were… His eyes widened in horror. "Oh no…"

"What is it? What's wrong?" Biyomon asked, seeing the horror in BurningGreymon's eyes.

"Dreammon… He has been attacking wherever the Legendary Warriors are. And Koji… He is on the ToyAgumon Island…" BurningGreymon murmured.

"Yeah, that's what Calumon told us to go if we found anything out to tell you," Poyomon remarked. "But you're here, so that made it easier."

"I've gotta go, you guys keep up the good work!" BurningGreymon said quickly before he started flying back to the ToyAgumon Island.

"What's with him?" One of the Pagumon questioned.

"He's probably worried for his friend," Biyomon answered. "I'm going to go tell Calumon about this."

BurningGreymon was flying faster than he felt he had flown before. He had a really bad feeling all of a sudden, especially since he had left Koji alone on the island. However, when he reached the island, he could see giant toy airplanes evacuating the island.

At once, BurningGreymon got a bad feeling in his gut. He flew up to one of the airplanes, looking for any sign of a familiar Digimon who could tell him what was going on. He saw one of the airplanes had Sorcermon riding on it.

"Sorcermon! What happened?" BurningGreymon questioned in worry.

"The Tapirmon invaded the island," Sorcermon answered grimly. "Gabumon warned everyone to get off the island quickly. I tried to go back for Koji, but… Gabumon informed me that Koji was already lost."

Fear filled BurningGreymon's body. He looked down, closing his blue eyes in dismay. _I'm the only one left now..._

Suddenly, there was a burst of energy from the island. Looking up, BurningGreymon was surprised to see JagerLoweemon hopping from plane to plane with Koji on his back. BurningGreymon backed away when JagerLoweemon landed on top of the plane BurningGreymon was just talking on.

"Koji… Please… Snap out of it!" BurningGreymon pleaded, despite knowing it was useless to try to snap Koji out of the Nightmare Syndrome.

"Be quiet! You know absolutely nothing, Takuya!" Koji snapped. "But don't worry… you won't have to be alone for long."

Koji held up his D-Tector. Both Spirits of Light appeared on the D-Tector's screen as a ball of fractal code formed on his left hand. Koji then slid the D-Tector across the code. _"Execute now! Fusion Evolution!"_ As soon as he said those words, the coding surrounded his body and he cried out as his body grew in height and his strength increased. A white bodysuit formed on his body as his hair grew short and became platinum blonde in color. His eyes turned red as he gained the chest armor and lower leg armor of KendoGarurumon, along with the left paw. His right hand gained armor on it, and the helmet of Lobomon appeared on his upper face. Landing, he grabbed a twin-bladed sword and swung it around before firing off a slew of missiles and a laser from his paw-like gauntlet. _"Beowolfmon!"_

BurningGreymon saw Beowolfmon and growled. "So, he went for his Fusion form, huh?"

Beowolfmon sneered as he looked up with glazed over red eyes. "This will ensure you become one of us!" He then aimed his gauntlet paw at BurningGreymon. _"Cleansing Light!"_ The missiles were launched as was the laser, and they flew right at the Beast Warrior of Flame.

The attack hit, causing BurningGreymon to cry out in pain before he was surrounded by fractal code and reverted to his human form. Now without flight, Takuya wound up falling as he screamed.

_He's too strong. I don't know if I'll be able to stop him. Dreammon got his claws on everyone but me. But what can I do? I'm only one Legendary Warrior…_ Takuya thought to himself as he was falling.

_"__You can't give up already, Takuya. You promised you and Dash would come home,"_ Takuya heard Andy's voice say.

_"__Yeah, cuz, you don't want to keep us waiting, do you? You'll make everyone worried,"_ Takuya heard Danny's voice adding.

Takuya then started hearing the voices of his friends.

_"__Come on, Takuya, we're with you, you know that, right?"_ Tommy's voice said.

_"__You're just going to give up, like that? That's not the Takuya I know!"_ Zoe's voice stated.

_"__Come on, Taky, you've gotta get in a good punch for me!"_ JP's voice remarked.

_"__You, a quitter? I thought you _never_ gave up."_ Koji's voice stated.

_"__You have to fight back, even if it seems hopeless."_ Koichi's voice added.

_"__You think you should give up? What happened to that boy who helped me when I was being bullied myself?"_ Dash's voice added.

Takuya opened his eyes, seeing JagerLoweemon and Beowolfmon jumping after him. He narrowed his eyes as fire came back to his eyes. He squeezed his D-Tector. Takuya held up his D-Tector, forming the familiar ball of fractal code around his left hand. He scanned it through the D-Tector's light, swiping his hand up as he did so. _"EXECUTE NOW! FUSION EVOLUTION!_" he cried. The fractal code surrounded him, transforming into a blue-white cocoon of light. Within it, he felt the familiar transformation sweep over him. His body grew in height and became more muscular as a tugging sensation near the bottom of his spine transformed into a tail. A slight pain accompanied the growth of his wings and a sharp pain filled his mouth as his teeth elongated. Armor formed on his body and his hair turned yellow, becoming long and wild as his eyes turned a sharp, icy blue color. The light finally shattered and he flared his wings, landing and shouting out his name as he did so. _"ALDAMON!"_

Now in his strongest form, Aldamon flared his wings, stopping his fall before he flew back up to where Beowolfmon and JagerLoweemon were coming at him. His eyes now held a determination to fight back. "You won't take me so easily!" He shouted.

Aldamon's cannons powered up as he readied his attack. _"Atomic Inferno!"_ He fired off multiple high-temperature shots at Beowolfmon and JagerLoweemon.

Both twins were hit, and Beowolfmon gritted his teeth as he took out his large sword. _"Beo Saber!"_

Beowolfmon swung his saber at Aldamon. Aldamon quickly caught the blade with his hands, trying to push it back. JagerLoweemon flipped in the air to aim at Aldamon while he was busy with Beowolfmon. _"Ebony Blast!"_

JagerLoweemon shot out a black spiritual energy sphere at Aldamon.

Aldamon glanced back with one of his eyes before he swung around, throwing Beowolfmon right into the attack's path. "Sorry, Koji, but you won't beat me so easily!"

Beowolfmon hissed but kept his glare on Aldamon. JagerLoweemon began to shift his body towards Aldamon before coating it in a black aura. _"Air Black King!"_

Aldamon's eyes widened as JagerLoweemon smashed his body into his chest, causing them both to fall faster.

Aldamon flared his wings and tried to stop the fall, which he did to some extent, but they both hit the ground, making a crater from the impact. The Warrior of Flame groaned as he felt JagerLoweemon get off of his body.

Beowolfmon was coming in from the air, with his giant sword in hand. _"Frozen Hunter!"_ The sword was coated with deadly ice and light.

Seeing this, Aldamon felt his eyes widen before he struggled to move. He was able to get to his feet and climb out of the crater before lunging to the side and onto the ground, just as the attack hit where he had been mere seconds ago.

Aldamon panted, he was lucky that he managed to get out of there just before Beowolfmon stabbed the ground with the sword. But fighting against Beowolfmon and JagerLoweemon was putting a strain on his body.

Calumon, along with a Biyomon carrying an Agumon with her, who was holding onto her talons, were flying towards them.

"Oh-no, I might already be too late…" Calumon frowned, seeing the battle that was going on.

"Maybe not, we can still save Aldamon at least, right?" Agumon said. "Hey Biyomon, fly faster, please!"

"You're as heavy as bricks, Agumon! I'm surprised I even carried you this far!" Biyomon groaned. "Maybe lay off on the snacks!"

"Hey!" Agumon pouted. "I'm not that heavy! Uh… Am I?"

"Don't make me answer that," Biyomon groaned.

Meanwhile, Aldamon knew he had to end this battle soon before more Tapirmon would arrive to take him. This battle was very likely to draw many of them in.

Aldamon struggled to his feet, panting somewhat heavily. "You want to fight still? I won't make this easy!" He got into a fighting stance, but his strength was waning somewhat, which worried him when it came to his ability to fight. Still, he would fight if he could.

"Stop making this hard on yourself, Takuya," Beowolfmon stated. "I'm tired of you acting like you know so much better than the rest of us!"

"What do you mean the 'rest of us'!? You're all trapped in a nightmare, controlled by Dreammon!" Aldamon snapped.

"You are always acting better than others." Beowolfmon said as he approached the other Fusion-Evolved Legendary Warrior. "And I won't stand for it any longer."

Aldamon gritted his teeth. "No! That's not true and you know it! You're just under the control of some false Digimon! He is only using you!"

"I've heard enough out of you!" Beowolfmon snapped. _"Cleansing Light!"_

Beowolfmon shot out missiles from his arms at Aldamon.

_"__Ebony Blast!"_ JagerLoweemon shot out a black spirit ball at Aldamon.

Aldamon saw the attacks incoming and readied his own counter attack. _"Solar Wind Destroyer!"_ He cupped his hands together and formed a fireball. It reached maximum size before he threw it at the two incoming attacks.

It hit and cancelled them both out. Aldamon knew he was running out of energy fast, but Beowolfmon looked to be panting as well. JagerLoweemon looked tired too. Aldamon knew maybe if he could pull off another strong attack, he might be able to knock them out. Aldamon was getting ready to do just that when suddenly…

_"__Hurricane Wind!"_ Pink twisters surrounded Aldamon all of a sudden.

_"__Thunder Fist!"_ Lightning shot from above the twister Aldamon found himself in.

_"__Thorn Jab!"_ Vines came out from under Aldamon as well, he had no escape.

When the twister faded, Aldamon was on the ground, and in pain. He groaned as he pushed himself up on his hands and knees, looking up to see Kazemon, Beetlemon, and Petaldramon gathering around as well.

Aldamon then realized what this meant. He looked down, his blue eyes closing as he did so. He knew when it was over. However, he looked back up, opening his eyes again. "You may not know it, but others _will_ come and save this world." He then gained a mysterious smirk. "And they will be the next heroes of this world. But even if I fall, I won't go down so easily!" He held his hands together as he formed another fireball, but this time, it seemed to be more contained, not growing any larger than a basketball. Aldamon gave a grin. "Consider this my final gift to you, Dreammon!"

With a shout, Aldamon closed his eyes tightly as he concentrated the energy so tightly, it couldn't take it anymore. There was a small flash of light and then nothing before light and heat suddenly erupted from the area and consumed all in its path. Thankfully, it wasn't too large an area, but it was large enough to leave an impressively destructive aftermath anyway.

"No! Takuya!" Calumon shouted as he, Biyomon, and Agumon were blown back by the massive attack.

Aldamon fell to the ground, reverting back to his human form, tired, weakened, and unconscious. The other warriors had reverted back to their human selves as well, though they were pretty miffed at how much Takuya's final attack had weakened them.

"That was more trouble than it was worth," Zoe huffed.

"Yes, but we finally got him." Koji said as he walked over, but he was holding one of his arms due to how strong the attack was.

"Are you going to be okay, Koji?" Koichi asked his twin in concern. Despite being under Dreammon's control, they still cared for each other. Though Koichi was limping from the attack.

Koji grunted. "I'll be fine."

"Let's just get the Tapirmon to enlighten him and report to Master," JP stated.

"Yeah, Master has been waiting for this moment." Dash grinned.

Several Tapirmon began to float around the unconscious Takuya. Calumon ran out of the bushes, a little burnt from Takuya's final attack, Biyomon and Agumon, being fire element Digimon themselves were fine for the most part though. Calumon's eyes widened in horror when he saw the Tapirmon had Takuya surrounded, and Takuya wasn't moving.

"No! Don't do it!" Calumon cried out in desperation.

"Calumon, stop!" Agumon ran after the little Digimon and grabbed him before he could get too close.

The others looked at the Agumon and Calumon for a moment.

"Should we bring them along?" Zoe asked.

"No. They won't be of any use to Master." Koji replied. "Calumon's ability to digivolve others may be useful, but the Master isn't looking to make a strong army. It would only strain Master's control more."

"And Master is already straining himself as it is," Koichi added.

The group decided to ignore the two Digimon then, turning their attention back to Takuya. One of the Tapirmon decided to do the honors. _"Nightmare Syndrome!"_

The snake-like black cloud moved to Takuya.

"No! No! Takuya, get out of there! Please!" Calumon begged as Agumon was struggling to keep holding him back.

But there was no movement from Takuya, as he was completely drained of energy. The black cloud circled down and around Takuya before he was enveloped by it. The cloud entered Takuya's ear, which then caused him to cry out before it stopped after a while. Takuya then groaned as he stood up, opening his eyes to reveal them glazed over just like the others.

"Good to have you back on our side, Takuya." Koji smirked.

Takuya gave a sinister grin. "It's good to be back, Koji. Now all the Legendary Warriors are back together, and we will help Master achieve his plan."

"It sure took a while to get you back, but it was worth it." Koichi grinned.

"Yeah, it didn't feel the same without you, Takuya~" Zoe smirked.

"Yeah, but still, I'm just as good!" JP pouted a little.

Koji grunted. "Whatever. Master is waiting. We have to report back to him."

"Ready when you all are." Dash grinned.

"Takuya…" Calumon said sadly.

Takuya looked at Calumon and Agumon for a moment. Calumon shivered, seeing the glazed eyes of his big brotherly figure.

Takuya just then turned away from Calumon and Agumon, deeming them to be weaklings to be ignored. Calumon felt hurt by that, even though Takuya didn't say anything, it tore into Calumon's heart to see him ignoring him like he was just a piece of trash.

"Let's go," Takuya said to the others.

Takuya, JP, and Zoe Spirit Evolved since they could fly. Though Zoe decided to use her Beast Spirit, Zephyrmon, instead of Kazemon. JP was Beetlemon, and Takuya was BurningGreymon.

BurningGreymon picked up Koji, Koichi, and Dash before he, Zephyrmon, and Beetlemon took flight. They flew off, leaving behind Calumon and Agumon to stare after.

"Oh no…" Agumon murmured. "This is not good…"

"We were too late…" Calumon fell on his hands after Agumon let him go. "I couldn't save him… TAKUYAAAAA! COME BACK TAKUYA!"

Agumon frowned in sadness as Calumon slammed his claws into the ground while tears fell from his eyes. Agumon walked over to Calumon and gave him a hug, knowing Bokomon would always do that whenever he or Gabumon felt upset about something. Calumon cried into Agumon's chest while Agumon just gently rubbed the little Digimon's back with his claws, careful not to hurt him. Biyomon frowned as she walked over to them as well.

None of them said anything. Agumon and Biyomon looked up at the evening sky where the Legendary Warriors were flying off into the horizon, and the sun was going down, covering the sky with darkness. They both had the same worried question in their minds; _What's going to happen to us now?_

* * *

**Titanic X****: ZAFT:** This will be a more intense chapter. :3

**CT7567Rules****: DarkFoxKit:** To be fair, 'ghost experts' are just people who might know more about ghosts than the average person, despite ghosts being something that were considered myths. Beings that may or may not exist. There's not much information to go by. Though Jack and Maddie might be a bit too into their 'research' to realize they could be wrong about ghosts.

**ZAFT:** As for Danny and Veemon, we are not saying if Danny _will_ get Veemon, or a Digimon partner at all. You will have to see~! ;3

**Luna Lillyth: ZAFT:** Glad you liked the change to the ending. :3


End file.
